By Auqib Javeed, TwoCircles.net
According to reports, at least 20 schools run by Jammat’s education wing Falah-e-Aam Trust (FAT) have been seized by the authorities in various districts of the state. However, FAT has maintained that it has no affiliation with JeI. Sources said that at least 350 schools are currently being run by the Trust with over 10,000 teachers and over one lakh students.
While talking to TwoCircles.net. FAT Chairman Mohammad Maqbool said most of the students are either orphans or students belonging to poor families. The trust, he said, is imparting education to children without any biases. “I want to make it clear that we have no affiliation with Jamaat-e-Islami J&K. We don’t know why we are being targeted,” he said adding that the Government must consider the future of thousands of children and teachers.
A teacher working with FAT from Shopian district of South Kashmir said a FAT-run school in his district has over 3000 children. “I can tell you there must about one lakh students enrolled in FAT-run schools throughout the state.” said the teacher who wished to not be named fearing detention.
The parents of those wards who are enrolled in the schools run by FAT are anxious about the future of their kids.
“My two kids were enrolled in a FAT-run school since it was sealed by the authorities yesterday, I don’t know what to do know,” said Mushtaq Ahmad of Ganderbal district of Central Kashmir.
“My children were receiving top-class education…apart from that they would get good religious and moral education,” he said. “The government is forcing our kids to become militants,” he added.
An alumnus of FAT while talking to TwoCircle.net, said banning the JeI’s educational institutions in the J&K can be disastrous for the downtrodden section of the society as thousands of students education is at stake and hundreds of teachers would lose their source of income.
“This authoritarian and totalitarian decision to deprive the students right to educate is highly condemnable and unfortunate. It is high time that the government should examine her decision otherwise it would bring serious negative ramifications,” said Irshad Ahmad, an alumnus and now a PhD scholar.
Following the ban, the alumni of the schools run by FAT have penned an open letter to the government of India and the J&K government demanding the schools be spared from the ban.
The letter, a copy of which was received by TwoCircle.net, is signed by the former students spread across the world, including leading universities like Harvard University.
Giving detailed background of the Trust, it said these schools were detached from the JeI so as to remain apolitical, charitable and social welfare organisation under FAT.
“Presently, Falah-E-Aam Trust runs over 350 schools across the state of Jammu and Kashmir, with an enrolment of over 1,00,000 students and 10,000 staff members,” said the signed letter circulated on social media.
It listed FAT’s objectives including providing succour to poor and needy irrespective of religion, colour, creed and assistance in the education of poor and needy students. The schools have produced legislators, jurists, doctors, engineers, teachers, and administrative officers and its pass outs have a “massive contribution” in good governance in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Closure of schools associated with the FAT will not only challenge the right to good education of tens of thousands in J&K, but it will also lead to massive tensions on the ground. It is lethal for a government to ban institutions for a political agenda. Education must not be made causality for political vendetta,” it added.