Idrees Bukhtiyar
BARAMULLA: For the past more than a year, school bells have not rung for the children of this remote village of Uri on Line of Control in North Kashmir. Reason: The official inertia to appoint teachers after the death of the only teacher of the village in May 2012.
Government Primary School Dulanja ‘B’ running under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan in Kashmir’s Baramulla district is non-functional owing to lack of teachers in the school, say the residents.
They say that Abdul Lateef, a local ReT [Rehber-e-taleem] teacher, who singlehandedly was running this school died over a year ago, and since then, the School remains “completely locked”.
“After his sudden death the school functioning stopped and our children are roaming here and there for want of education,”says Mufaad Ahmad who is brother of the first graduate person of the village.
In May 2012, education department advertised around two dozen posts for Jullah Zone of the Uri of which Dulanja village forms a part.
“After all the formalities and objections a merit list of 16 candidates was issued by Chief Educational Officer Baramulla vide no.DIPK-12833 dated 12/01/2013.The list was forwarded to Director School Education for further action. However in last six months the department is yet to issue the appointment orders,” says Shafiq Ahmad Mir, a resident who claims to be the only graduate in the village to have applied for the post.
“There are only two guys from our village who have studied till college level. I am the one who is a graduate and another is studying in 2nd Year. We went to the Education Department at Civil Secretariat where we met then Director Education Farooq Faktoo who told us that the selection process would not take more than two weeks to complete. But it has been months now,” he states.
Mir’s 65-year-old mother Resham Jahan says that his son, despite being an educated, has to work as a porter for army carrying their baggage and other materials on his horse to and fro their camp at Line of Control [Loc].
“One can very much understand how much dependent we have to remain on army for want of survival. If the school restarts, may be, many careers could be saved from getting ruined,” Jahan says.
Chief Education Officer Baramulla, Abdul Rouf Shahmeri informs that the list has been sent to Directorate Office for “discussion”.
“I can’t say why the orders have not been issued yet. The panel is under discussion at Directorate office, and after appropriate action, the orders will be issued and School will resume again,” he stresses.
