Though J&K Government’s Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC) in it’s latest order has barred private schools from charging fee for four months of winter from November to March-April due to change in the annual examination session from October-November to March-April, but finally the implementation of the decision by the School Education Department matters the most. Never forget that the onus of implementing the decisions of this apex fee fixation panel of the Government always lies on the school education department and as such more on the directors of the twin divisions of Kashmir and Jammu but unfortunately the directors of both Kashmir and Jammu divisions are pursuing a very casual approach in implementing the decisions of the said fee fixation panel just to leave both the parents and as well as the students humiliated, dejected and disappointed. Look at just two instances to see the track record of school education department in implementing orders of FFRC- a statutory body of the J&K Government constuted for regulating the fee structure of Private Schools in Jammu & Kashmir. Though takeover of a private school “Tiny Hearts Srinagar” by the School Education Department has been ordered last year by the school education department after clearance from FFRX but school education directorate Kashmir has shown such an irresponsible response after a lapse of one year it has recently sought an approval of the Principal Secretary School Education Department which is not at all required keeping in view the fact that the order of takeover has been issued from the office of the Principal Secretary only. The order issued vide order no; 58 FFRC ;Dated: 29-07-2022 by FFRC on taken over of the “Tiny Heart Srinagar” by FFRC clearly states that even the inspection committee did not cooperate as only ZEO Batmaloo and another member from the School Education Department complied the directions of FFRC in inspecting the school. While the inspection team did not find records in order and also found Principal of the school absent on the day of Inspection, it did not see even students engaged in routine teaching –learning activity in the school campus on the day of inspection.
While the Directorate of School Education Kashmir has established new records of irresponsibility in implementation of the orders on takeover of the “Tiny Hearts Srinagar” a private school and investigation into the financial irregularities of DPS Athwajan Srinagar the parents and students enrolled in private schools of Kashmir Valley don’t expect a forceful implementation of the order of Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC) on four month cut on annual fee from November to March by the School Education Department as intervention from Principal Secretary School Education Department alone can enforce the implementation of the FFRC’s order.
When the school is run by a sole proprietor and not by a trust as mandated under J&K Education Act, the recognition of the school and it’s affiliation with J&K Board of School Education (J&K BOSE) comes into question. Similarly the Directorate of School Education Kashmir appointed a chartered accountant from Jammu as auditor for probing the financial irregularities in Delhi Public School Athwajan Srinagar despite knowing it that the chattered accountant is maintaining cordiality with the school management. As expected the said chattered accountant as auditor gave a clean chit to the school management just to maintain cordiality with school management at the cost of his own professional integrity which is not stated to be above board. So while the Directorate of School Education Kashmir has established new records of irresponsibility in implementation of the orders on takeover of the “Tiny Hearts Srinagar” a private school and investigation into the financial irregularities of DPS Athwajan Srinagar the parents and students enrolled in private schools of Kashmir Valley don’t expect a forceful implementation of the order of Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC) on four month cut on annual fee from November to March by the School Education Department as intervention from Principal Secretary School Education Department alone can enforce the implementation of the FFRC’s order.
