Srinagar, Nov 12: Minister for Education, Social Welfare, Health and Medical Education, Sakeena Itoo on Wednesday said the government is committed to ensuring that no student is deprived of learning opportunities due to unreasonable fee structures.
Chairing a meeting at Civil Secretariat here to assess the issues related to fee fixation and regulation of Private Schools across Jammu and Kashmir, Itoo said education is a social responsibility and directed the officers to strictly enforce existing guidelines and strengthen monitoring mechanisms to prevent arbitrary fee hikes and other regulatory violations.
The meeting was attended by Secretary School Education department, Ram Niwas Sharma; Director School Education Kashmir, Naseer Ahmad Wani; Secretary JKBOSE, Ghulam Hassan Sheikh; Director School Education Jammu, Dr Naseem Javaid; Director Finance School Education department, Administrative Officer Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC), and other concerned officers, either in person or through video conferencing.
During the meeting, the minister held detailed deliberations on a range of issues concerning fee fixation, regulation, and operational transparency of private educational institutions across Jammu and Kashmir.
Recognising the vital role of private schools in supplementing the public education system, the minister called for greater transparency in fee disclosure, adherence to approved structures, and timely redressal of grievances from parents and students.
Itoo stressed the importance of constructive engagement between the government, school managements, and parent associations, advocating for a collaborative approach in shaping a fair and sustainable educational ecosystem across Jammu and Kashmir.
While reviewing other issues, the minister issued strict instructions to CEOs to check the unregulated selling of school textbooks by private schools through various agencies at exorbitant rates. She directed the CEOs to conduct routine checks on schools as well as book shops and take stringent action against schools and book shops involved in selling textbooks at exorbitant rates.
Sakeena instructed the Director School Education to issue a detailed order regarding curriculum/textbooks to be followed by schools and make each CEO to implement that order in letter and spirit. She asked the CEOs to take appropriate action against schools violating this order.
The Education Minister directed the CEOs to establish a suitable grievance redressal mechanism for dealing with complaints related to the fee structure of schools, as well as increased textbook prices.
She directed the officers to develop a fully dynamic website on a government server to enable online applications, fee data submission, and transparent public access to approved fee structures. She asked them to develop evidence-based recommendations for periodic fee revision mechanisms to ensure affordability and sustainability in private education.
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