Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep.3 (ANI): As India observes Teachers Day this weekend, it is time to spare a thought for the Kashmiri students who are not in school.

Children in Srinagar, the winter capital of the restive state of Jammu and Kashmir, have been sitting at home for the past two-and-a-half months, unable to attend classes due to a cycle of shutdown calls given by the separatists and curfew orders imposed by the administration.

The young children are witnessing rage on the streets and frustration at home.Some are joining the protests, egged on by peers and adults who urge them to be part of the struggle for ‘azadi’ (freedom), telling them that education can wait for now.

Others resist the pull and pressure and stay safe at home, but with nothing to do and nowhere to go.

Teachers have told them to study at home, as the exams will be held on schedule at the end of the semester, regardless of whether classes are held or not.

Some schools have uploaded tutorials on the web and the students are trying to study the material on their own. But, not everybody has access to the Internet in the nine districts of Kashmir.

The Delhi Public School of Srinagar has flown over a hundred children to one of their Delhi branches to complete their summer semester. The school is tightlipped about the identity of the children in order to protect them. Off the record, we learn that their parents in the valley might face harassment from separatists for having evacuated their children.Mohammad Irfan of Srinagar University says that the first term exams are to be held in a month’s time and not a single day of classes have been held.

He says: “How are we supposed to cope with this? Young children are sitting at home and their future is at stake. I appeal to the leaders and the government, please spare a thought to the children of poor and middle class families who cannot afford to leave this city and study elsewhere.” Adds Mohammad Aslam: “The poor have nowhere to go. Week after week we live in hope that violence will end and normalcy will resume. Even during the Ramadan month there has been no respite. How long can the children stay away from schools? What future do I have, just waiting?”Some believe separatist leaders like Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi and Hurriyat leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Masrat Alam, who tell them that they are the promised generation, who will deliver to the Kashmiris, freedom from Indian rule; a promise that had been made twenty years ago, which has also led nowhere.Masrat Alam, who is a separatist living in hiding, said in a statement to the local KNS: “To get education is everybody’s wish. But what is the importance of the education in a place where there is a dark future, and, where, students like Tufail Matto are being killed.”