Srinagar: A negligible number of students turned up as secondary and higher secondary government schools in Kashmir reopened after nearly six months on Monday.
Schools in the region, like everywhere else, have been shut since mid-March when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.
The Ministry of Home Affairs recently under ‘Unlock 4’ allowed schools to reopen after following necessary precautions, including social distancing.
In compliance with the directions, the Jammu and Kashmir School Education Department decided to reopen schools for secondary and higher secondary classes.
However, the department left it to students to attend classes on a voluntary basis, while only 50 percent staff was allowed as per directions of the MHA.
A senior lecturer posted in Pulwama district told Kashmir Reader that the thin attendance on Monday was also because the department had taken an undertaking from students to take responsibility if they contracted the Covid-19 infection.
“So, the students and their parents felt that they were being left to fend for themselves, hence the thin attendance,” the teacher said.
Teachers also said that more than the thin attendance, there was “confusion” among the staff on reopening of schools as the Principal Secretary School Education, Asgar Samoon, had tweeted on Sunday that schools were “not opening for regular classes but for consultation”.
“It was after this tweet that everybody thought that the department did not mean serious business,” said a teacher.
A lecturer posted in Baramulla district said that Monday’s was more a “counselling and interactive” session at schools among teachers and students.
“Otherwise, online classes and community classes are already going on and we have covered more than eighty percent of the syllabus,” said the teacher.
He said that the students at this time of the year are more concerned about the upcoming annual board exams, for which they were counselled in view of the recently announced syllabus relaxation by the department.
However, students and parents are more worried about the growing number of Covid-19 cases in Kashmir. The department’s undertaking from students to take responsibility has further dissuaded them from joining classes.

Irshad Khan