Srinagar, Aug 30: At the foundational level, nearly 94 per cent of teachers in Jammu and Kashmir are women. At the secondary level, 60 per cent are men. This sharp gender divide, revealed in the latest school teaching workforce data, points to a distinct pattern: women dominate the early years of education, while men take over as students grow older.
The data, accessed by Rising Kashmir, covering all types of school management, shows that J&K has a total of 1,66,163 teachers, comprising 84,561 females and 81,602 males. Women therefore account for about 50.9 per cent of the overall teaching workforce, compared to 49.1 per cent men.
However, the overall figures mask a significant variation across different class categories.
At the foundational level, the gender gap is particularly striking. Of the 5,038 teachers reported in the foundational category, 4,717 are female, and only 321 are male. Thus, the female teachers constitute nearly 94 per cent of teachers in this category.
Among teachers handling foundational and preparatory classes, females again outnumber males. The category has 66,022 teachers, including 37,309 females and 28,713 males. Women account for about 56.5 percent of the teaching workforce here.
The female advantage continues, though narrowly, in the foundational, preparatory and middle category. Of 17,377 teachers, 9,071 are female compared to 8,306 male teachers, giving women a 52.2 per cent share.
The pattern reverses at the middle level. J&K has 39,663 teachers in the middle category, of whom 21,584 are male and 18,079 female. Male teachers thus account for 54.4 per cent.
The male advantage becomes more pronounced among teachers handling middle and secondary classes. Of 5,231 teachers in this category, 2,971 are male and 2,260 female, giving men a 56.8 per cent share.
The widest gender gap at the higher level is recorded among secondary teachers. Of 32,832 teachers, 19,707 are male compared to 13,125 female, indicating that male teachers constitute 60 per cent of the workforce.
Taken together, the three categories involving foundational education have 37,340 male and 51,097 female teachers, giving women a lead of 13,757.
In contrast, the middle and secondary categories collectively have 44,262 male and 33,464 female teachers, giving men a lead of 10,798.
The figures, therefore, point to a distinct shift in gender representation, which shows women have a stronger presence in foundational and preparatory teaching, while men become more predominant as the classes move towards the middle and secondary levels.
