Three-decade-old Kashmir conflict has its own cost. Education sector is one of its causalities but the population used to the months-long unrest and shutdowns is coming up with innovative ways to keep the students busy with books, reports Syed Asma

Students being taught in a free school at Guchan in Dooru belt of south Kashmir
Students being taught in a free school at Guchan in Dooru belt of south Kashmir

The resentment is all over. No sooner the dates for annual exams of Class 10, 12 were announced, students started protesting. Pressing for the release of thousands of young men arrested in the span of last two months, the students are seeking justice for fatally injured youth.

“How can we appear in exams when our fellow students are lying in hospitals and languishing in jails?” says a girl student protesting in Srinagar carrying a placard reading ‘Justice for Insha, Justice for pellet victims, we say no to exams’. “We do not want repetition of 2010, when many of us were injured with pellets and bullets and booked under PSA.”

After civil uprising erupted in valley with killing of Hizb commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016, all schools are closed. Amid shutdown, a few Srinagar-based private schools made effort to keep their students busy.

The uprising is not new to Kashmir, says an administrator of a private school in Srinagar. “We have had our losses in education sector since 1990 but today we understand the situation well and have explored different avenues to minimize the damage in the sector,” he says. By using Internet as tool, the administrator is engaging his students.

Although mobile internet stands blocked for past 90 days now, but the school administration believes that parents manage to access their respective worksheets – homework.

Worksheets for respective classes are uploaded on school websites. The administrators believe this will help students to complete their course work in time. “No place can ever replace a school,” says Parvez Ahmad, a school administrator, “but school administration has tried engaging students by providing worksheets and different assignments.”

So far this exercise is followed only in Srinagar and among all the schools, Delhi Public School (DPS), Athwajan, is being the most innovative.

“DPS provides us video lectures which, I believe, are the most convenient way to make the children learn their lessons in effective manner,” says Muhammad Lateef, a parent whose ward studies in DPS.

Presently, DPS is the only school which conducted its examinations. For primary and junior classes, the parents are asked to collect question papers from their teachers living in the close vicinity. And for higher classes, the school conducted examination at indoor stadium apparently for security reasons.

But well before these school administrations would make efforts to keep the students busy with assignments, many educated youth, individually or in groups, had started providing free-tuition classes.

Mohammed Saqib, a postgraduate from Kashmir University, is a part of three separate tuition centres running in south Kashmir. Calling it ‘Curfew Classes’, Saqib says its concept was introduced during 2010 uprising when the valley was shut for almost four months. Then, he was a student and couldn’t lend a hand. But in 2016, he along with a group of half a dozen friends started guiding almost 200 students.

“Apart from regular syllabus,” says Saqib, “we aware these young children about our culture and history—otherwise missing from their textbooks.”

Another resident from Islamabad, Qazi Shubli, along with his sisters and cousins, has been giving free tuition classes at his residence since June 2016. A journalism graduate from Bangalore, Shubli guides almost 150 students from Class KG to higher secondary.

“Keeping in mind the circumstances, our classes start at 6pm till 8pm. The army deployment is withdrawn everyday almost around 6pm, so we thought it is the safest time for the classes,” Shubli says.

In Shopian, a botany lecturer along with his colleagues is running free classes from Class 9 to 12. “We have cautiously chosen these four classes as they have to appear in competitive exams across India,” the lecturer says. “They need not to waste their precious time, come what may!” His group includes 8 teachers who guide150 students.

In summer capital, few organisations and individuals are also running free tuitions. But they are restricted to city outskirts only, as movement is strictly prohibited in Downtown Srinagar.

Irfan Ali, a resident of Lal Bazar and a private school teacher, along with his two sisters started a free academy at his residence. His group teaches 25 students from Class 5th to 10.

“I am an experienced teacher and I am passionate about my job. I suppose it is my duty to help the children and get them educated in any way I can,” says Irfan. “Though I can’t create a school’s environment but I can try my best to make maximum use their time.”

Apart from individual efforts made by these educated youth, Bait-ul-maals set up at community level have identified places and individual who runs free coaching centres in Kashmir.

Showkat Ahmad Bhat, chairman Mercy Kash (MK), a Srinagar-based charitable trust, has started free tuition classes near Noorbagh. When the uprising started, Bait-ul-maals started their service, Bhat says, but they didn’t want to be confined to mere relief and ration distribution works only.

“So, we thought of opening up a proper coaching centre for students,” Bhat says. MK hired a building in the area, and provided platform for at least 25 volunteer teachers, engineers and MBAians.

“We are paying a meagre amount of rent for the building in use,” says Bhat. Already 500 students got benefited from this centre, he says. “Most of the teachers are working as volunteers but we are planning to pay a few of them, who we think would need some financial assistance.”

Amid these educational initiatives, a general consensus among the people is that: this collective community’s effort to educate children and help them complete their course work was much needed amid a war-like situation.

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