Shopian: A government primary school at Lawahind village in Shopian district has been occupied for three years by a non-local family, but the authorities seem to be least bothered.
Locals from the village said that the school building, including its kitchen, washroom and classrooms, are being used by the non-local family as their accommodation.
A resident of the village said that the school was closed due to decline in student enrolment three years ago but the government recruited some ReT teachers to get it restarted. However, the plan to reopen the school never materialised and the building was abandoned, only to be taken over by the non-local family.
Lawahind village is situated some four kilometers from district headquarters Shopian, but even after three years the issue has not come to the notice of the chief education officer.
Locals blame the school’s former teachers for hiring members of the non-local family for manual work at their homes, in return for which they allow the building to be used by the family to live in.
Another villager said that in every other village community classes are being conducted amid the Covid lockdown, but their children have nowhere to go as the school is occupied and closed.
“This non -local family has plastered the concrete kitchen room with mud as per their custom. They use its washroom and other facilities as well,” he said.
Locals said that nomadic families come to Kashmir in summers for work but they leave at the end of autumn, while this family is staying put in the government school.
Chief Education Officer Shopian, Mushtaq Ahmad, said he was not aware of the occupation of the school building by a non-local family. He said his office will seek a report from the zonal education officer. “Even the teachers from the area have not informed me about it,” he said.

Raashid Hassan