The Biz Reporter
Srinagar, Dec 7: In Kashmir’s snow-capped mountains, a silent plunder is unfolding—a calculated assault on the wallets of desperate parents and the educational dreams of innocent children. The battleground? A ruthless Rs 1,000 crore textbook industry operating with brazen impunity.
“It is an open loot,” declares Shaista, a local parent, her voice trembling with a mixture of anger and helplessness. “In the name of quality textbooks, we are being systematically robbed.”
The modus operandi is chillingly simple. Private schools have devised an ingenious scheme that would make even the most audacious financial predators pause in admiration. By prescribing textbooks from obscure foreign universities—a direct violation of the Directorate of School Education Kashmir’s explicit directives—these institutions have created a perfect storm of educational extortion.
Consider the economics of exploitation: A single textbook for a nursery student now carries a price tag of Rs 700. No regulatory body dares to challenge this exorbitant pricing. Behind this facade of educational commerce lies a sinister nexus between publishers and school administrators, where under-the-table deals are as common as the Kashmir Valley’s morning mist.
“If a book is priced at Rs 700,” reveals an insider who spoke on condition of anonymity, “the school pockets a minimum 50 percent commission—that’s Rs 350 of pure, unadulterated profit.” This isn’t education; this is organized financial manipulation.
The strategy is as calculated as it is cruel. Schools deliberately change textbooks annually, ensuring that students cannot use second-hand books from friends or relatives. This manufactured obsolescence creates a perpetual demand, forcing parents into a never-ending cycle of purchasing.
The most damning question emerges: If these textbooks are truly of such exceptional quality, why aren’t they prescribed in government schools? The silence is deafening.
More alarming is the complete absence of oversight. In this unregulated marketplace, there exists no authority in the Union Territory capable or willing to challenge these predatory pricing strategies. Parents are left defenseless, their financial vulnerability ruthlessly exploited.
“The government is not even interfering,” laments one frustrated parent, encapsulating the systemic abandonment of educational integrity.
This isn’t merely about textbooks. This is a stark illustration of how educational institutions can transform into profit-making machines, where learning is secondary to financial gain, and where the dreams of Kashmir’s children are traded for corporate margins.
As result season approaches, parents hold their breath—not in anticipation of their children’s academic achievements, but in dread of the next financial blow awaiting them.
The textbook racket continues, unchecked and unashamed.
