Srinagar, July 14: In the wake of prevalent situation and school diktats on completion of syllabus at home, many schoolchildren have started studying on the lines. 
 Given the continued restrictions on civilian movement in the City for the past over a fortnight, the kids are giving time towards education at homes while some schools have issued notifications that the children complete syllabus of their own using “locally available resources”.
 “Keeping in view the prevailing situation in the state, all the students of this institution are instructed to continue completion of U3 portion of syllabus at home, which was taken up in their respective classes after completion of Term 1 examination,” reads notification of a Miskeen Bagh based school published Monday.
 “In case of any difficulty, you may contact your subject and or/ form teachers, if available locally. Work should be done on school subject copies,” it adds.
  “Teachers of this institution are advised to extend full support and cooperation to the students and help in whatever way possible with the course work.”
 The notification adds: “Besides, students may also get help from their tutors, parents and other people such as elder brother/sister/cousin etc in the family.”
 Some days ago, in a similar move, a leading Missionary school for boys had asked the wards to download the syllabus from the school website.
 The parents and the wards have started acting accordingly.
 “With no let up in turmoil, I finally started preparing my kids for the second semester at home,” said Muhammad Suhail, a parent.
 The situation reminds many of the early ‘90s era when schools remained closed for weeks together and children had to study at home.
 “But those days the government gave relaxation on syllabus which is unlike of the present scenario where most of the schools have taken parents like me for a ride in the name of course completion at home,” said a parent who was himself a schoolgirl when the militancy erupted in the Valley.
 The man said he finds it difficult to teach his child in all the subjects.
 “Even though I try to teach, I fail in subjects like mathematics,” he admitted.
 Some of the leading private schools in the City have come under heavy criticism for failing to issue syllabus in-time.
 “I am teaching my daughter of my own because she is yet to get her second term syllabus,” said parents of a ward studying at a leading school for girls.
 The complainants said the government should take strict action against the schools who didn’t release syllabus in-time and took the parent community for a ride.
 Observers said the Directorate of School Education Kashmir should come to the rescue of schoolchildren by reducing a portion of their syllabus and also providing more optional questions in the term-end exams.
 “Many children are preparing for the next term without any syllabus and so optional questions from every chapter will ensure that their efforts don’t go waste,” said a retired school principal.
 He said the government should evolve a policy on lines of early ‘90s rather than making children “work overtime”.
 “Education isn’t any macadamization that the work will be accomplished in double shift if a single shift is hampered,’ he said.
  The educationist said relaxing the syllabus vis-à-vis exams would be in the betterment of the kids.
 “We faced the same situation in early ‘90s but that didn’t make the schoolchildren dull. The fact is that some of the recent qualifiers of the IAS exams belong to the same lot who suffered those days but ultimately proved they were the best in education,” he added.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST