KL Report
SRINAGAR
The Private Schools United Front (PSUF) of Kashmir has alleged of undue harassment from police and district administration despite the issue of examinations already being resolved in consultation with officials of education department.
The front accused the police and district administration of creating hurdles in the smooth functioning of the educational institutes. “During our lengthy talks with officials of education department, we already resolved the examinations issue,” said general secretary of J&K PSUF. “We even made them agree to one of the main demands of making March session a permanent feature.”
The front said that examinations were a minor issue as every school is already running along a set code. “There is a government rule that up to class 8, no student can be retained. Their exams are part of continuous comprehensive evaluation (CCE) process and not class promotion. The main board exams are the responsibility of education department and they have announced their date to be March 2015,” he said.
The front accused the police and district administration of unnecessarily raiding the schools over non-existent issues. “It seems the district administration and police have no other work but to raid schools full of small kids,” said Var. “Legally they have no ground and their presence on our campuses in unjustified. It is pure harassment of school staff who are engaged in imparting education.”
The front said that such actions have duly credited the state as a police state. “I wonder where are we living. In certain cases, schools were raided and told not to conduct class test. Are we not allowed to even conduct weekly tests?” asked he. “We suspect they want to create an atmosphere of terror so that schools are closed down prematurely. We were thinking of holding special winter camps for the benefit of both flood affected and non-affected students. But now we are not being allowed to function properly in good weather too.”
The front said that if any complaint is received against a school then action should be taken according to the rules of education department. “The government has formulated remedial measures of proper inspection, imposition of fines and other penalty by directorate of education but raids by police or even district administration is not mentioned in those rules,” he said.
