Uncertainty grips thousands of students and teachers as the Jammu and Kashmir government moves to ban more than 300 schools linked to Falah-e-Aam Trust – an affiliate of banned Jamaat-e-Islami.
The Trust, however, says barring seven schools the rest cease to be affiliated with it since the Jamaat was banned first in 1990 and recently in 2019.
Amid no clarity as to how many schools will face the axe, fear and anxiety reign supreme among thousands of kids, parents, teachers and management even as the recently issued government order calls for an immediate cessation of academic activities in the FAT-affiliated schools.
As per the order issued by the school education department, the district education officers and administration have been instructed to seal FAT institutions within 15 days.
Students of these schools will get admitted to nearby government schools, the circular reads and bars the FAT institutions to take new admissions or apply for fresh registration.
The order does not say how many schools will face the axe but News 18 has learnt from reliable sources that more than 300 schools are likely to get affected if the government goes ahead with the proposal. Sources say some officials are of the opinion that more time should be given to institutions to clear their name and prove their disassociation with the FAT keeping in view the future of thousands of students and that too in the middle of an academic session and after a two year of closure due pandemic.
Ban on FAT schools comes after the newly formed probe agency – the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of Jammu and Kashmir Police allegedly found frauds, large-scale government land grabbing and raising of funds through schools, seminaries and charities to stoke separatist protests.
It is learnt the ban on FAT schools comes after the newly formed probe agency – the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of Jammu and Kashmir Police allegedly found frauds, large-scale government land grabbing and raising of funds through schools, seminaries and charities to stoke separatist protests.
Showkat Ahmad Var, president of the Trust, told News 18, however, said it runs only seven schools, two of which are of secondary level. He said 700 students study in these institutes. Var said almost all the school previously running under FAT have snapped links with the Trust, applied afresh and appointed new faculties. He said in the majority of cases, local communities have taken over the schools, picked new management and stuck to the curriculum of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education.
“Barring seven schools which are managed by us, the rest have severed links with us from last many years, some even from decades,” he said.
News 18 went around a few schools in Srinagar and Budgam that could be on the government list but found out that many schools earlier affiliated with Jamaat have delinked from it. It has nominated fresh management and applied for fresh registration, many having changed names of schools even.
“Our local community took up the school when the Trust (FAT) had given it up. Its roll has dropped to less than 200 when the ban hit the Jamaat after 1990,” a school principal in Budgam told News 18 on condition of anonymity. The school, he said, was revamped after local elders owned it and in the last eight years it roll had increased to 600 kids. “More than 30 teachers and 15 allied staff are running it now,” he said.
Saleem Siddiqi, a teacher said the school follows the Cambridge curriculum till primary class and onwards the Jammu and Kashmir approved board syllabi.
“We strictly abide by the instructions of the board. There is no deviation whatsoever,” he said. He added the school provides free education to students from disadvantaged sections of the society.
People’s Conference supremo Sajad Lone said that the ban is discriminatory.
‘’Selectively cracking down on institutions which have religious affiliations is grossly unfair and unjust. The administration must understand that J&K is an overwhelmingly Muslim majority state. They cannot possibly ban every institution because they have a bias against the Muslims. It seems they are intentionally targeting the Kashmiris for petty electoral gains in the rest of the country,” he said.
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