SRINAGAR: The Jammu Kashmir Civil Society Forum (JKCSF) has strongly criticised certain private schools and bookshops for allegedly exploiting parents through the unregulated sale of textbooks and uniforms at exorbitant prices, terming the practice a “loot in the name of education.”
While welcoming the recent directives of Education Minister Sakina Itoo to Chief Education Officers for inspecting schools and bookshops involved in such irregularities, JKCSF said the move came too late, as classes for the new academic session had already begun.
Forum Chairman Abdul Qayoom Wani said the delay and inefficiency of the Jammu Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) in ensuring the timely distribution of prescribed textbooks had caused significant academic loss to students. He urged the authorities to take moral and administrative responsibility to rectify the system “on a war footing.”
JKCSF also called for evaluating private schools based not merely on examination results but on the long-term success of their students in professional, research, and literary fields.
The Forum further demanded a complete ban on interviewing children and parents during admissions, saying it violates the principle of Education for All and fosters psychological and social discrimination.
“Education must remain a noble mission, not a marketplace. Timely intervention and accountability are essential to safeguard the future of our younger generation,” Wani further added.
