Published On:Sunday, 26 October 2014

Announcing to give mass promotion upto 7th class, Co- ordination Committee of Private Schools Associations alleged that education was never a priority for the government, which has now postponed examination till March next year in the Kashmir valley.

Resolution to this effect was adopted at a meeting attended by the representatives delegates of all 6000 schools of the valley here
today, a day after Chief Election Commissioner of India announced five phase polls in Jammu and
Kashmir from November.

It said that education sector has been always at the receiving end in Kashmir, be it frequent strikes or the wrong policies of government,
schools are first to suffer.

The association alleged that for government, education has never been a priority. Whenever a
tragedy like the recent floods befalls Kashmir, education sector becomes the least concerned
sector of government.

The resolution said "Government is confusing March session with examinations. The reality is that the session has already been completed. We just wanted to conclude the session and plan for next session keeping in view the rehabilitation of
flood hit students."

The association claimed that on the insistence of parents and after thorough deliberation all the
schools of valley have decided to give mass promotion to the students right from "Nursery to 7th class" based on previous performance/term- end achievements to classify under average, average and above-average students.

After completing all formalities, the promoted students would start their next classes by November 1, 2014 in their respective schools, the
resolution said.

It said to help the flood affected students, the schools would hold special/remedial classes for
them, as and when they are able to join the schools, to overcome any shortcomings.

"We deplore the illogical, irrational and arbitrary decision of the cabinet to postpone exams without taking the stake holders on board.

"We want the government to clear its stand vis-- vis those students who won't be able to prepare
for scores of exams at central level including JEE, AMU, CLAT, CMAT, IBPS, PMT, AIPMT, AFMC, etc.
because of delayed exams," the resolution said.

The resolution adopted further said "We deplore the adhoc decision and want a permanent March session as there is no alternative left, otherwise students would be losing two precious years which is a huge irreparable academic loss.

The announcement of postponement of examination has put the flood affected students in a fix, regarding which books to purchase.
Without any scholarship or aid from government, they are being forced to buy books for the current class (which have to be discarded after
examinations) and not the text books for next class that would be functional for the next academic session.

The association said if government really wants to help the flood affected students then they
need to reserve some seats for them in various professional/technical colleges.

The government should also announce a comprehensive scholarship package for them to
cover their tuition fee and associated expenses for next five years.

The provisional registration of existing schools should be made permanent and the so-called
renewal/extension process abolished. The Academic calendar should also be fixed once for
whole year.

The association said Secretary education has only projected the loss of Rs 165 crores to government
schools, but what about the private schools who have lost over RS 400 crores. For helping education sector government should estimate the
entire loss and work for its rehabilitation without any discrimination.

Majority educational institutions remained submerged for two to four weeks in the Kashmir valley, particularly in Srinagar.

Later state cabinet decided to postpone all examinations upto 12th class till March next year.