Srinagar, July 19: School Education Department, Jammu and Kashmir on July 18, 2025 Headline published in an English local daily newspaper ‘Compulsory subject: Compulsory topics: Union Ministry of Education has strongly denied the 6th to 10th position in Kashmir schools with the Union Ministry of Education.’
In an official communal released here, the department has paid serious attention to a misleading news item in some sections of media, which claims that Sanskrit is being introduced as a compulsory subject for 6th to 10th grade and is an alternative subject in class 3 to 5th in Kashmir Division.
The department said, “The Department of School Education has not received any communication/direction from the Ministry of Education, Government of India, which is about the compulsory/alternative introduction of Sanskrit in the course of school education.”
Explaining on the matter, the department said that the Secretariat of the Honorable Lieutenant Governor had received a representation from Shri Parshotam Lal Dube (NGO) to join Sanskrit in JKUT schools / colleges under the provisions of NEP 2020.
The said communication was sent to the Higher/ School Education Department by the Secretariat of the Honorable Lieutenant Governor.
Accordingly, the School Education Department J&K carried forward the communication of GAD to Director School Education Jammu /Kashmir to present the comments in this matter. Subsequently, they were transmitted to sub-office office for comments.
In addition, the School Education Department has said that the department has not proposed, approved or introduced any procedure to include Sanskrit as a compulsory or alternative subject in schools in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the rebuttal, the department stated that it follows a transparent and counseling process for course changes, according to NEP 2020.
Any future decision on including new themes will be officially communicated through appropriate channels after proper consultation.
Meanwhile, the public and the media have been advised to verify the facts from official sources before publishing such baseless and baseless claims.