Srinagar, Feb 24: Normally one does not expect a government to neglect a vital institution like the State Board of School Education. But for the Jammu and Kashmir government, the affairs of this vital academic establishment seem to be a last priority.
It has been more than a month since the Minister for Education, Peerzada Muhammad Sayeed, made a public statement that the J&K BOSE chairman would be appointed by the end of January 2010. But so far, the promise is yet to see the light of the day.
The delay in the appointment of the BOSE chairman is notwithstanding the recommendations made by the selection committee headed by the Commissioner/Secretary, School Education, Naseema Lankar.
On January 19, the Search Committee reportedly finalized the names of 6-members for the coveted post. The committee headed by Naseema Lankar includes Commissioner/Secretary GAD MS Khan, Excise Commissioner, G A Peer, Director Colleges, University of Jammu, Dr Rajive Gupta and ex-chairman, BOSE, Dr JP Singh as members.
The members of the committee held a 4-hour-long meeting in Jammu to scrutinize and examine the credentials of the aspirants. But the state government is yet to select a suitable candidate. According to sources, the state is unable to reach a consensus on a suitable candidate for the post of chairman BOSE.
According to official sources, the chairman should be appointed as soon as possible. “It is sad that an institution like BOSE is kept headless for months together. We have been asking for the chairman for the past three months, but the state government is unmoved,” said some BOSE employees, insisting not to be named.
The BOSE, the officials said, is not an ordinary institution which can function smoothly without a chairman. “It is a vital institution which deals with public issues on day-to-day basis. There was already considerable delay in the declaration of the Class 12th result this year. In Class 10th we had the issue of leakage of result, which brought disrepute to the entire institution. Once you have a full-fledged chairman, you are able to arrest such things,” the officials said. “There are so many issues which are to be directly handled by the Chairman. And in absence of a head of the department, there is always the tendency of employees taking liberty in their functioning, which sometimes leads to administrative indiscipline.”
Sources in the BOSE said the non-availability of the BOSE chairman has hit almost all its arenas. “Our assignments are time-bound. We have issues like constitution of examination centres, fabrication of textbooks and answer scripts and printing of curriculum. All this has certainly been hit because the institution is without the chairman. And decisions pertaining to these matters are to be taken by the chairman,” they said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Teachers Forum (JKTF) minces no words in accusing the state government of being non-serious toward the BOSE. “BOSE is an institution which concerns almost every household in the state. We have earlier also given a statement that its chairman should be appointed, but the government seems to be non-serious toward the issue,” said the JKTF president, Abdul Qayoom Wani.
He said the delay in appointing the chairman was giving an impression that “favouritism and politics” has entered into BOSE. “We warn the state government that if the BOSE chairman is not appointed within five days, we will stage massive protests along with the Employees Joint Action Committee,” Wani told Greater Kashmir. “Only an honest an upright officer should be appointed as the BOSE chairman. This can be easily done by selecting a suitable candidate from the panel submitted by the search committee.”
The Commissioner/Secretary, School Education, didn’t respond to repeated calls from Greater Kashmir.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 IST