Srinagar: The director of Falah-e-Aam Trust (FAT) on Wednesday clarified that the government has withdrawn recognition of only 11 schools of the trust. FAT's statement comes a day after authorities in Jammu and Kashmir banned schools run by the trust, which are affiliated with the banned socio-religious group Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) J&K.
"Government has withdrawn the recognition of those eleven (11) schools which have been directly run by FAT since 1989 under court order. Nothing is banned," the Director of FAT said in a statement shared via a messaging application. The statement further read: "news channels have misunderstood the order. Therefore all deputy Directors/Assistant Directors and Heads of institutes' are hereby informed not to panic and continue functioning as per the norms."
On Tuesday, the Jammu and Kashmir school education department ordered the cessation of academic activities in schools run by the trust. Principal Secretary, J&K School Education department, BK Singh directed Chief Education Officers to seal all FAT institutions in consultation with district administration within the next 15 days. "All the students presently studying in these banned institutions shall admit themselves to nearby Government schools for the current academic session, i.e. 2021-22. All CEOs/Principals/ZEOs shall facilitate the admission of these students," the order stated.
The order also highlighted that "no new admission should be taken to these banned FAT institutions and no further registration of these institutions shall be done." The order comes in the backdrop of a probe done by the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of Jammu and Kashmir Police which alleged gross illegalities, outright frauds, and mass-scale encroachment of government lands by FAT.
Meanwhile, Private Schools’ Association Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) president GN Var termed the decision "not in the welfare of students." "The dropout rate is high in Jammu and Kashmir. The students from humble backgrounds are studying in these schools. The move is not in their interest. Our focus should be on providing quality education to the students and there should be no politics in the education sector," he said.
Also read: J&K orders cessation of academic activities in schools run by Falah-e-Aam Trust
"They are saying the students will be admitted to the nearest government schools. I want to ask these government employees, will they prefer to admit their children to government-run schools? The administration should have taken the association (PSAJK) on board before taking such a decision," he added. Pertinently, the ban on the trust comes more than three years after the JeI was banned in 2019 by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The ministry had claimed that the organisation aided militancy in Kashmir. The ban on FAT schools, however, comes in the wake of the previous ban on JeI on May 11, 1990, at the peak of insurgency in the region. In 1990, when the government banned FAT, around 11,000 students were studying in the schools run by this trust. Following the ban, most of these students and teachers were absorbed in government-run schools.
According to the FAT, the management of the trust approached the court against the ban, which was overturned. Following this, the FAT handed over the management of the majority of its institutions to Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) and village committees. Presently, around 330 schools with around 75,000 students and over 5,000 teachers are associated with the trust. However, officials say FAT directly controls only 18 schools in the region.
Also read: 'JEI schools, mosques, orphanages kept outside scope of seizure'
In its latest order, the J&K administration has referred to the ban order of May 1990, followed by the two court observations made in May 2005 and December 2021 claiming that the FAT was running the schools illegally despite the ban by the High Court order. The administration also claimed that in 2019, they had informed the J&K Board of School Education that the registration and examination forms of students of these schools should be submitted through nearby government-run schools.
Chairman FAT, Showkat Ahmad War claimed that the "schools provide education to their students according to the government-approved and J&K board-recommended syllabi and nothing objectionable is taught in these institutions, which can attract any punitive action at all." "This is a baseless allegation that the Trust is an affiliate of the banned organisation of JeI. It has been time and again made amply clear that the Trust is an independent government recognized and registered non-political entity having no affiliation with any political or religious organisations," War said in a statement on Tuesday.
The chairman of FAT said that the order issued by the Board of Secondary Education is quite unjust and without any justifiable cause or reasons. “The Trust vehemently demands the revocation of this unjustified and unconstitutional order depriving hundreds of students both male and female from getting an education from these purely educational institutions. It is tantamount to the violation of the fundamental right of education of the affected students as well as the Trust,” he said.
