House defeats Bill seeking govt schooling for officials’ children

Srinagar: The Legislative Assembly on Thursday defeated a Private Members’ Bill seeking mandatory enrolment of children of public representatives and government servants in government educational institutions.

The Bill, moved by MLA Langate Sheikh Khursheed Ahmad, sought leave to introduce legislation aimed at making government schooling obligatory for children of “public men and public servants”.

The government, as per the news agency Kashmir News Observer, opposed the Bill, with the concerned Minister saying that while she respected its intent, mandatory enrolment in government schools was not feasible.

The Minister said infrastructure in government schools was being upgraded and acknowledged that some schools still required improvement. She said the remaining schools would also be taken up for upgradation in the future.

The Minister said children have the fundamental right and liberty to choose where they want to pursue their education. She also cited NEET qualifiers from government schools to underline that students from these institutions were achieving success.

She said the focus should be on convincing people about the quality of government schools rather than making enrolment compulsory and requested Khursheed to withdraw the Bill.

The MLA, pressed for the Bill, arguing that infrastructure alone could not improve the situation in government schools. He said enrolment was equally important and that increasing enrolment could contribute to improving the overall situation in government schools.

The MLA further said policymakers should examine the issue and argued that children of Ministers, MLAs and government employees should also be enrolled in government schools.