JAMMU: An intense protest demonstration was staged in front of the BOSE office in Jammu, protesting the J&K Board of School Education’s (JKBOSE) decision to tag pupils attending private schools. It appears that this was the first time that private school administrators, instructors, drivers, and other stakeholders came together to jointly denounce the challenges they confront. The J&K Private Schools Association served as the umbrella organisation for the protest demonstration. Members of the protestors were observed holding flags and carrying placards. They were pleading with the JKBOSE to permit all regular class 10th, 11th, and 12th pupils to show up from the same school where they had registered for the previous session. Ajay Gupta, the president of the JKPSA Central Body, expressed regret over the J&K Board of School Education’s recent establishment of a new practice tagging board students—those in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades—with those attending neighbouring government schools. He continued, explaining that JKBOSE’s action at the close of the academic year has not only paralysed board classes but also rendered the entire system inoperable, even for students in grades 1 through 8. He further stated that JKBOSE failed to account for the effects of tagging on the salaries of teachers, ministerial staff, drivers, cleaners, peons, bank EMI, EPFO, ESIC, rent (in the case of rented buildings), electricity bills, and other expenses. Members called for an urgent reversal of JKBOSE’s order pertaining to student tagging. In addition, they vowed to stage similar demonstrations throughout Jammu and Kashmir if the government did not revoke its divisive ban on private education. Speakers at the demonstration included Kamal Gupta (JKPSA Chairperson), Deepak Handa (Senior Vice President), Sat Paul Mansotra (General Secretary), Sanjeev Luthra, Ajay Singh, R P Sharma, Lal Chand Gandotra, Vineet Gupta, Siddheshwar Sadotra, Laddi Kumar, Tariq, Shafiq Ul Rehman, Gurbax Singh, Vishal Magotra, Naresh Kumar, Amajed, Anil Choudhary, Rashpal Singh, Dr. Madan Mohan, Naresh Kumar, Ankur Arora, Rishab Choudhary, Subash Chib, Vidant, Manish Joshi, Vivek Chouhan, Rishab Mengi, Usha Jamwal, and others
