Baramulla: The visually-impaired students of ‘Blind School Northern Federation Baramulla’ staged a protest on Monday demanding government accommodation as “promised by the successive governments”.
The protesting students blocked the Srinagar-Baramulla highway at Khawaja Bagh for several hours in favour of their demand.
The aggrieved students said that in the past, the successive governments assured accommodation to them so that they could continue their studies without any problem.
However, despite the passage of many years, nothing had been done in this direction.
“We are moving from one private accommodation to another as it becomes extremely difficult for the management to pay huge monthly rent which is around Rs 50,000. Under such circumstances it becomes difficult for us to continue our studies,” said Wajid Khaliq Bhat, a visually-impaired student.
Shabir Ahmad, the administrator of the school, said that they were imparting education to visually-impaired students for more than a decade.
He said that they were teaching the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (BOSE) syllabus up to class 8th and the mode of education was Braille and sign instructions.
Ahmad said that in past the successive governments assured them a government accommodation for the students and land at Fatehpora, Baramulla had been ‘identified’ for the [urpose.
However, he said that several years on, nothing had been done in this direction.
“In the past, the state administration identified the land and assured that a building will be constructed at the identified site. However, political circumstances delayed the work. We want some accommodation for them so that they can continue their studies without any obstacle,” Ahmad said.
Later, Police officials from Baramulla visited the spot and assured the aggrieved students that their issue would be forwarded to the higher-ups.
Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, Bhupinder Kumar told Greater Kashmir that it was a private school run by an NGO in private accommodation.
“The school is run by an NGO. We will try to provide all possible support under the norms,” he said.