Illegal profiteering?

The schools in the Valley are once again in news for violating the government orders as the private educational institutions have resorted to “illegal profiteering” by prescribing textbooks from private publishers in addition to the textbooks prescribed by the J&K Board of School Education (BOSE). Interestingly, the private educational institutions have been forcing the parents to buy the additional textbooks, which are not part of the curriculum. At the same time, the textbooks are being sold at exorbitant rates to them, which indicates how the parents are being looted in the name of education. From annual charges to additional textbooks, the private schools have completely turned their educational institutions into a business hub for vested interests, which simultaneously push the poor section of the society to the wall. One fails to understand why the administration and the concerned department in particular has so far failed to launch a drive against all these schools and come up with a strict action against them. It has been years now since the wrongdoings of the educational institutions are coming to the fore, but unfortunately the deserving action continues to elude on the ground, thereby putting a question mark over the functioning of the concerned department. The time calls for a serious action in this regard and those responsible for buying additional textbooks, which are not part of the curriculum, should be dealt with strictly as per the law. At this juncture, the government must come to the rescue of poor parents so that the dictatorship of these private schools will come to an end once for all.