Today, January 4, the Jammu and Kashmir Educational Welfare Alliance, an amalgam of stakeholders in the private education sector, appealed to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to reconsider the decision of the JK Board of School Education (BOSE) that allows the schools to use only books mandated by the board, as stated in a report by PTI.
Speaking on this, an alliance member, Dr Tauseef Ahmad said, "The decision to exclusively mandate the use of educational materials provided by the JK BOSE has sparked concerns among the stakeholders." Further, "While the objective may be to standardise the educational content, it inadvertently restricts choices available to the students and parents. It potentially hinders the global aspiration of our future generations," he added.
Dr Ahmad said the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2022 underscores the importance of skill-based learning and leveraging the game-based digital and communicative formats to facilitate the holistic development of the students. "We have to think if the books imposed by JK BOSE on private schools are in resonance with the NEP 2020. Also, do these books cater to the curriculum designed under the NEP?" he asked.
Dr Ahmad said the decision puts at stake the future of more than 10,000 families, who are earning their livelihood from book publishing. The alliance members also raised the issue of tagging the students of 125 private schools with the government schools recently.
The Union Territory (UT) administration recently refused to entertain examination forms for the students of private schools, which were operating on state land without proper lease documentation. These students have been allowed to appear in the examinations by tagging them with the government schools.
Educationist react
"Army Goodwill Schools operating from state land have been shown leniency. The same view should be adopted in respect of these schools, where more than 2,300 persons are employed," noted educationist CL Vishen. Further, he said that the government's decision on these schools was against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mantra of Startup India.
"While all facilities are being provided under Startup India and other self-employment schemes with the aim of generating jobs, institutions which have already created jobs are being shut down here," Vishen added, as stated in a report by PTI.
