Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government on Saturday (April 17) took over 58 more private schools allegedly affiliated with the proscribed Jamaat-e-Islami outfit, bringing the total number of such schools to nearly 300.The order, reportedly issued by the secretary of J&K’s school education department, references two notifications issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (invoking the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967) under which Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) was declared as an unlawful association in 2019.The department has directed the deputy commissioners (DCs) to ensure that the academic activities of the schools in their respective districts remain uninterrupted. The DCs have also been ordered to submit proposals for new managing committees, with all prospective members required to obtain prior police clearance.“DC shall also take all necessary measures to ensure quality education as per NEP (National Education Policy 2020) norms in these schools,” the order reads.A video circulating on social media showed a group of armed policemen, some carrying automatic rifles, laying siege to Evershine Public School in the Kultura area of north Kashmir’s Langate on Saturday amid heavy rains. The video shows a policeman waving at the cameraman to turn the device away while some men in civilian clothes, apparently staff members and education department officials, are also seen in the video outside the school. The Wire couldn’t independently verify the authenticity of the video immediately. According to reports, the managing committees of these 58 schools, many of which are located in north Kashmir, had either ceased to exist after completing their tenure or their members were adversely flagged in reports by “intelligence agencies”.Before it was banned in 2019, the Jamaat operated an extensive network of around 350 schools in Jammu and Kashmir through its educational arm, the Falah-e-Aam Trust (FAT), enrolling around one lakh students. In its constitution, the FAT, which was set up by the Jamaat in 1972, describes itself as a “non-political” body meant for educating “students from all shades of society without any discrimination”.After the reading down of Article 370, the managing bodies of all the private educational institutions, especially those run by the FAT, have come under the scrutiny of the police administration for alleged terror links.The J&K Police, operating under the MHA since the J&K Reorganisation Act of 2019, has withheld security clearances for several schools in Kashmir, citing adverse intelligence inputs against one or more members of their managing bodies.While the authorities argue that a banned organisation like Jamaat with alleged links to terrorism can’t be allowed to run schools in the Union territory, some have termed the takeover by the government as a violation of fundamental rights and administrative overreach.Srinagar-based senior academic and political commentator Sheikh Showkat earlier told The Wire that the takeover of these schools was a violation of the Article 30 of the Indian Constitution which gives fundamental rights to religious and linguistic minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. The latest order is likely to generate heat against the chief minister Omar Abdullah and his party National Conference which has a long and violent history of political antagonism against the Jamaat.After the J&K government took over the managing bodies of 215 schools allegedly linked to the Jamaat in August last year, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peoples Conference accused Abdullah of setting “new standard in servility” in order to please the BJP while accusing him of being complicit in the decision.The Jamaat had set up an internal panel to hold parleys with the government for getting the ban removed in the aftermath of the 2019 decision. However, the panel couldn’t attain its objectives following which it was dissolved. The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)-led Union government has made attempts to “mainstream” the Jamaat in recent months by allowing some of the group’s leaders and activists to fight the 2024 assembly election despite the ban under the anti-terror law.A new political party, Justice and Development Front (JDF), was formed in 2024 which has some former members of the Jamaat in its ranks. However, it couldn’t win any seat in the last assembly election. Kalimullah Lone, son of the Jamaat’s former general secretary Ghulam Qadir Lone, also from north Kashmir, unsuccessfully contested from Langate constituency in the 2024 assembly election.Last year, Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone set up an alliance with the JDF, a splinter group of Jamaat, amid speculations over the restoration of J&K’s statehood and fresh assembly election in the Union territory.