New study finds stark differences in school efficiency across J&K, Ladakh
Srinagar, Sep 7, KNT: A newly published research study examining district-level school education in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has found significant differences in efficiency and productivity, with several districts showing declines in productivity despite improvements in infrastructure and teacher-related inputs.
Published on September 2 in Springer Nature’s open-access journal Discover Education, the study by Anwar Hussain and Halima Sadia Rizvi analysed school education across 22 districts using UDISE+ data for 2020-21 and 2021-22. The researchers used Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquist Productivity Index to assess primary, upper-primary and secondary education.
The study found that Kargil and Pulwama consistently recorded the strongest performance across primary, upper-primary and secondary education during the two-year period examined. Ganderbal and Rajouri performed efficiently in primary and upper-primary education, while Kathua, Leh and Srinagar showed efficiency in primary and secondary education.
At the same time, the study identified substantial productivity losses in several districts.
For primary education, Samba recorded a technological decline of approximately 77.2%, accompanied by declines in technical and pure efficiency. Jammu, Kishtwar and Samba were among the districts that experienced declines across multiple efficiency measures, while Poonch recorded declines in all efficiency indices except technological efficiency.
The findings become more concerning at the secondary-school level. The researchers found that 15 of the analysed district units recorded declines in total factor productivity, while none recorded an increase in productivity during the study period. In seven other districts, productivity remained unchanged.
The study also found that improvements in infrastructure and teacher training did not automatically translate into efficiency gains at every level. Primary schools in Jammu and Baramulla, for example, initially showed inefficient resource utilisation but improved in the following year after changes including increased teacher training and infrastructure. However, comparable improvements were not observed across upper-primary and secondary education to the same extent.
At the primary-school level, the average variable-returns-to-scale efficiency remained high at 0.980 in 2020-21 and 0.977 in 2021-22. For upper-primary schools, the average rose from 0.952 to 0.960, while secondary-school efficiency increased from 0.943 to 0.951.
The researchers also found that technological change was a major factor behind productivity movements. In upper-primary education, 16 district units recorded productivity declines, largely attributed to technological change. In secondary education, productivity ranged from 0.463 to 1.000, with no district showing an overall productivity increase.
The study does not measure student learning outcomes directly. The authors state that learning outcomes could not be incorporated because of limitations in district-level data, and they caution that the research covers only two academic years and does not include every possible educational variable.
The findings therefore should not be read as a simple ranking of “good” and “bad” districts. Rather, they point to differences in how effectively educational resources, infrastructure, teacher training and other inputs are being converted into measurable educational outputs.
For Jammu and Kashmir, the most significant finding may be that increasing inputs alone does not guarantee higher productivity. The study points towards more efficient resource utilisation, technological improvement and better management of existing educational resources as areas requiring greater attention. KNT
© Kashmir News Trust (KNT). Unauthorized use without attribution is prohibited.
