“The regulated academic system has become a commercial syndicate that preys on parents, forcing them to buy numerous textbooks (e.g., for computer science/moral science) for subjects often neither taught nor evaluated in school.”
For more than a decade, a troubling reality has been unfolding in plain sight across Kashmir’s private education sector. Private schools, in complicity with select booksellers and publishers, have been forcing students to purchase books that are neither prescribed by the J&K Board of School Education (BOSE) nor taught meaningfully in classrooms. What should have been a regulated, transparent academic ecosystem has instead mutated into a commercial syndicate — one that preys on parents’ pockets and students’ helplessness. Each academic session, parents are handed long lists of textbooks, including subjects like computer science and moral science, which, in many cases, are not taught regularly or evaluated in schools. Yet, families are compelled to buy these additional books — invariably from particular bookstalls recommended by the schools themselves. This is no coincidence, but a well-established practice sustained by a network of mutual financial interests between private school administrations, booksellers, and specific publishers. This nexus is no secret. It is a daylight malpractice that has thrived because of official inertia and a near-complete absence of systemic scrutiny. Only when this year’s controversy erupted — after students had already purchased the unprescribed books — did the authorities initiate action, and even that seems more symbolic than substantive. Orders were issued, statements made, and a list of six private schools was flagged for violating BOSE norms. But beyond the headlines, not much changed. The penalty of de-affiliation or derecognition, often touted as a strict measure, has historically been little more than a theatrical gesture. These punitive steps are usually reversed within two to three months, allowing the same institutions to resume business as usual. This cyclical “punish and restore” strategy does not dismantle the nexus — it merely disrupts it temporarily, giving the illusion of reform. What remains missing is accountability at all levels.
“Asking students to buy non-BOSE-approved textbooks is a form of exploitation and a violation that has severely eroded transparency and compromised the integrity of education in Kashmir for over a decade. It calls on the government to act decisively, consistently, and transparently to dismantle this entrenched nexus.”
No meaningful reports have been sought from private schools explaining why unprescribed books were recommended. Neither have the concerned publishers or bookshops been questioned about their role in printing or pushing illegal titles into school lists. Worse still, there is no defined mechanism for checking which books are being supplied to bookstalls each season. The system, for all intents and purposes, has been hijacked by vested interests. If the government genuinely intends to restore trust in the schooling process, it must go beyond perfunctory warnings. A simple, just, and effective step would be to refund parents for the unprescribed books they were forced to buy. Students should be allowed to surrender such books at their respective Zonal Education Offices, with refunds facilitated through the erring schools and the involved sellers. Only then will accountability begin to take a tangible shape. Asking students to buy additional, non-BOSE-approved textbooks is not merely an administrative lapse — it is a form of exploitation. It is a violation that has gone unchecked for more than a decade, eroding transparency and compromising the integrity of education in Kashmir. The government must act decisively, consistently, and transparently if this entrenched nexus is to be dismantled once and for all.
