After three months long winter break, all the private and government schools were to reopen on March 5; however, government didn’t allow these schools to open till March 12 owing to law and order situation in the Valley.
Even when government decided to open the schools on Tuesday, there was lot of confusion within the government whether to open these educational intuitions or not especially in the backdrop of the killings of militants in south Kashmir and strike calls extended by separatist leadership. Education Minister Altaf Bukhari issued a statement for closing of schools for another two days, the Director Education however said that no such decision was taken. Finally, closing or opening of the schools was left on district administration. On Tuesday JK government decided to open schools after extending holidays for another week.
In the past, JK government and mainstream political leaders have always blaming separatist leadership for ruining the career of students and blamed them for playing with the career of students, especially after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Burhan Wani in 2016 that sparked five months long strike in Kashmir.
The government and private schools were shut for five months and later the government had to curtail the syllabus of the students and many students were promoted. Last year also schools were closed and exams were postponed due to protests and law and order situation in Kashmir. When ever government feels situation is bad, the government has no option but to close the educational institutions.
However, after a long winter break parents and the students were eagerly waiting for the opening of the schools, but fearing law and order situation, the schools were again shut and exams postponed. On the social media, the J&K government faced lot of criticism from the cross section of people for closing down schools on small alibi. Even some reminded government of the statements blaming separatists for closure of educational intuitions.
The government should take education of the children seriously; already the student community has suffered a lot in the past. Time has come when both the government and the separatist leadership should realize the students which are the future of any society should never become scapegoat.
The student community has always paid the high price of the conflict from both the sides. It’s true that government is always much concerned about the safety of students, however, it should never be at the cost of education of students. The J&K government especially education department should ponder seriously on the days which students are losing due to strikes and law and order situation and crackdowns. The education department should devise a strategy so that days lost to law and order situation should be saved by taking extra classes or by cancelling the holidays. We can’t afford to lose education even in worst situation.
Despite serious law and order situation in past three decades, the students excelled and qualified toughest exams and came out with flying colors. However, from past several months, the government gets in panic mode and closes down the educational intuitions. The Kashmir has already suffered and we can’t afford to lose our valued education system and it is the responsibility of the government to secure the future of our young generation.
