For 2 weeks, students wait for staff to turn up at Gurez school
For almost two weeks now, the students in Kilshay village of Gurez Valley are waiting in despair for the staff to turn up at the Government Higher Secondary School (GHSS) Kilshay but to no avail.
The residents from the village said that after the authorities reopened the schools following lockdown, no teacher attended duty and the students had to return home disappointed.
On Wednesday, the students, along with the locals, also staged a protest demanding teachers at the school.
The protesting students questioned the government’s claims of improving the quality of education in schools across Kashmir.
“The ground reality is completely different,” they said.
Saleem Lone, a local, said it had been over 10 days that children of the village were being forced to return home without class work.
Officials said that 11 posts of lecturers at the school were lying vacant.
They said, presently, only two teachers were posted at the school and those teachers were stuck in Bandipora due to inclement weather and were waiting to be airlifted as the Bandipora-Gurez road remains closed.
According to the officials, the 12th class has two enrolled students and the 11th class has 11 enrolled students.
They said that the village was snowbound and avalanche-prone.
At least 29 lecturer posts are lying vacant in the seven higher secondary schools of Gurez zone which affects the educational scenario in Gurez Valley.
Of the 29 vacant lecturer posts, 11 posts are vacant in GHSS Kilshay, five in GHSS Baduaab, two in GHSS Budugam, five in GHSS Purana Tulail (PTL), three in GHSS Dawar, two in Government Boys Higher Secondary School Dawar, and one in GHSS Izmarg.
Besides these vacancies, among the total seven higher secondary schools, four – GHSS Kilshay, GHSS Baduaab, GHSS Purana Tulail and GHSS Dawar – are headless.
