Row erupts over government ordering takeover of 215 Jamaat-linked schools in Kashmir

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday taking control of 215 schools managed by the banned Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliate Falah-e-Aam Trust has triggered a controversy with the education minister Sakina Itoo saying that the order issued by the secretary, education department, was contrary to her proposal as she never said that the deputy commissioners of the respective districts should take over these schools.

In a video message, Itoo said that rumours were being spread on the issue. “The proposal moved by me clearly states that the term of managing committees of these 215 schools had expired and these schools would be looked after by cluster principals and not by the Deputy Commissioners as is mentioned in the government order,” she said.

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The Minister said that the decision was taken as the term of management committees of these schools had expired putting the academic future of 51363 students at stake. To safeguard their academic future, we decided that the principal of the nearest higher secondary school will look after these schools, but the order issued by the secretary education mentioned that the DCs will take over these schools.

Of these 215 schools, 96 are in north Kashmir, 89 in South Kashmir and 30 in central Kashmir, including Srinagar.

However, the order issued by Ram Niwas Sharma, secretary, school education department, mentioned that the Ministry of Home Affairs had under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 2019, declared the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) Jammu and Kashmir an unlawful association.

The secretary ordered that “The managing committee of the 215 schools as given in Annexure ‘A’ shall be taken over by the District Magistrate/ Deputy Commissioner concerned who shall propose a fresh managing committee in due course for the concerned schools after getting these duly verified”.

Reacting to the action against the JeI managed schools, PDP leader Iltija Mufti said, “Throughout Kashmir’s history every time the National Conference got a brute majority their first target has always been the Jamaat. Be it 1977 or even today where they have taken it too far by jeopardising the future of thousands of students leaving them in distress. The hazy, illogical U-turn from NC’s Education Minister only exacerbates the crisis. Why not admit what has been their official policy of punishing & outlawing the Jamaat for decades?”.

PDP MLA Waheed Para tried to corner Itoo on X: “If the Minister now claims that the takeover of FAT/Jamaat schools by the DCs was not her proposal, then why doesn’t she come clean and make her original proposal public for everyone to see?”

“If her proposal has indeed been altered by officers, then as the Education Minister, it is her duty to rescind such orders immediately”, he wrote.

“After all, whether it is a DC or a Principal taking over, both are merely appendages of the government. The reality is simple — the NC Government has a long history of misusing authority to target its political opponents, be it Jamaat or any other voice of dissent”.

Para wrote in another post on X: “One of the major successes of the Government of India post-abrogation was integrating Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) into the electoral process. This milestone, which could not be achieved through arrests or encounters, was realized during the 2024 elections when the Ameer of Jamaat and JeI members actively fielded candidates”.

People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone also criticised the NC government on the issue.