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Education under curfew

Mehnaz Saba, a class XII student, is for the first time feeling the pinch of hartals (general strikes).

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SRINAGAR: Mehnaz Saba, a class XII student, is for the first time feeling the pinch of hartals (general strikes). For the 18-year-old, frequent hartals and curfews have affected her preparations for medical entrance test since she could not attend school and tuition classes.

Mehnaz is one of the students who have been at the receiving end in Kashmir which has of late seen a spurt in hartals, curfews and protest demonstrations. After the Amarnath land controversy erupted in J&K in June, things are looking bleak for education sector in the valley.

Shagufta Parveen, director of state education department, said they had already lost 40 working days to curfews and strikes this year.

Frequent strikes called by the separatist and militant groups have dealt a disastrous blow to education since 1990. Official records reveal the schools in Kashmir have worked for 150 to 170 days a year during last decade. Normally, the average should have been 220 working days in schools, but in Kashmir it never crossed 170 days.
The academic calendar was restored after hard efforts in the recent years, particularly after the number of strikes came down from 150 a year to a few dozens in past few years.

The J&K government has now issued instructions to take extra classes to complete syllabi. “We have curtailed morning assembly session, daily physical education class and lunch break.  This will save us 90 minutes a day and we’ll make best use of it for studies,” Parveen said.
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