I am sure Geelani and other Hurriyat leaders are equally worried about fate of our children
Er Rasheed
There is very little scope for me to intervene in what you had argued with Geelani Sahab, as you have outrightly made it a Pir affair. But I am writing more as a parent than an MLA because my dream of seeing my elder son Abrar, who is studying in a Govt High School, excel, seems to be in doldrums due to uncertainty over conducting the exams. As Minister of Education it is your right and duty to use all your good offices to ensure that exams are conducted well in time.
However, It makes no sense if you try to make Geelani Sahab understand significance of education, as the parent organisation of Geelani, Jamaat-e-Islami, has contributed much in the field of education through Fallah e Aam Trust (FAT). I am sure Geelani and other Hurriyat leaders are equally worried about fate of our children. Your curiosity over conducting exams deserves appreciation but going by your track record it takes little to conclude that you are talking sense but seem to be more enthusiastic about the impact of conducting exams over ongoing mass uprising.
What dares me to say so is your behaviour I have keenly observed in and outside assembly during last two years. I saw you preaching more as a defender of RSS and Sang Parivar rather than focusing on education. You humiliated even your own MLAs whenever they would approach you with important issues pertaining to education.
Had you really been sincere, my concrete evidences against a senior officer would not have gone waste, as he played with the career of thousands of children of my consistency. Had you been really worried about revolutionising education, you would have at least allowed my Bill to consideration stage in the House, seeking it mandatory for children of all govt servants and public representatives to study in govt schools. The step would have provided equal opportunity and a level playing field to children of all; from a daily wager to a Chief Secretary.
Your open letter gives a clear cut notion as if Geelani Sahab is the only barrier in conducting exams but you need not to forget that Geelani Sahab is creation of sentiment and sentiment was, is and will be always there – with or without Geelani Sahab. So please don’t forget Geelani Sahab is just one of the custodians of the sentiment and once he succumbs to your Pir politics his relevance will be over. We all need to remember that to ensure a ray of hope one has to learn living with dark nights and tunnels. The sentiment was there, when Iffat used to be proxy of Nayeem Sahab to represent Kashmir Cause; it’s still there when Nayeem Sahab has preferred to change from being a proxy for azadi to that of Sang Parivar.
So not difficult to understand that for Nayeem Sahab getting dividends from situations and circumstances allows him to take 360 turn. Isn’t quality education more important than getting degrees? If so, should Nayeem Sahab not have advised Mehbooba Ji to recruit 10,000 teachers rather than recruiting 10,000 SPOs as who knows better than Nayeem Sahab that there are thousands of primary schools where there is just one teacher for four or five classes. Perhaps Nayeem Sahab is under the illusion that kid of a farmer, carpenter, villager, or a street vendor studies either at Burn Hall or Biscoe. Whenever a question was put to Nayeem Sahab in the assembly asking for creation of posts in high schools, higher secondaries and colleges, he would simply respond by saying, “currently there is no such proposal before the govt”, preferring to ignore that almost every govt institution has dearth of teachers and courses. Had Nayeem Sahab been sincere he would have not provoked children by saying that there would be no concession in syllabus ignoring that it was no fault of students not to complete the syllabus. By issuing harsh dictates Nayeem Sahab should be held directly responsible for forcing and radicalising students, when they take to streets and shout the slogan Boycott, Boycott, Exam Boycott, a slogan that hits every parent including myself like a bullet. Let me conclude with the request as a parent to all concerned parties not to politicise education.
Your’s Sincerely
Er Rasheed