J&K school board warns of action against schools deviating from prescribed textbooks

JKBOSE has mandated textbooks for schools up to Class 12 in J&K, drawing criticism from political parties & publishers.

The Jammu & Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) has asked all schools up to Class 12 to follow textbooks prescribed by the Board in Union Territory. The order has drawn criticism from political parties and publishers in the U.T.

In its latest order issued this month, the Board warned of a disciplinary action and imposition of a penalty up to ₹50,000 or both against those schools recommending books besides the one prescribed by the Board.

“No school shall force any parent or students to purchase books or material other than those published and prescribed by JKBOSE,” the order read. 

It advised the parents to report to the authorities in case any school forces them to purchase books other than those published by the Board.

The latest order comes in the wake of the judgement by the J&K High Court last year that upheld that the Board was vested “with statutory power to prescribe text books, which include publication of these books”. 

“Neither the private schools nor other publishers have any right to compel the Board to prescribe text books published by these private publishers,” the High Court observed. 

The J&K Private Schools United Front, which had opposed the Board’s move, claimed that the Board “cannot not make it mandatory for the schools”.