SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir School Education Department has reported a sharp improvement in board examination results and a decline in school dropout rates, with the Class 12 pass percentage rising from 79.94 per cent in 2024-25 to 86.36 per cent in 2025-26, while J&K’s Performance Grading Index score improved by 47 points.
The figures were disclosed by the School Education Department in response to a question by Mehraj Malik, MLA Doda, seeking details of reformative measures undertaken since 2019, including recruitment, teacher deployment, curriculum, examinations, digital education, model schools and smart classrooms.
According to the government’s reply, the Class 10 pass percentage increased from 75.95 per cent in 2024-25 to 86.08 per cent in 2025-26. The Class 12 pass percentage increased by 6.42 percentage points over the same period.
The department said the improvement came alongside a fall in dropout rates. At the primary level, the dropout ratio declined from 1.6 per cent in 2024-25 to 1.1 per cent in 2025-26, while at the upper-primary level it fell from 3.20 per cent to 2.8 per cent.
J&K’s score in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 also increased from 500.2 in 2024-25 to 547.0 in 2025-26, an improvement of 47 points. The department said the Union Territory’s performance category consequently moved from Akanshi-2 to Akanshi-1.
The government attributed the changes to a series of administrative, academic and technological interventions introduced since 2019. These include the Cluster/School Complex system, under which 746 clusters have been constituted and made functional to facilitate sharing of manpower and other resources among schools.
The department has also implemented Annual Transfer Drives and staff rationalisation to improve the deployment of teaching personnel.
Teacher capacity building has been another major component. Under the NISHTHA programme, the department said 78,975 elementary teachers, 21,926 secondary teachers and 40,318 pre-primary/primary teachers have been trained, based on available departmental figures. Training is being conducted through JKSCERT, DIETs and online platforms.
On recruitment, the government said 594 posts of 10+2 lecturers in 27 disciplines were referred to the J&K Public Service Commission under the direct recruitment quota. The PSC has so far provided 586 selections, while appointment orders have been issued to 322 candidates after verification of character and antecedents by the CID.
The department said the process of identifying additional lecturer vacancies is under way for further referral under direct recruitment.
However, the government’s reply also points to a continuing recruitment constraint in the non-gazetted cadre. It said no posts of the non-gazetted cadre under the direct recruitment quota have been referred to the J&K Services Selection Board, citing the freezing of posts pursuant to SAC Decision No. 166/22/2018 dated December 7, 2018.
The department said 396 schools are being upgraded and developed as exemplar schools under the PM SHRI scheme, intended to showcase implementation of the National Education Policy.
Assessment reforms are also being introduced through Holistic Progress Cards developed by PARAKH, which are being rolled out at the elementary level through JKSCERT and at the secondary level through JKBOSE.
On digital monitoring, the government said the JK Attendance App, using geo-facial recognition, has been implemented and approximately 1.14 lakh employees are marking attendance through the application. A Vidya Samiksha Kendra has also been established for real-time monitoring of academic performance and administrative efficiency.
The department launched its own direct-to-home education television channel, JK e-Pathshala, on January 8, 2026, with separate channels for individual classes planned subsequently.
Digital infrastructure is also being expanded. The government said 3,008 schools are already covered by 1,420 CAL centres and 1,588 ICT labs, all equipped with internet facilities. Another 2,388 ICT labs and 4,597 smart classrooms are in the process of being established.
Vocational education has meanwhile been expanded to 2,460 government high and higher secondary schools, comprising 1,350 and 1,110 schools respectively, according to the reply. The department said 4,481 vocational laboratories have been established for practical training, while the remaining 70 schools are proposed to be covered under Samagra Shiksha to achieve saturation across all 2,530 government high and higher secondary schools.
Around 1.54 lakh students are currently receiving vocational education in Classes 9 to 12. The programme offers 15 sector-specific trades covering 19 job roles, aligned with the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF).
The government said capacity-building programmes and training workshops are also being conducted regularly for teachers and heads of institutions to improve the delivery of vocational education.
On the remuneration of school cooks-cum-helpers, the department said they are currently paid an honorarium of Rs 1,000 per month for 10 months in a calendar year under the PM POSHAN scheme, comprising Rs 900 contributed by the Union Ministry of Education and Rs 100 by the J&K Government.
The department said a proposal to enhance the honorarium has been taken up with the Union Ministry of Education. On regularisation of the cooks-cum-helpers, however, the government said the matter is a policy issue falling within the domain of the Government of India.
