Jahangeer Ganaie
Anantnag, Aug 24: Jammu and Kashmir Education Minister, Sakeena Itoo Saturday addressed a press conference in Anantnag, clarifying the government’s position on the functioning of schools affiliated with the Falah-e-Aam Trust (FAT).
Sakena said that the future of 51,000 students enrolled in these institutions would not be jeopardized due to administrative and verification hurdles.
Itoo said the charge of FAT-affiliated schools has been temporarily handed over to the principals of nearby government higher secondary schools until the process of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) verification of their management committees is completed.
“If any school receives clearance earlier, we have no objection in immediately handing it back to the local community. This decision is purely to safeguard the future of students who cannot be left without institutional responsibility,” she said.
The minister explained that since 2019, FAT schools have been operating without formal management committees or proper registration. According to her, the reason lies in adverse CID reports against certain members of the committees, which blocked the process of renewal.
“As a result, around 51,000 students were left in uncertainty. They had no one to take responsibility for their academics, and last time, even the board refused to accept forms of three girl students. Such situations were creating unnecessary hurdles and mental stress for children,” Itoo said.
To prevent further complications, the Education Department decided to authorize government school principals to oversee administrative responsibilities, including signing board examination forms, until new committees are formed and verified.
Responding sharply to criticism from opposition parties, particularly the PDP, Itoo accused them of double standards and politicizing a sensitive matter.
She recalled that in 2002, under the government of late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Jamaat-e-Islami-run schools were raided and shut down, yet those who are raising questions today remained silent.
“Again in 2019, under the PDP government, adverse CID reports came against FAT schools, leaving them without registration and management. Those who were in power then did not utter a single word. But today, when we are working to ensure students don’t suffer, they are spreading misinformation that schools are being closed,” she said.
The minister further alleged that her original order was deliberately modified but they aren’t asking anything to them.
“I had clearly mentioned that these schools would be supervised by principals of the nearest government schools only as an interim arrangement and would be handed back once the CID clearance comes within three months. Our intention is not to close schools but to provide them a way to function smoothly with proper management,” Itoo clarified.
She reiterated that the FAT schools were not shut down under the present dispensation, but rather given a mechanism to continue functioning until legal and administrative formalities are completed.
“Those who claim schools are being closed must understand these schools have been facing restrictions since 2019. Instead of playing politics, opposition leaders should ask why nothing was done back then. We have opened a pathway so that they get registered with proper managing bodies, and children are not denied education,” she said.
In a direct attack on PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Itoo asked why the party had remained silent for the past several years on this issue.
“If we are in this situation today, where J&K has limited powers as a Union Territory, it is because of PDP’s failures. Till now, they were mum, and suddenly they are projecting themselves as champions of education. My question to Mehbooba Mufti is simple – where were you sleeping all these years when students were suffering? This is about the careers of our children and not about politics,” she said
Itoo assured parents and students that the government’s priority is to protect education and prevent disruption in the academic calendar. She emphasized that the move is a temporary arrangement until the schools are regularized through proper management committees cleared by CID.
Meanwhile, Peoples’ Conference (PC) chief and MLA Handwara Sajad Lone said while addressing the press conference said, “We want to express our rejection against the taking over of FAT schools. We also condemn the banning of religious institutions that were functioning in a democratic country.”
“I have brought a timeline as to how this happened and let me tell you one thing that whatsoever has happened couldn’t have happened without the Kashmiri partner,” Lone said.
Lone strongly condemned the act and said that no impediments should be created in the educational arena. “We demand to find such a medium via which schools will remain functional. The education minister has power and she should change the order.”
“The law under which this action was taken yesterday, this law was passed in the assembly by the Dr Farooq Abdullah led government in 1983. The governor’s assent was received on March-23-1983. If they made a law, then the first law was in 1990 when there was a governor rule here, but then Kashmiri partner was Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed,” he said.
Lone further said, “The law was made by the Kashmiri in collaboration with the governor when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was Home Minister. That time FAT was banned for the first time.”
“The FAT schools were banned again in 2019 with the reference orders of 1990 but that time there was no Kashmiri partner and no action was taken,” he said.
The PC’s chief further said that we need to understand that FAT schools were banned but no action was taken but today in 2025, there is a Kashmiri partner and the ban on FAT schools is being implemented.
“I also want to add that in 2010, an SRO was passed by the then Chief Minister and who is the current Chief Minister. The matter of takeover and the legal pathway has been made by our Kashmiri parties and the central government on its own never banned it unless was a local partner,” Lone said.
