Srinagar, Sep 29: The pass percentage of Class 10 students in Jammu and Kashmir increased from 79.94 per cent in 2024-25 to 86.36 per cent in 2025-26, the government informed the J&K Legislative Assembly. The School Education Department attributed the improvement to academic monitoring, remedial classes, teacher rationalisation and other measures aimed at improving the quality of education in government schools.
In a written reply to a question by MLA Arvind Gupta from Jammu West, the Government said it was implementing several initiatives to address infrastructure gaps, teacher shortages and other challenges in the school education system.
The department said 3,008 Digital Labs, including 1,420 CAL Centres and 1,588 ICT Labs, had been established with internet facilities. Another 2,388 ICT Labs and 4,597 Smart Classrooms are in the process of establishment to promote digital learning.
The government also informed the House that 376 AAGHAAZ Astro Physics Labs had been established in schools, with another 376 in the process of establishment. Ten Virtual Reality Labs have been set up on a pilot basis, while 30 more are planned for 2026-27.
Under the Atal Tinkering Labs initiative, 172 labs have been completed, including 127 under the Atal Innovation Mission and 45 under PM SHRI. Another 500 labs for 2026-27 have received in-principle approval from NITI Aayog.
The department has also approved or introduced vocational education labs in 2,460 High and Higher Secondary Schools for students of Classes 9 to 12.
On the issue of staff shortages, the Government said 594 posts of 10+2 Lecturers in 27 disciplines had been referred to the J&K Public Service Commission for direct recruitment. The commission has so far provided 586 selections, while appointment orders for 327 candidates have been issued after verification of their character and antecedents by the CID.
The Government said it was also rationalising teacher deployment and using Cluster Resource Coordinators to address subject-specific shortages in schools. A total of 746 Cluster and School Complexes have been constituted and made functional to facilitate resource sharing.
Under the system, subject-specific teachers, including Mathematics, Science and Language teachers, as well as Physical Education Teachers, are being shared within clusters to address localised shortages.
The department has also introduced academic monitoring through Cluster Heads, who conduct pre-board evaluations and specialised remedial classes for Classes 10 and 12 to improve Board examination results.
Replying to a question on whether the Government planned to make enrolment of government employees’ children in government schools mandatory, the department said there was no such proposal.
The Government said school enrolment was a matter of parental choice and the educational interests of children. It said its focus was on improving academic outcomes, teaching standards and school facilities to strengthen public confidence in government schools.
The department said it was pursuing measures such as expanding pre-primary education, improving digital and vocational learning, strengthening infrastructure, building teachers’ capacity and ensuring rational deployment of human resources.
The Government also highlighted the establishment of the Vidya Samiksha Kendra, a command-and-control centre made operational in September 2024 to support data-driven decision-making and improve educational outcomes.
The department said these initiatives were being implemented through the UT CAPEX Budget and Samagra Shiksha, in line with the objectives of the National Education Policy 2020.
According to the figures shared in the reply, Class 10 enrolment stood at 1,45,671 in 2024-25 and 1,45,599 in 2025-26.
