Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 1: Parents in Baramulla district of north Kashmir have accused private schools of forcing them to buy textbooks at exorbitant rates from specific shops, despite Government directives to adopt Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) books.
Complaints of violations against these schools have been pouring in from parents across the district, particularly against top schools that continue to sell books at specific shops at their own rates, in nexus with booksellers.
“My child in the nursery needs textbooks that cost Rs 4100, while I had to pay around Rs 2600 for another child at a different school. When I reminded booksellers about the government order, they said the school administration had fixed the rates,” one parent said.
Parents in the district expressed frustration over the exorbitant prices and poor quality of textbooks being sold by a certain bookstore designated by private schools in the area.
According to them, the cost of textbooks is almost twice the actual price, and the quality is substandard, failing to meet the required standards. They said despite a circular issued by the school education department asking private schools to refrain from keeping student clothes and textbooks at specific stores, many private schools in the district are continuing to use designated bookshops near the institutions as the new academic year begins. “It also raises questions about the transparency of the process and whether schools are profiting from the sale of textbooks,” a parent said.
The parents expressed concern over the education department’s inability to regulate unfair trading practices in schools. They raised questions about the school’s recommendation of additional books for young children, pointing out that the government has introduced NCERT books in both public and private schools.
“This adds an unnecessary burden to children, contrary to the government’s goal of reducing the workload for young students. By requiring students to use both government-issued and school books, the school is imposing an unnecessary double burden on students,” a parent said.
Chief Education Officer of Baramulla, Balbir Singh, told Excelsior that not a single complaint had come to him from the parents. However, he assured that they would take action if any complaint was received.
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