Kupwara, June 23: If in south Kashmir a primary school was allowed to operate from a cowshed, in north Kashmir a middle school is operating from a shop-line.
Established in 1954, the Government Boys Middle School at Zirhama in north Kashmir Kupwara district is a glaring example of official negligence.
For the past more than 50 years, the successive governments in Jammu and Kashmir failed to extend the school building, having just two-rooms.
The school, having a roll of about 150 students, was upgraded from Primary to Middle in 1992, notwithstanding lack of adequate space to accommodate the students and teachers.
Unable to hold all the eight classes from existing two rooms, the authorities hired five shops barely few yards away from the school building. The shops, suffocated in absence of ventilation, serve as the classrooms. Near the shops, a drain emanates foul smell, troubling the students and teachers alike.
Class 8th is operating from two rooms of the building. Two other classes run from its two Verandas, and rest of the five classes operate from the shop-line, much to the annoyance of school children and their parents.
There is no playground, no bathroom for children and five teachers, who are all frustrated by the suffocation inside the shops, especially in times of rising temperatures. “It is really frustrating for us to teach here. Neither the students are able to concentrate, nor are we able to teach properly,” said a group of teachers, pleading anonymity. “It is a sad state of affairs that nobody is looking into this bizarre situation, where students are taught in shops.”
Faced with embarrassment, sources said, the government started work on new school building some years back after a Zirhama villager donated five kanals of land for it. But, they added, the construction work is yet to be completed in the wake of a “dispute” between the contractor and the Rural Development Department, which carried out the work. “Ninety percent of the work on the building is complete. But the dispute between the two sides is causing inordinate delay in its completion. If the issue is resolved, the school can be shifted there,” they said.
When contacted, the Chief Education Officer, Kupwara, H S Bali, said the new school building was almost complete. “The five-room building has been constructed by the Rural Development Department. But there is some dispute involved in it. That is why they are unable to complete it and hand it over to us,” he told Greater Kashmir. “We wrote to the Rural Development Department many times to handover the building. Now we have given them 10 days deadline. Hopefully we will be shifting the students soon because they are suffering.”
Pertinently, the government primary school at Astanpora Pulwama operated from a cowshed until recently. After the issue was reported in the media, the authorities attached the school with a nearby middle school.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
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