A recent remark by Jammu & Kashmir’s education minister Sakina Itoo has stirred an important, uncomfortable debate in Jammu and Kashmir’s education sector. The minister reportedly observed that, most private school teachers are either matriculates or 12th pass, implying a deficit of competence. For a minister whose own formal education ended at 12th grade, the comment has a certain ironic sting. These remarks have touched the very idea of respect, policy consistency, and moral authority in governance.

At first glance, the issue appears simple, a minister questioning the academic credentials of private school teachers. But in Kashmir’s context, it is anything but simple. Education here has evolved under pressure of conflict, disruption, limited resources, and uneven institutional capacity. In such an environment, teachers have not merely delivered lessons; they have held together the fragile continuity of learning.

The irony begins with history. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir under Farooq Abdullah and the current education minister was part of that government as legislative, introduced the Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) scheme in the early 2000. The purpose was urgent and clear, fill massive teacher shortages, especially in rural and remote areas where schools often functioned without staff. The eligibility?Minimum 12th pass. Local youth were engaged as teachers because there was simply no alternative. Those 12th-pass teachers were not mocked. They were called “Rehbar-e-Taleem”—guides of learning. They became the backbone of primary education in countless villages. Many of them were later regularized and went on to serve the system for decades. The policy itself was an admission that, in certain conditions, commitment and availability matter as much as formal degrees.

Fast forward to today, and the tone has changed. The same baseline, 12th pass, is now invoked not as a necessity but as a deficiency. This........

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