In a rarest of rare cases, students enrolled in Government High School Kalka Methyani in Kalakote area of Rajouri locked the school building on Monday and sat on a protest in front of the school, alleging that the education department is playing with their future by delaying the posting of immediately needed staff.
Students enrolled in the school are residents of several far flung villages of the area, including Methyani which is regarded as one of the remotest pockets of the district.
“Since morning, all the students refused to attend classes as well as the morning prayers. They locked all the classrooms and offices and assembled in the premises of the school,” a local informed Greater Kashmir.
He said that students raised slogans against Chief Education Officer Rajouri and other senior officers of education department and said that officers sitting on chairs are playing with their future, by denying posting staff in their school.
“There are only four teaching officials, including two masters and two teachers, posted in the school, out of which one is looking after the affairs of school headmaster, while the other one is running mid-day meal. The remaining two take classes regularly,” a student told Greater Kashmir on phone.
She said, “It is already more than five months into the new session now and the education department has befooled us on the name of posting staff. Now we have been left with no other option than to lock the school and to stage a protest.”
The students said that the issue is already in the knowledge of local revenue officers, including tehsildar and ADC, but everyone is ignoring them, as they are poor and living in a far flung area.
“We will keep the school locked until and unless more staff is posted here,” the students said.
Parents of the students, including Rattan Lal, said, “We have raised the issue time and again before the authorities, but no one bothers. Finally, our children decided to stage a protest and we are not in a position to ask them not to lock the school as it is a matter of their future.”
Another local of the area alleged, “The height of nepotism in the education department can be gauged from the fact that salary of three masters working in Kathua is being withdrawn from this institution.”
When contacted by Greater Kashmir, district education planning officer (DEPO) Rajouri Chowdhary Gulzar Hussain said that due to some official work, he is in Jammu. “I am in Jammu and was informed about the issue by the ADC Kalakote in the afternoon. I have communicated the issue to director School Education Jammu,” he said.
He further said that joint director Education Rajouri-Poonch, who was holding the charge of CEO, has been transferred and no officer has been sent in his place and thus, there is no officer in the department who can order transfers, due to which the department is waiting for orders from higher authorities.