SRINAGAR, SEP 09: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh rejected a petition challenging the powers of J&K Board of School Education (JKBOSE) to make it mandatory for private schools to use only those books that have been prescribed and published by it.
“…it is clear that the policy decisions and guidelines issued by the Board with regard to the matters relating to curriculum, syllabus and prescription of textbooks for the schools affiliated to the Board cannot be interfered with by the Courts,” a bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar said while dismissing a petition filed J&K Private Schools United Front, a trust claiming to be working for the welfare of private educational schools and institutes.
Else, the court said, the whole exercise made by various stakeholders including educationists etc. would become futile.
The court said, “Neither the private schools nor other publishers have any right to compel the Board to prescribe textbooks published by these private publishers.”
“The Board while issuing the notification (directions all schools to implement books by it) is right in observing that the practice of prescribing textbooks from different private publishers by different private schools results in non-uniformity in curriculum being taught and even instances of controversial content finding way in some textbooks cannot be ruled out,” the court said, adding, “Therefore, the decision of the Board in prescribing the textbooks published by it for use by the schools and students cannot be interfered with by this Court.”
The court held that the Board has the power to prescribe the courses of instructions, prepare curricula and detailed syllabi and also prescribe textbooks for the Pre-primary, elementary, secondary school and High Secondary (School graduation) and school examinations and Elementary Teachers Training Course. “It is true that the power of the Board to prescribe courses of instructions, prepare curricula, syllabi and to prescribe textbooks has to be subject to broad educational policies and directions on the subject by the Government but the power of the Board to prescribe books which would include publication of textbooks, cannot be diluted or taken away.”
The only requirement is that these prescribed textbooks have to be in consonance with the Education Policy in operation as also in conformity with the National Curriculum Framework, the court said.
“The broad educational policies and the instructions of the Government from time to time on the subject guide the Board in the prescription of the textbooks.
