Have-nots content with community schools
Ishfaq Tantry
SRINAGAR, SEPT 05: With the situation in Kashmir showing no signs of improvement, the education system of the Valley, hit hard by the three-month long unrest, is witnessing a transition to help overcome losses sustained.
Several elite schools have either flown their students out of the Valley or have been uploading online home assignments for students.
However, the less fortunate students have no choice but to turn to 'community schools', being set up in many localities.Already, of the 148-day education session beginning March this year, more than 100 days have been lost to protests, shutdowns and curfews. The students have not been able to go to their schools except for few ‘normal' days, meaning no shutdowns and curfews.
But the adversity has also thrown up innovate solutions, forcing many a parent and community elder to opt for temporary community schools at the locality level in many areas of Kashmir. The important aspect of these makeshift schools is that they are being run by young educated youth, mostly on voluntary basis.
“When the idea of setting up a community school became a reality in our locality, I volunteered myself for the service. Here, our focus is to guide the students in completing their remaining syllabus and prepare them for the upcoming examinations,” said Suheel-ul-Aziz, an MBA graduate from Kashmir University.
He teaches Economics and English in Kanth Bagh locality of Baramulla, where two such community schools have been set up in a government primary school building and a rented private hostel.
Elsewhere in Baramulla, at least a dozen community schools have come up, including seven such schools being run in Khawaja Bagh locality of the town.
“Though it may not compensate fully the losses suffered in terms of classes missed and regular schooling, going to a community school every day is helping the students to at least focus on their studies. The practice has indeed helped us to keep in touch,” said Saloniya, a Class X student from Baramulla, who attends one such community school.
The community-cum-voluntary coaching schools have also come up in other parts of Kashmir. In Sopore town, at least four community schools, including the one being run from a higher secondary school, have come up over the past two months. South and Central Kashmir too are not lagging behind.
“At these schools we usually deliver two or three lectures a day. Our focus is on exercises and assignments to prepare the kids for upcoming examinations," said Bilal Ahmad Kaloo, a government teacher who has now volunteered himself at a community school in Sopore town.
The volatile, and often violent, atmosphere has also forced the affluent class here to turn to other options to save the educational career of their wards. The Delhi Public School recently flew 155 students of Class XII to Delhi to complete their syllabus in time and prepare them for the Board exams.
“These students, drawn from Srinagar branch of DPS, have been accommodated at DPS Dwarika, near New Delhi. The students are also accompanied by 10 teachers from the school,” a DPS teacher told Rising Kashmir.
Apart from DPS, there are other schools in Kashmir which have sought to utilise the internet services. These schools have uploaded assignments at the school websites for students to complete syllabus in time.
On the other hand, sociologists view the setting up of community schools as a collective response from the people aimed at striking a balance and preventing the educational system from collapsing.
“Though the community schools cannot replace the system and cater to just five percent of population, the concept nevertheless is good,” said Prof Bashir Ahmad Dabla, a leading sociologist from Kashmir.
Dabla, however, has a word of caution. “If we were a live nation, we should have spared education. The concept should have been doubling our efforts, at least in the education sector. What happened in Iranian Revolution? The effort should have been energising rather than paralyzing our education system. But every nation has its limitation, so have the Kashmiris.”
Terming the concept of community schools by the youth "a noble effort and commitment towards the greater cause", Prof Dabla is however highly critical of the practice of flowing students out of Kashmir.
“Flowing 155 students out of Valley by DPS is arrogance and extravagance of money. It shows that they are not committed to the Kashmir cause, which is not individualistic but a collective one,” he said.
