Education seems to have taken a backseat in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in north Kashmir with at least dozen education institutions to remains closed for a week while many schools are running without teachers who have been posted for election duty.
According to an order of Baramulla district administration on Thursday, seven educational institutions will remain closed in Sopore sub-division from April 5 to 12 in view of Lok Sabha polls.
In an order, the additional district magistrate Sopore said the schools have been identified as accommodation for forces personnel during upcoming LS polls.
The orders said the institutions which will remain closed include SKUAST Wadoora, Degree college Sopore, Hr Secondary school Hadipora, Govt, Hr secondary school Edipora, Govt, Boys HR Sec School Sopora, Govt, Girls Hr Sec school Dangiwacha, Govt, Degree College Sopore and Govt, Hr Sec School Dangiwacha.
Meanwhile, classwork in various educational institutions has been affected as staff had been deployed for election duties. Reports said several government-run schools are going without classwork since teachers are busy with elections.
A local news agency quoted Kamran Ahmad, a student of class 10th, saying their classwork has been hit as most of the teachers have been attending election trainings regularly. “The government should suspend the class work of schools instead of wasting the time of students,” Ahmad said.
A group of students from government run schools told the agency that one or two teachers regularly attend schools for classwork while rest are put on election duties.
“Why are teachers put on election duties? We just attend a maximum of two classes in a day while rest of our day is going waste in the school,” a group of students told the news agency.
Almost every educational institution in Kashmir division is suffering ahead of the elections, and it will likely continue till the end of the Lok Sabha polls.
Teachers are also unhappy with their new job. A teacher from Pattan area of Baramulla district said they have to attend the election duty in Uri area which is nearly 50 kilometers from the school he is posted at.
Another teacher posted in Boniyar of Baramulla district said he has to go for election training to Sopore town, more than 35 kilometres. “The government should have put election duty of teachers in the nearby areas so that we could reach the schools as well,” he said.
Chief Education Officer Baramulla, Gh. Mohammed Lone said the department is trying its best to continue the classwork in schools without any disruption. “The electoral trainings are going on, so the teaching and non teaching staff is put on the training,” Lone said.
CEO, Kupwara, Shafiq Nabi said the department is trying its best to manage the classwork, “We have distributed the training session in phase wise manner and teachers are getting training at nearby areas,” Nabi said. (With KNO inputs)