Jammu, November 26: While we discussed the viability of Public Private partnerships (PPP) in various sectors in J&K and the benefits it would bring for the state today we would focus on the educational sector of the state where the private sector has a whopping 42% (aprox) share and huge contribution in taking the standards of the education to greater heights in the state.
However the private partnership in educational sector has hardly been recognized by the government either due to bureaucratic lethargy and red tape or pure political considerations and lack of vision.
The PPP which, as said earlier, has been recognized globally for being one of the best systems to bring large-scale development with least investments from the government side has however remained underutilized in Jammu and Kashmir largely due to political myopia and bureaucratic red tape and when it comes to education the confusion is worse confounded where the government actually seems in dark about the real purpose of PPP in education.
Ironically here in J&K while the government asks private institutions not to earn profits on one hand on the other it levies heavy commercial taxes on everything that these institutions utilize like electricity, water and other resources.
One would like to ask the rulers as to why they were confounding the confusion by taxing the ventures that it says must be nonprofitable. Either these institutions are non-profit organizations or commercial as you can not treat them both where it suits you.
At the same time instead of recognizing the viability of private sector in enhancing the standards of education by treating them under PPP schemes the government has withdrawing the basic aids that it used to provide to private educational institutions.
The scenario was much better earlier as even the during British rule Maharja had recognized the importance of PPP and had supported the private partnership in education by extending grants to institutions like Model Academy in Jammu while Sri Ranbir Memorial School was also imparting best education to students but the same spirit was not only eroded but also killed by the successive regimes.
Even Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah also extended the aid which continued till around 2000 when suddenly the aids to private institutions was scarped without any thought serving severe death blow to the private education.
It was only due to the hard-work of the private players that private education continued to grow but faced regular government apathy by becoming the sacrificial goats with Govt treating them Non-profitable and commercial ventures at the same time.
Earlier the aid had brought prosperity to the private education relieving the government of extra burden on education but then political interests discriminated against private players while government institutions faced steep decline in standards.
The government failed to understand that 42% share of private institutions was a huge backup to push the educational sector to higher standards and the services of the private players could have been utilized to enhance the standards in government schools through exchange programme if at all government would have been sincere in utilizing PPP effectively.
Instead the political class instead of garnishing the private sector has been serving death blows through various draconian laws thus crushing the sector further.
The political class behaves strangely while in power and out of it as when out of power they cry hoarse for utilizing the private players but once in chair they become dictators running the state on their whims and fancies.
The government must shun its colonial attitude and underscore the importance of the PPP in educational sector which is already there and only needs impetus to turnaround the educational scene in the state.
Even the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development has also scraped the PPP in education and asked the state governments to utilize it in their respective states for effective use but then it is J&K and nothing moves here without a political motive.
It is time the new dispensation wakes up and utilizes the huge private sector in education for the benefit of the common masses in the state. (Repeat)