Early Times Report
Poonch, Mar 27 : Earlier this month, the allocation of portfolios in the PDP-BJP coalition was announced and major portfolios like home, finance and education were allocated to PDP ministers by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. This has raised the hopes of the people who feel, perhaps rightly, that they have been neglected by the State time and again.
Two hundred and fifty kilometers from Jammu town lies village Salotri at the zero-line in the border district of Poonch. With no electricity, roads, telephone network, education and health infrastructure, this village seems all but left out of the development fold. With a multitude of issues to worry about, one of the primary concerns is the poor state of education.
"A writing competition was organized for the students of class 6, 7 and 8 in February this year, with the topics to write on given a week in advance. Yet, the results of the competition were not just shocking but saddening too. With only twenty-two of the seventy six students turning up to participate, a dismal ten scored over 50 % marks," said Anees ul Haque, a social activist and the organizer of the competition.
The competition was organized in Urdu language. It was later found that the Urdu teacher had been absent from his duties in the Middle School, Salotri for the last six months. He had evidently been sent on deputation to another school and had recently returned. This instance was merely one example exposing the dismal status of education in the district.
Not very far from Salotri lies another village that had been recognized as a Model Village in 2012 - Khanetar. Despite the title, this densely populated village is yet to get a building for its high school. The construction had started in 2009 but even after six years, the work lies incomplete. "The administration conducts thirteen classes in six rooms. Be it summer, winter or rain, the students in our village have to face many challenges to get an education: a service meant to be a basic right by law," said Nikhat Bukhari, a Class 10 student of the school.
Nikhat also complained about the absence of toilets in the school that forces the students to go out in open spaces to relieve themselves. This causes much embarrassment, especially to girls, who eventually stop attending classes, effectively closing opportunities for a promising future.
There are few who, despite the odds, manage to get an education till class X but are then forced to drop out since there is no higher secondary school in Khanetar. Every morning, four buses overcrowded with students leave for Poonch. These are the select few who can afford an education in town. "During election season, many MLAs, Ministers come and make promises of promoting high school to higher secondary, but till date, the status quo remains unchanged," shares Nikhat, who is worried about her future as well. Villages like Sheendra consider Khanetar High School to be among the fortunate few, since their wait has only been five years long, whereas villagers in Sheendra have been waiting since 1968 to get their school building renovated. "Of the two rooms that were constructed in 1968, one is in a dilapidated condition. We conduct all five classes in the remaining one room which is also used for administrative work," says one of the teachers of the Primary School, Sheendra.
The school boasts the availability of one toilet which, due to non-availability of water, is ironically of no use. Teachers have on several occasions tried to raise the matter with the Education Department but to no avail. Another school in Sheendra operates from a shop as no Government building has been allotted to it for several years now. As per Niaz Ahmad, a local activist, villagers have given up hope as no one from the Education Department bothers to pay heed to their grievances.
For a district like Poonch that has seen bloodshed during the India-Pakistan war and is always in the news for cross-border conflict, education can play a large role in changing its identity at the national level. The youth here have shown good response to whatever little has been provided to them in the name of education infrastructure. The Charkha Development Communication Network feels that If the new government really wants to serve the people of Jammu and Kashmir , they must listen to the voices of these youngsters waiting for better education opportunities. |
