Sheikh Zaffar Iqbal
The NDTV
JAMMU
The last time 17-year-old Suraya Gulzar was in a classroom was three months ago. Suraya had to stop going to school in South Kashmir’s Islamabad since clashes broke out in the Valley following the killing of popular militant commander Burhan Wani.
The fear of irreparable harm to her education has “forced” her to migrate to Jammu to take admission in a government school.
“The time lost by the students can’t be made up. Students are suffering the most. There are no arrangements. My exams were going on, but now they have also got postponed, I don’t know when I will be able to sit for the exams again. That’s why I have come here,” said Suraya.
Suraya is not alone. In the last three months, hundreds of students have moved out of the Valley to Jammu and to other places in the country.
For the last three months, educational institutes in the Valley are shut. The state government’s efforts to open schools have not succeeded.
At a government higher secondary school at Sunjawan in Jammu, 30 Kashmiri students have taken admission. Special classes are now being organised for the students who have taken admission mid semester.
“For the last two weeks, we have been getting a lot of phone calls. People want to check whether children can get admission here. Education and security are their two major concerns,” said Prem Singh, Principal of the government higher secondary school in Sunjwan.
While those can are finding alternatives, for scores more, for financial or other reasons, schools remain out of reach. For them, uncertainty looms large on not just their studies but more.
(The news story first appeared in the NDTV.com)
