The residents of Palma and nearby villages Monday staged ademonstration against the governor’s administration and the educationdepartment, demanding the up-gradation of local high school.
Reports said that a large number of people assembled on theRajouri-Budhal road and blocked it near the gate of local Government HighSchool. They raised slogans against the governor’s administration as well asthe education department.
They said, “The Government High School, Palma, is the maineducation institution in the area. It caters to the needs of a large number ofchildren. The BJP-PDP coalition government had announced that the school wouldbe upgraded, but nothing has been done yet.”
They alleged, “Since the announcement, no further course ofaction has taken place. Previously, the education department started highersecondary classes in the high school a couple of times, but later the classeswere called off. We staged around at least four protests, but found no takersfor our demands.”
The protesters further said that neither a principal forhigher secondary school, nor additional staff has been deputed to the school.Besides, there are reports that the government has revoked the up-gradationdecision, they claimed.
Later, teams of police and administration reached the spotand tried to pacify the protesters, who refused to lift the blockade.
After a two-hour-long protest, former minister andlegislator, Chowdhary Zulfikar Ali visited the area and interacted with theprotesters. He informed them that he has taken up the matter with thegovernment, who has assured that upgraded classes in the school will be startedsoon.
On this assurance, the protest was called off.