Idrees Bukhtiyar
BARAMULLA: Another year, another autumn. This school in a remote village of Uri town, near the Line of Control in north Kashmir, is still locked.
Reason: The official inertia to appoint teachers after the death of the only teacher of the village nearly two years ago.
Government Primary School Dulanja ‘B’ running under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan is non-functional owing to lack of teachers in the school, say residents.
They say Abdul Lateef, a local ReT [Rehber-e-taleem] teacher single-handedly ran this school until he died in 2012. Since then it has remained “completely locked”.
“After his sudden death the school stopped and our children are roaming here and there for want of education,”says Mufaad Ahmad, a local resident.
In May 2012, education department advertised around two dozen posts for Jullah Zone of the Uri of which Dulanja village forms a part.
Abdul Lateef, a local ReT teacher single-handedly ran this school until he died in 2012. Since then it has remained completely locked.
“A merit list of 16 candidates was issued by Chief Educational Officer Baramulla vide order no. DIPK-12833 dated 12/01/2013. It was forwarded to Director of School Education for further action. However nothing has happened after that,” says Shafiq Ahmad Mir, a resident who claims to be the only graduate in the village. He had applied for the post.
Sources say the file is still pending at the Director’s office for unknown reasons.
The Sarpanch of the Zone Jullah, Nadeem Abbasi told FreePress that education department is not sincere towards the education of the students and is ‘playing’ with their career.
Nobody among the authorities here knows the reason about the delay.
Zonal Education Officer, Jullah, Syed Tufail Ahmad says the students of the school were shifted to another primary school, at a distance.
But he says even he is only waiting for the higher ups to send orders regarding the appointments.
The Director of Education did not take calls despite repeated attempts.
