JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir State Council of Educational Research and Training (JKSCERT) is currently facing backlash after it postponed examination of all papers of 8th standard except for the English subject, a move that came after it rescheduled the examination three times in five weeks.
As the voices grow shriller against the JKSCERT, there is more to it than what meets the eyes.
An analysis of the developments in past three months indicate that the JKSCERT postponing the examination was not entirely unjustified, especially in the view of the pressure mounted on it from several quarters including the all-powerful booksellers association, several representations from community and political leaders including from the ruling BJP, the clashes with several other examinations, a number of festivals coinciding with the exam dates, and the harsh winter conditions resulting into closure of several roads thus making the examination centres inaccessible to tens of thousands of students.
The matter at the hand is the postponement of examination scheduled for March 24, 26 and 29. The JKSCERT says that the exam had to be postponed in view of the representations from various quarters in the UT of J&K.
Fingers are also being raised at the JKSCERT for rescheduling the 8th class examinations for three times in a span of 5 weeks.
The first date sheet for the exams was issued on 24 January, per which the examination was scheduled to start from 5th March in soft zone and 26th March in hard zone, ending on March 26 and April 10, respectively. The date sheet was, however, amended in the third week of February which kept the dates the same, except that the examination would now end on April 2 in the soft zone.
Interestingly, the date sheet was once again amended in the beginning of March, in view of the climatic condition and the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kashmir, besides the request made by the JKSSB to reschedule the March 10 and March 17 examination.
As per the third date sheet, the examination was scheduled to commence on 13th March in soft zone and 26th March in hard zone, while the concluding dates were kept the same.
However, diving deep inside the matter reveals that there were more than justifiable reasons for the changes to be made to the exam schedule.
A number of official communications accessed by The Earth News reveal that around a dozen representations were made to the JKSCERT for the same.
A communication from JK Service Selection Board cited the examination for the posts of Deputy Inspector, Sub Inspector, Inspector and Patwari, held on March 3, 10, 17 and 31, respectively, and asked the JKSCERT to postpone the 8th class examination scheduled on March 10 and March 17.
Another representation shot in the first week of March stated that some students have been selected for National Junior Fencing Competition and requested the JKSCERT for postponing the March 26 and March 29 examinations to the first week of April.
The Chief Education Officer of Bandipora informed that hundreds of students from Gurez are currently stranded in Bandipora and other districts of the Valley due to the closure of roads caused by significant snow accumulation during the harsh winters.
Gurez remains cut off from the rest of Valley during winters, with only emergency chopper services operational for essential needs.
The Bandipora CEO in his representation made in the third week of March, requested for postponement of examination for at least one week.
Another representation from a community leader requested for postponement of the March 29 exam in view of the Good Friday, while a number of students also requested for rescheduling of the examination as they had to appear in entrance examinations of various other schools.
The JKBOSE has also maintained the examinations were postponed due to inclement weather, Good Friday and Holi after requests were made by certain quarters including Directorate of School Education.
Several sources in the administration have also indicated the immense pressure mounted on JKSCERT due to reasons well related to private booksellers.
It all started in December last year, when the Kashmir Booksellers and Stationers Association (KBSA) objected to the Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) mandating the use of the textbooks prescribed by it in schools, in place of those published by private publishers.
The move was aimed at ensuring uniformity of curriculum and textbooks across the UT of J&K.
“This is a step to ensure parity among different social strata and to bring the weaker section of society on a par with the rest. The same is enshrined in the Constitution of India and has been endeavouring to uphold social and economic justice and equality,” the government had said.
In the follow-up, the KBSA reached out to several functionaries and cast apprehension on the quality of the JKBOSE-prescribed text books, even going on to allege that these books diverge from the National Education Policy framework, and would go on to spread confusion and learning gaps for students.
In one such representation made to a top BJP leader after the first date sheet was published, accessed by this newspaper, the KBSA also mentioned the consequence of the move on around 3200 booksellers across Jammu and Kashmir, and demanded phased implementation over next four years.
The investigation by this publication reveals that the representation was forwarded by the BJP leader to the administration on the same day, with request to “do justice with KBSA on humanitarian grounds”.
“I shall be thankful, if you kindly do this favour on priority,” said the letter written by the BJP leader.
In its reply, the JKBOSE asserted that there was no question of producing low quality textbooks as compared to that of private publishers.
It said that its text books were being revised in a phased manner to develop them as per the guidelines and recommendations of NCF-FS 2022 and NCF-SE 2023, the seminal document on the NEP to have uniformity in the education system throughout the country.
“Most of the text books of outside publishers do not focus on local contextualisation, local culture and ethos which is one of the important parameters of NEP 2020,” the JKBOSE held its ground.
Several sources in the administration term this a big pressure on the JKBOSE and JKSCERT, a challenge which they foresee growing in the time to come as the “KBSA looks to mount pressure through many means, especially in this election season of the year.”