Doda, October 1 — The signboard of Government Higher Secondary School (Boys), Doda, has undergone a third revision in just over a week, with the latest version seeking to accommodate objections raised by local residents and political leaders over issues of language and cultural representation.
The earlier changes — first replacing the original dark-blue board bearing the Quranic verse “Minnaz Zulumati Ilan Noor” and the school’s name in English and Urdu with a tricolour background, English text, and Satyamev Jayate in Roman script — had sparked protests over the exclusion of Urdu. A second revision reduced the size of Satyamev Jayate and displayed it in Roman, Devanagari, and Nastaliq scripts, but critics continued to object that Urdu had still not been restored for the school’s name.
The third revision appears to address most of these concerns. The current board, unveiled this week, now carries the school’s name in English, Hindi, and Urdu, alongside Satyamev Jayate in all three scripts. Importantly, it also features at the top the Quranic phrase “Minnaz Zulumati Ilan Noor” (“from darkness into light”) and the Vedic verse “Tamso Ma Jyotirgamaya” (“Lead me from darkness to light”) — echoing a suggestion made by activist Firdous Ahmad in remarks to The Chenab Times earlier.
Mr. Ahmad had argued that both verses carried similar educational symbolism. “These are universal ideas of knowledge and enlightenment. They should not be excluded,” he had said.
National Conference leaders, including Shadab Suharwady and Sarshad Natnoo, had earlier accused the administration of “erasing identities” by removing Urdu. Prominent lawyer Nisar Gattoo had also urged the authorities to reflect linguistic inclusivity by using all three official languages of the region.
Responding to the installation of the third signboard, Mr. Gattoo welcomed the move on Facebook. “Much appreciable step by District Administration DODA for valuing the sentiments of people. Hope in future, those at the helm of affairs will also make it a practice to lend an ear to the voices of this region,” he wrote, also sharing the message in Urdu: “ضلعی انتظامیہ ڈوڈہ کا عوامی جذبات کی قدر کرنے کا قدم نہایت قابلِ ستائش ہے۔ اُمید ہے کہ آئندہ اقتدار کے ایوانوں میں بیٹھے لوگ بھی اس خطے کی آواز کو سننے کو اپنی روایت بنائیں گے.”
The row over the school’s signboard coincides with the larger debate on language and identity in Jammu and Kashmir since the 2020 Official Languages Act, which gave Urdu, Hindi, English, Kashmiri, and Dogri equal official status, ending Urdu’s 131-year reign as the sole official language of the region.
What began as a dispute over paint and lettering has evolved into a wider conversation about Jammu and Kashmir’s plural identity — with the final iteration of the Doda school’s signboard now attempting to embrace that plurality.
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Anzer Ayoob is the Founder and Chief Editor to The Chenab Times
