Private Schools Association of Kashmir (PSAK) has condemned the high handed approach by certain Zonal Education Officers and Cluster heads for harassing the private educational institutes to pay printing charges for holding of exams from Class 5 to 9 by State Institute of Education (SIE).In a statement issued to KNS, association said that the officials are doing so without waiting for Chief Minister and Education Minister to take the final decision on this matter. The Association in a statement said that they have already held talks with Chief Minister and Education Minister, who have assured the schools that the issue will be sorted out in the coming days. "We got assurance from highest authority and still some ZEOs and cluster heads under backing from certain quarters are trying to derail the education sector by harassing small schools," said G N Var Chairman PSAK. "With such high handed approach these officials are destroying the 2017 academic session which had a good start after a long time."The Association said that government order has already become controversial and talks are on to resolve it.
"The government had conducted a survey where it revealed poor teaching learning levels in Government schools. In an ideal atmosphere the government schools should be targeted, but here it is a bizarre situation," said Var. "Private schools were not part of the survey and yet SIE exams are being forced on them. It is like there is pain in leg and doctor is treating the hand. Govt schools are in poor state, they need attention and focus."The Association said that if the Department is still desperate to get the money, then they should open the accounts of previous years. "We had paid printing fee for SIE exams in 2014 and 2016, but in both these years, students were given Mass Promotion due to floods and unrest respectively. No examination was held and yet no student was refunded back the money," said Var. "The State Institute of Education (SIE) got huge money from students during those two years and now they are after schools to get more. It is a burden on poor students and economy schools."The Association has decided not to pay the fee unless final decision is taken by higher authorities. "The order is not practically applicable on us. If government still want to force it on us, it will have a devastating impact on quality education sector. In the name of improvement they will destroy it," said Var. (KNS)