The Jammu and Kashmir government, on Sunday, ordered closure of coaching centres offering tuition up to class 12 to remove the “distractions in and around schools”, in the wake of widespread student protests against the Kathua rape-murder incident.
The decision was taken during a meeting with officers of the state education department, including chief education officers (CEOs) and principals of government higher secondary schools. The order, however, shall have no bearing on the coaching centres providing training for professional courses to students of class 12, an official spokesman said.
In order to remove distractions in and around schools, and to put in place a regulatory mechanism for improving the academic environment in the state, Education Minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari has directed that all those private coaching centers offering tuition up to class 12 will be closed for the time being, he said. The decision will be reviewed on fortnightly basis.
Bukhari directed the officials to compile a list of teachers working in such coaching centers and also asked the school authorities to conduct parent-teacher meetings once every week.