# Omar Abdullah backs teachers, says government must fix schools first 2026-08-25T16:26:27+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said teachers cannot be held solely responsible for the Union Territory's future, arguing the government must first improve working conditions, school infrastructure and staffing. Speaking at a gathering of the J&K Teachers Forum, Abdullah said teachers already face an expanding list of duties beyond the classroom, including election work, government functions and social campaigns. "If we put all our responsibility on you and say the future will be decided by our teachers, that would be a great injustice," he said. He acknowledged the growing challenge of smartphones, social media and artificial intelligence in assessing student work. Abdullah also criticised the practice of assigning additional duties while teachers' own service grievances on transfers, departmental promotion committees and vacancies remain unresolved. "But when your issues come up, your files do not move forward as quickly as the files moved when we have to post you somewhere else," he said. He noted persistent problems including rented school buildings, unsafe structures, ghost schools with low attendance, and teachers in remote rural posts lacking political influence. "Repairing infrastructure is not your responsibility, it is mine," Abdullah said, urging teachers to prepare students for a rapidly changing world. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Abdullah's remarks directly challenge a pattern across Indian states where teacher transfers and postings have become leverage points in local political networks. In J&K, the School Education Department reported over 3,000 vacant teacher posts in 2024. The ghost school phenomenon he cited is most acute in rural areas, where official enrolment data often masks actual attendance. His assurance that Education Minister Sakina Itoo will address these grievances signals an intent to depoliticise transfers, a move that will be tested against the track record of successive J&K governments. The real measure will be whether the promised DPC meetings and vacancy-filling timelines are met before the next academic session begins in March 2026. ## Coverage - greaterkashmir.com Leads with Abdullah's criticism of government inaction but reports his full remarks without commentary or editorial framing This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, Sakina Itoo, School Education Department Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/omar-abdullah-backs-teachers-says-government-must-fix-schools-first/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/omar-abdullah-backs-teachers-says-government-must-fix-schools-first/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/