Both the Kashmir and Jammu chapters of the Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir have expressed their reservations and concern over the reported order of the Central Ministry of Education making it mandatory for every school in the Union Territory (UT) to get affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
J&K Private Schools Association, Jammu, J&K Private Schools Coordination Committee, Jammu, Private Schools Association J&K in an appeal to the Honorable Lieutenant Governor (LG) of J&K, Manoj Sinha, and Chief Secretary Dr. A. K. Mehta, the Private Schools Associations, have urged the UT Administration to allow the existing norms and procedures of affiliation and recognition of schools in J&K to continue in accordance with the law and regulations in force.
According to a press statement issued by Kamal Gupta, Rameshwar Singh Manhas, and G. N. Var, the private schools organizations have asserted that affiliation to CBSE or any other national or international board should be a matter of choice for schools to make, as it is now, rather than being thrust upon them by the Ministry of Education or any other agency.
“Any move to make it mandatory for all schools in J&K to switch over to CBSE would also run contrary to the National Education Policy 2020, which encourages decentralization and institutional autonomy,” the statement said.
The Associations have also pointed out the important contribution being made by the J&K Board of School Education (JKBOSE) under the overall academic leadership of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), as in other states of the country.
The Associations strongly believe that affiliation to CBSE or any other national or international board should continue to be left to schools to decide, rather than being thrust upon them, one way or the other. The existing arrangement has, as a matter of fact, stood the test of time on the strength of relevant laws, rules, and regulations.
The Associations said that the school system in J&K has been mainstreamed since the 1960s under the overall academic leadership and professional support of NCERT, as in other parts of the country. With added policy thrust and record capital investment in recent years, the education sector in J&K is bracing up towards further, unprecedented progress. The new and emerging ecosystem in education would, however, need more of ease of schooling than avoidable curbs or controls.
Currently, there are around 30,000 schools in J&K, including around 5,500 private schools affiliated with JKBOSE. Changing their affiliation without taking on board the stakeholders would run contrary to laws and also disrupt the entire education sector.