The Jammu and Kashmir government has taken over 215 schools linked to the banned Jamaat-e-Islami and Falah-e-Aam Trust.
BJP leader Priya Sethi said the move will prevent radicalisation and secure students’ academic future.
The takeover is presented as part of the Narendra Modi government’s efforts to ensure education in the Union Territory remains free from separatist influence.
The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday welcomed the administration’s decision to take control of more than 200 schools previously affiliated with the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), saying the move would protect students from radical influence.
BJP vice president and former education minister Priya Sethi said the JeI and its affiliate, the Falah-e-Aam Trust (FAT), had misused educational institutions to spread radicalisation instead of providing proper learning opportunities.
“By seizing control of these schools, the government has broken this cycle and secured the academic future of thousands of innocent students,” Sethi said in a statement, according to PTI.
She noted that the Ministry of Home Affairs had declared JeI an unlawful association for pursuing an “anti-national agenda”, and described the takeover of 215 schools as a step aimed at ending what she called the “misuse of education”.
According to PTI, Sethi alleged that FAT-run schools were being used to promote separatist ideology among children rather than providing modern and progressive education. “They were hubs of indoctrination, trying to create generations detached from the mainstream of progress,” she said.
The BJP leader maintained that such organisations were not working for social development but instead acted as “breeding grounds of extremism”, misguiding Kashmiri youth. She said the government’s decision to assume direct control of the schools would prevent students from being drawn into separatist activities.
PTI reported that Sethi praised the Narendra Modi government for what she described as its firm approach to safeguarding education in the Union Territory. She added that government oversight of the schools would bring transparency and accountability, assuring parents that students would now be educated in an environment free from radical ideology.
(With inputs from PTI)
