Silent migration of students to outside educational institutions

SYED ALI SAFVI

SRINAGAR, Aug 29: Incessant protests and shutdowns coupled with curfews and restrictions in the Kashmir valley for the last 79 days have forced many parents to send their wards out of the state for continuing their studies.

According to reliable sources, over 200 students of Delhi Public School (DPS) Srinagar flew to New Delhi in two flights this afternoon.

“A group of 240 students of DPS left for Delhi today,” sources said. “They were students of class 10th and 12th, and were accompanied by their parents and relatives.”

Kashmir has been reeling under unprecedented spell of unrest for the last 79 days, leaving 64 civilian dead and over a hundred maimed for life.

The ongoing agitation has hit the education sector, particularly government institutes, hard. Some well-known private schools had opted for e-teaching to make up the loss, however, students of government schools are most affected.

“The privileged class can send their wards out of the state and arrange for their special classes because they have the resources, but the poor always suffer the most,” said a political analyst. “The organisers of the ‘movement’ must be urged to increase tutoring throughout neighbourhoods. Public school teachers should do their civic duty and go to neighbourhoods.”

The DPS students, sources said, have migrated for two months to New Delhi where they would complete their syllabus and appear in upcoming examinations.

“They were carrying bags filled with books and clothes,” sources said.

In the wake of prolonged strikes, valley-based schools had taken various initiatives to prepare students for approaching examinations. DPS had uploaded lessons and assignments on its website, while Tyndale Biscoe School had asked parents to collect home assignments for their wards from the school.

Pertinently, minister for school education, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, has been ad nauseam claiming that most of the schools in villages of Kashmir were functional.

“Students living in Srinagar city and some main towns of the Valley have suffered academic losses. However, 90 per cent schools are functioning in all villages,” Peerzada had said.

However, going by the ground assessment the minister’s claim seems just another attempt to undermine the gravity of the situation. The minister’s audacious claim was ironically belied by the officials of his own department, who termed the statement as “blatant lie”.

Significantly, there are reportedly 13 lakh students enrolled in about 13,000 schools in the valley.

Peerzada’s repeated pleas to parents to send their wards to schools have not made any impact as the schools continue to be closed in the wake of shut down calls, protests and curfews.

To make up for the academic loss, most of the educated youth of the valley, including some government teachers, have started special teaching academies in their respective villages and towns to help students to complete their syllabus and prepare them for upcoming examinations.

The shutdowns and curfews had forced the closure of schools in early 1990s during the heydays of militancy.