Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 27: About 50 students and some staff members of Government higher secondary school, Mubarak Mandi and Ranbir higher secondary school had a different kind of experience in Visitor’s Gallery of the Legislative Assembly this morning, where they had been personally called by Education Minister Naeem Akhter to witness debate and reply on the grants of Education Ministry scheduled in the Assembly from 11 am to 1.30 pm.
However, what these students witnessed was neither the debate on the Education Ministry nor the reply of the Minister but massive uproar and protests by the opposition National Conference and Congress MLAs over reported denial of the Centre to hand over power projects to the State, which led to two adjournments during Question Hour.
The “unruly” scenes left over the students “dejected”. Even Naeem Akhter broke down outside the Assembly and “regretted” his move to bring the children to witness the proceedings of the House.
Akhter requested the opposition members to allow the proceedings of the House to continue but the opposition MLAs continued with their protest.
“Please calm down and let me speak on the issue of these children. They have come here to see the proceedings when the issue concerning their future would be discussed. What impression they would carry with them when they return from here,” Naeem Akhtar said in the House.
Later, when the House was adjourned by the Speaker Kavinder Gupta, Akhtar broke down outside the House while speaking to the media. “We had brought the school children to show them the proceeding of the House. We wanted to show them how we frame the policies in the education sector… I am really disappointed with the way opposition members behaved,” he said.
Akhtar said he was concerned about the impression the school children would carry with them. “They are the future and we should have presented an example for them to follow,” he said.
The school students who had come to see the proceedings of the House said that they never expected that the lawmakers would behave this way.
The Education Minister was particularly dejected with the behaviour of former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and CLP leader Nawang Rigzin Jora, who didn’t stop their MLAs from protesting and even themselves joined the protest.
“Jora himself is St Stephen’s product. What message he conveyed to the students? Omar too facilitated unruly protests,’’ Naeem regretted.
“Opposition is a part of democracy, but we never expected that they would behave in such a way. We had come to witness how our lawmakers discuss the issues that concern the future of the State, but we feel dejected and disappointed of what we witnessed today,” Kritika Sharma, a student of the Government Girls Higher Secondary school, Mubarak Mandi said.
Rohail Shamim, a student from Ranbir Higher Secondary School, said that he had come with a lot of expectations. “I had a lot of expectations as it was for the first time in my life I came to see the proceedings of the house, but all my expectations were shattered”.
Meanwhile, the Education Minister blamed the previous National Conference-led Government of various “wrongs” in the education sector.
“I got these kids from school to watch the debate on education and I regret having done that as it was a decision of my heart and not my mind,” Akhter said.
He said that his motive to bring the children to the House was to also give them an opportunity to interact with former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. “I would have requested former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to speak to these students as he was once a youth icon”.
He said that he was left with a sense of “guilt and shame”.
Akhtar said that he had put in lot of efforts to unveil the vision of the Government in the education sector.
“I would have been unveiling the vision of this Government for the education and the systemic problems that we have created in the system over the years and my plans to resolve them,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh while condemning the behavior of the opposition said, “The people and the public is rating it and its in the public domain. I think they are the better judge”.
He said that today’s incident would put a question mark on democracy.
“It is a matter of concern that our kids who are student of political science and have come here on the invitation of the Education minister and incidents like these would put a mark on democracy in these kids mind,” he said.
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