Minister for Education, Mr Naeem Akhtar today informed the House that previous Government during its regime upgraded 800 schools to the next higher levels in the State. He said that the order was issued in disregard to the conditional approval of the cabinet without seeking the concurrence of Planning and Finance Departments.Replying to a question by Vikar Rasool, the Minister said that apart from this, a number of factual inaccuracies and infirmities have been noticed and therefore the entire issue is being reexamined with reference to the feasibility visa-a-viz enrollment, distance and infrastructure available.The Minister also gave details of the construction work of school buildings and toilet units under SSA and RAMSA in Banihal constituency.He said that the construction work of Banihal Government Degree College building has been assigned to JKPCC at an estimated cost of Rs 11.67 crore against which Rs 7.50 crore stands released to the executing agency upto last fiscal. He said that the shuttering and steel work for ground floor of the academic block is in progress. He said that construction of 350 mtr approach road to the construction site has been completed.The Minister said that Rs 2 crore has been projected under CAPEX budget 2016-17 for continuation of construction work of the college.Replying to another question by Ch. Sukhnandan, the Minister informed the House that three Middle Schools have been upgraded to the level of High Schools in Marh Zone, Jammu. He gave a detailed overview of the staff position in the schools including High School Chakrali, Chatta Gujri and Akalpur under RMSA.
He said that one headmaster; five General Line Teachers are working in the High School Chakrali, one headmaster, 7 masters, 5 General Line Teachers working in High School Chatta Gujri and 5 General Line Teachers are working in High School Akalpur. He said that the post of headmaster and masters were not sanctioned yet by the Department for Akalpur school.The Minister said that the construction works of High School Buildings Chakrali and Chatta Gujri have been completed and secondary classes are functioning in the buildings. He said that for the construction of Akalpur High School building Rs 79.06 Lakh have been sanctioned and against which Rs 39.53 lakh have been released by the Government, adding that the tendering work of the building is under process.In reply to the supplementary of Deldan Namgial, the Minster assured that the orders for posting of the staff in Higher Secondary Schools in Nobra constituency would be issued shortly.