Jammu & Kashmir: Govt pleads for insulating education from disturbances

No govt permission will be required for opening community primary schools in the private sector

Jammu and Kashmir Education Minister Naeem Akhtar on Sunday urged for safeguarding of education from any kind of disturbance, saying otherwise the society would be pushed into dark ages and added the biggest challenge being faced by people is removing children from cycle of violence.

"Education is not merely about employment but it takes an individual on the path of knowledge and emancipation. It has to be made free of disturbances," he said while replying to the discussion on the demands for grants of education and allied departments in the state assembly.

He said the government is planning to make schools and colleges knowledge hubs for not just students and teachers but also for the community and added that a lot still needs to be done to safeguard the future of students.

"The biggest and the most basic challenge we are faced with today is to bring our children out from the cycle of hatred and violence and restore their confidence in life, make them celebrate it and end their alienation," the minister said.

He said there is a need to make the youth and children believe how they can flourish in life and careerwise while living a respectful and dignified life. He said the convergence brought in education has also helped in engaging youth more efficiently.

Referring to the situation in which the last exams were held in Kashmir Valley, he said education in the last five months had become an underground activity as the parents were sending their wards stealthily to schools early morning following which they would come back by 9 AM.

"The place which has been a source of knowledge in the entire sub-continent was pushed to such a dismal situation," he said, adding that it "has been a challenge but parents, teachers and students overcome it successfully which was reflected in the results declared recently."

The minister also rolled out a slew of systematic reforms and policies to widen the reach and objectives of education to meet state specific challenges.

Making a significant move towards universalisation of education in the state, Akhtar said now no government permission will be required for opening community primary schools in the private sector.

He said such schools will, however, have to maintain minimum levels of learning and should be open to inspection by the authorities and added that private schools would be provided recognition for five years.

In another decision aimed at promoting transparency in the department, the education minister announced that services like marriage-based transfers, maternity and childcare leave, study leave and hostel allocation for students will be online.

He said with the modest but consistent efforts of the department functionaries on one hand and students, parents and the civil society on the other, there has been improvement in the educational standards of government schools over the past couple of years.