Decode Politics: Why Omar Abdullah govt, L-G are at odds over running 215 ‘Jamaat-linked’ schools | Political Pulse News

But the order has once again pitted the elected National Conference(NC)-led government against Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha as state Education Minister Sakeena Itoo said her department had not ordered the “take over” of these schools by the DMs or DCs and that the order was “modified without her knowledge”.

The government’s move came three years after the then L-G administration barred the Falah-e-Aam Trust from running educational institutions in J&K, citing a ban order issued against it in 1990.

* What is Falah-e-Aam Trust?

The Falah-e-Aam (Welfare for All) Trust was an education trust set up in 1972 by the Jamaat-e-Islami that was banned as an unlawful outfit by the Centre in 2019.

While the Article 4 of the FAT’s constitution specifies it was a “non-political” body dedicated to “education and service to mankind”, its Article 3 lists opening of “educational institutions to educate students from all shades of society without any discrimination” as one of its main objectives.

The Trust, which was recognised by J&K’s education department, ran around 350 middle and high schools across the erstwhile state. While 300 of these schools were in the Valley, around 50 were spread across Jammu.

* How have these schools been run?

Before 1972, the Jamaat-e-Islami had opened several schools across the Valley. The schools were run and administered by the Jamaat. However, after the establishment of the FAT in 1972, the schools run by the Jamaat were handed over to the Trust. The new schools that came up afterwards were completely run and administered by the Trust. Though the FAT was an affiliate of the Jamaat-e-Islami, it was separate from the Jamaat and called itself a “non-political” body.

In 1990, when the then Governor-led administration, during a six-year period of President’s rule, banned the Jamaat-e-Islami, it also banned the FAT. The government had to absorb thousands of the FAT teachers into the government services. Following the ban, the Trust handed most of its schools to various local management committees.

In 2022, when the administration ordered the sealing of schools run by the Trust, it cited the ban order from 1990. In 2022, the FAT was directly operating less than two dozen schools. The rest of the schools were being run by the local committees. It is these schools that have been covered by the government order issued on Friday on the grounds of “adverse police report” and the future of thousands of students.

In 2019, when the Centre banned the Jamaat-e-Islami under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), it did not ban the FAT.

The FAT schools teach the NCERT syllabus to the students as prescribed by J&K’s education department and the J&K State Board of School Education. Besides, they have separate classes for Islamic Studies and Arabic language. The schools introduced English at the pre-primary level more than two decades before the government schools did it.

* What is NC govt’s stance?

With these schools having played a significant role in Kashmir’s past educational journey, the order issued Friday has put the Omar Abdullah-led NC government in a spot. The government was quick to clarify that while a decision was taken “in the interest of thousands of students”, the “take over” was not ordered by the government and the final order was “modified without the government’s knowledge”.

Education Minister Sakeena Itoo said she had proposed that the FAT schools would be looked after by the principals of the nearest government schools and a list of the proposed principals was also prepared. She claimed the order – issued by Education Secretary Ram Niwas Sharma, an IAS officer who reports to L-G Manoj Sinha – was “modified” without her knowledge to stipulate the “take over” by the DMs or DCs.