Is Jammu & Kashmir Education Department ignorant or helpless?

Only Kashmir | Ajmer Alam Wani | 25 Nov 2017
Worth mentioning here that the total amount a student has to pay for class 9th admission, if he is a new admission is Rs 450+485= 935 (if the student is a boy) and in case of a girl student only registration fee of Rs 485 is applicable and the components of School fee are exempted as per the government policy. There are a number of schools in Kashmir Province who are charging fee at their own will between Rs 1000 to 1300 from boys students and Rs 600 to 800 from girl students, which is more than the real notified.

Jammu: No doubt Jammu and Kashmir Education Department is doing wonderful job in imparting education which is indeed eminent from securing 2nd place by India Today in ‘state of states ranking’.
Yet there are few (many few) things which are destroying the roots of education system particularly in Jammu and Kashmir state which indicates the department is either ignorant or helpless.
This noble profession is being dented by not all but few who run various affairs at different levels in their individual or in small associations.
When it comes to act, the authorities at the top level, sometimes ignore where they are supposed to act in the larger interest of public while they act where they are supposed to ignore obviously either because of political influence or for personnel interests.
Some time, if any issue of corruption or misappropriation of money of fleecing the students is brought into the notice of any concerned Authority, they either fail or are helpless to act due to the absence of documentary or verbal proofs for which they themselves are responsible, as on the right time they never took the right initiative .
Though, there are a number of such issues which we are intending to bring into the notice of authorities with the motive to reform the system for larger benefits of people and students instead of department only.
With a hope that the department will come out with a wider public information campaign to aware the parents and the students about the real issues so they can be pulled out of dark.
Keeping other issues aside for a while, which we would touch next time, let us start from the foremost basic step, which is admission.
No doubt the department from time to time issues notices, circulars and orders and keep their files well updated. But until and unless the general public is made aware about the circulars and notices, they can’t resist any move of fleecing by any employee of the department as they don’t have the right kind of knowledge.
Comparatively, the private institutions are far better accountable for the money they receive, as they issue a proper receipt against the fee charged from the students.
On the other hand, no government institution issues a proper receipt against the fee charged from a student of any class which is against the basics of right to real education. However, the government notifies the fees structure with bifurcation of components but without any instructions to issue proper receipt against the fee charged which lets dealing employees go on charging the fee as per their will, due to which the students are fleeced and the corruption goes unchecked.
Interestingly, if such issue are brought into the notice of State authorities, they will either ask you for identifying the school or the employee and if identified, an inquiry committee will be set up and that will end up nowhere, with a closing note on the file as “ nothing adverse was found against the official during the inquiry and the allegations were found baseless”. It is obvious, as the records are updated with real notified amount and in the absence of proper receipt to the students, no documentary proof is available which otherwise would be of no use as they would have mentioned the real notified amount charged in that receipt. But on getting proper receipt, the students and the parents would have noticed the difference. Relevant to mention here that the Director School Education, Kashmir had issued a order bearing No. 113-DSEK of 2016 dated 02/02/2016 notifying the revised fee structure to be charged by the government schools of Kashmir Province with effect from January 2016 only on new admissions.
The committee comprised of Joint Director School Education (SE), CEO Baramulla, CEO Kulgam, Deputy Director Planning DSEK, Dy. CEO Anantnag and OSD (IMW) DSEK had notified fee structure as follows.

But it is unfortunate that several concerned admission in-charges are charging the fee at will to keep their own pockets heavy. As per this notified fee structure, if all components are applied, a boy student seeking admission in class 9th has to pay Rs 450 as school fee if he is a new admission and a girl student is exempted from all these components as per government policy.

The boy student has to pay additional Rs 485 as registration fees which are charged by the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE). The amount being charged by the JKBOSE has been confirmed from the Joint Secretary Exam JKBOSE-Kashmir.
Worth mentioning here that the total amount a student has to pay for class 9th admission, if he is a new admission is Rs 450+485= 935 (if the student is a boy) and in case of a girl student only registration fee of Rs 485 is applicable and the components of School fee are exempted as per the government policy. There are a number of schools in Kashmir Province who are charging fee at their own will between Rs 1000 to 1300 from boys students and Rs 600 to 800 from girl students, which is more than the real notified. Unfortunately, no student can speak against the teacher and no parent can complaint as they don’t have the proof what they have paid for which the policy makers are responsible as they never enforced a practice of issuing proper receipts. As per our policy, we are not disclosing the names of such schools, as we don’t want to target those schools, our motive is public awareness.
The amount is charged at will, the amount deposited in Government Treasuries is real but where the difference amount goes, Is there any one at the leadership level, bureaucracy level or at the ministry level who can take an initiatives so these self run shops are closed from across?. The department has to utilise newspapers, radio, internet and school notices boards to propagate such things also by organising cluster meetings with parents by the officials from directorate levels. Let the things be made open and transparent in public and student interest. Why the Government should allow few employees to practice corruption? It should act tough not by issuing just orders, circulars, notices but by making sufficient grounds for the general public to resist and speak against such practices. The department has to come out with few innovative things to counter these deep rooted social evil.

Ajmer Alam Wani is a Jammu based journalist and is presently serving as Editor-in-Chief, JK Monitor, one of the leading news portal of state.