Pakistani authorities have revoked the registrations of 13 private schools in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) after their management, staff, and students participated in ongoing anti-government protests in the occupied territory. The move, confirmed on 29 July, marks a significant escalation in Islamabad's crackdown on dissent in the region.

The School Revocations and JAAC's Response

The Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) shared the official revocation order on social media platform X, condemning the action in unambiguous terms. 'Punishing schools and students for exercising fundamental rights is collective punishment and a grave attack on the right to education,' the committee stated. The JAAC has been a central organising force behind the protests that have swept through PoK in recent weeks.

Children on the Streets of Rawalakot

Earlier this month, hundreds of schoolchildren in uniform, accompanied by teachers and parents, assembled at Rawalakot's Eidgah Ground, waving white flags and raising slogans against the Pakistani military's actions in the region. The demonstration came one day after Pakistani authorities publicly warned that the JAAC would be held accountable for any untoward incident involving students during planned protests, according to local media reports.

Defying the warning, students turned out in large numbers carrying banners reading 'International Media Give Us Coverage' and raising slogans against the Pakistani Army. The brazenness of the demonstration underscored the depth of public anger in the territory.

Broader Crackdown Across PoK

The school deregistrations are part of a wider pattern of repression. Protests across PoK have emerged as a direct challenge to Islamabad's decades-long control over the region. Pakistani forces have reportedly carried out repeated crackdowns, leaving dozens of civilians dead and injured, while the region remains under a strict blockade, curfew, and a near-total communications blackout, according to reports from the area.

Notably, the targeting of educational institutions adds a new dimension to the crackdown — one that critics argue crosses from political suppression into an assault on children's constitutional rights.

Pakistan's Deepening Education Crisis

The revocations come against the backdrop of a severe and worsening education crisis in Pakistan. A recent policy review compiled by five Policy Analysis Groups at the Civil Services Academy (CSA) — assessing education across Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB), and PoK — found that between 25.1 million and 26 million children of school-going age remain out of school in Pakistan, two years after the country declared a National Education Emergency.

The review, cited by Pakistani daily The News International, identified weak governance structures, fragmented administrative systems, insufficient funding, poor data integration, and provincial disparities as the primary structural barriers to progress. Diamer district in PoGB records 42 per cent out-of-school children, while nearly half of all children in PoK drop out before completing primary education. Extremely low public investment in education was flagged as a common constraint across all provinces.

What Comes Next

With the JAAC vowing to continue its campaign and Pakistani authorities showing no signs of reversing the school deregistrations, the confrontation in PoK is unlikely to ease in the near term. Rights groups and international observers are expected to scrutinise Islamabad's use of education access as a tool of political coercion — a tactic that, if sustained, could draw further international attention to the territory's humanitarian situation.