Amid the prolonged uncertainty in Kashmir, the students are finding alternative means to complete their syllabus by opting for local tuitions instead of attending their respective educational institutions. The move has thrown a major challenge for the state administration to motivate the school children to attend their respective schools.
According to wire service Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the move comes in wake of the students’ decision not to attend their schools given the prevailing uneasy calm and complete gag on communication put by the state administration.The state administration has reopened its schools but the institutions have witnessed almost zero attendance of students. However, the teaching staff is reporting to their schools, as per the directions from the department.“To complete the syllabus and to remain in loop with their studies, the students are visiting residences of their local teachers instead of attending schools. None of the student is ready to attend the school but they have started taking private tuition in their localities,” an official of education department told KNO, wishing not to be named.The students in various groups visit the teachers in their locality to take private tuitions while as some parents have hired teachers to their residences for their kids.“We have no option than to find other means to keep students engaged with studies. They are the worst hit in this prevailing situation wherein no parent is ready to send their kids to schools,” Nazir Ahmad, a parent from Bemina told KNO. He said the government should restore communication citing that it will pave way for reopening of schools in Valley. “Amid communication gag no parent wants to take a risk by sending their kids out,” he said as per KNO.The educational institutions were closed by the state administration hours before the Government of India announced its decision for abrogation of Article 370 and 35 (A) in Jammu and Kashmir besides splitting Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh into two Union Territories (UTs).Later, the state administration claimed to have started reopening of schools in Kashmir but the institutions are witnessing zero attendance of students. “It has become a challenging situation for department, every day a team of officials go for inspection of schools to see no student attending schools. Even the official team is threatened by locals not to inspect the schools,” another official of school education department told KNO.One of the officials who is part of inspection team also confirmed to the wire service KNO that they were warned by local youth in various city areas not to visit schools for inspection. “So it has become a tough task to motivate students to come to their schools,” the official told KNO.While the government and private schools continue to remain closed for over a month a now, the KendriyaVidyalay schools and Police public schools are fully functional in Valley. The students are seen travelling to these schools every morning.“On one hand government is making preparation for holding exams but on the other side the students are away from their schools for a month now. It is really hard to take decisions about holding exams on time keeping in view the incomplete syllabus in schools,” the official told KNO. (KNO)