Syed Tahir Bukhari
BARAMULLA, Sept 25 : As the government high school at Saloosa in Kreeri tehsil of Baramulla lacks basic facilities, students, especially girls, have been facing a lot of problems.
A primary school was established at Saloosa on June 1, 1956. It was later upgraded to Middle School level and then to High School level.
"Sometimes we feel as if we are not in a school. It is just like an open playground where everyone comes and plays without any restriction. Our top school authorities are in a deep slumber as their own children are studying in private schools. So, they will not understand our problem," students said. School officials said, "The school has almost 30.5 kanals of revenue land which is without fencing till date. During play time, the students prefer to sit inside classrooms as local youth roam freely in the campus without any restriction and pass obscene remarks whenever girl students come out of their classrooms to play." "The school building collapsed due to earthquake in October 2005 and in 2011 due to snow. It has now become an open space for local youth, who come here before and after school hours. They use the school building for gambling, drug peddling and other illegal purposes, the official said. A teacher said, "The school is having 70 students, both boys and girls, 10 teachers. The school strength is decreasing as girls feel insecure here." He said these students prefer to go to other nearby schools of Kreeri and Choora for acquiring education.
As per the documents, which are in possession of Early Times, a letter was sent to Chief Education Officer (CEO), Baramulla, vide No 103/HSS/17-11-2011, which was further forwarded to Director School Education, Kashmir (DSEK). In response to it, DSEK wrote to ZEO Wagoora vide his June 6, 2012, letter No DSEK/Plg/Dismantle/58/11 saying. The ZEO in return forwarded the letter vide his letter No ZEO/10/4611-12 Dated 29-01-2014 to Junior Engineer (JE) of Sarvi Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) for information and visiting report.
But the irony is that the order has remained on papers only as no further development has taken place so far, according to some school teachers.
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