Govt to distribute textbooks immediately after annual exams: Edu Minister

‘I have also instructed the concerned department, authorities there shall be no delay in providing the textbooks to students’: Sakina Itoo

Srinagar, Nov 21 (KNO): Education Minister Sakina Itoo Thursday said that the students of government schools will receive free textbooks immediately after the culmination of annual exams.

She further said that there will be no delay in distributing the textbooks to students.

Speaking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Itoo said, “When we changed the academic session for the students up to 9th standard, I have already instructed the concerned authorities to make availability of textbooks immediately after the exam exams.”

“Once the examination is completed, we will start the process of distributing free textbooks to students,” she said.

The minister further said, “I have also instructed the concerned department and authorities that there shall be no delay in providing the textbooks to students so that their education won’t suffer.”

Pertinently, the academics of the students in government schools has been badly hit in previous years as the students enrolled in these institutions usually receive free textbooks very late even after commencement of new academic sessions.

In 2023, the department couldn’t deliver free textbooks despite the passage of around two months since the new academic session started in schools.

The delay in distribution of the textbooks in schools had previously left the students at the receiving end as the department has failed to distribute the textbooks in schools on time—(KNO)

Will join sit in protest over reservation policy outside CM office: Ruhullah Mehdi

Srinagar, Nov 20: National Conference (NC) Member Parliament Ruhullah Mehdi on Wednesday said that he would join a sit-in protest outside the Chief Minister’s office if no decision is taken by the government on the controversial Jammu and Kashmir’s reservation policy by next month.

The warning comes against the backdrop of growing frustration among the open merit candidates over alleged disparities in job quota allocations introduced by the Centre.

Mehdi was responding to a social media post apparently by an aspirant, that claimed they voted for Omar Abdullah due to the commitments made by the MP.

“inshahallah if you will not give any response to our demands we start sleeping in open air outside your residence. Sir only 26% jobs for 70% OM population,” the post read.

Reacting to the post, Mehdi reiterated his commitment to the “cause” and said that he has neither forgotten nor backtracked on the issue of rationalisation of reservation. The firebrand MP of NC said that he had talked twice with the chief minister multiple times with other colleagues about this issue.

“Away from the X (Twitter) I have talked with HCM twice and multiple times with other colleagues about this issue. I am told that there is some confusion about the distribution of the rules of business on many issues between the elected government and the other undemocratically imposed office and this subject is one among them. I am assured that the government will take a decision to rationalise the policy soon,” Mehdi posted on X.

“While I respect the institution of the elected government and their right to make decisions. And I think it is fair and logical to give them some time to find a solution. I, at the same time, understand the urgency of the matter. Therefore, I would request all of you to wait till I attend the Parliament session which starts from 25th Nov and concludes on 22nd Dec. If the decision is not taken till then, I will sit with all of you outside the residence or the office of the Chief Minister,” he added.

On Tuesday, PDP leader and MLA Waheed Para had raised concerns over the reservation distribution in the recruitment of lecturers in Jammu and Kashmir.

Para pointed out that out of 575 lecturer posts referred for recruitment, only 238 are for open merit candidates, while 337 are reserved.–(UNI)