Jammu and Kashmir Govt to set up panel after removing chapter on Muslim saints from curriculum

The Jammu and Kashmir government will set up a committee to look into the union territory’s school curriculum after the uproar over popular Muslim saint Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Wali’s chapter being removed from Class 9 English textbooks.

“In recent years there were changes where the chapter on Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Wali was removed. The school books for this year have been published and it is taxing to change it immediately. However, we are forming a committee to look into such anomalies,” Education, Health And Social Welfare Minister Sakina Masud Itu said. Hindu.

Ms Itu said the government was considering consulting academics and subject experts on the matter. “If necessary, other stakeholders will also be approached,” Ms Itu said.

In an oblique reference to former mayor Junaid Azim Mattu’s criticism on the issue, the minister said, “It was unfortunate to see people raising the issue when these changes in the curriculum were implemented last year.”

Commenting on the issue, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “There will be no deletion of chapters. This issue has already been raised by Sakina Itu. Sahiba As soon as the government’s attention is drawn to this.”

Officials said last year the lieutenant governor’s administration had engaged non-local experts from various states to draft books for schools in J&K “without consulting local educationists and subject experts”. The government will push for a balanced approach so that local traditions, culture and personalities from Kashmir and Jammu regions are given their due, officials added.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference and the CPI(M) expressed concern over the removal of the local saint’s chapter, which it believes uses peaceful means and methods to propagate a ‘rishi’ version of Islam in Kashmir among Hindus.

“It is deeply disturbing that the entire chapter on the venerable Sufi saint Sheikh-ul-Alam has been removed from the Class 9 textbook. This blue-penciling, done before assembly elections, is unacceptable to a society rooted in rich Sufi tradition,” CPI(M) leader and MLA M.Y. Tarigami said.

JKPC president Sajad Lone termed the move by the J&K Board of School Education (BOSE) as “pure cultural terrorism” and an “attack on our culture and ethos”.

“Sheikh Noor-u-Din Wali is deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people, beyond the existence of BOSE. The saint’s life, especially in times marked by violence, greed and hatred, serves as a beacon of hope and a model to emulate,” he said. said