[av_heading heading=’Photo Story: Kashmir’s Open-Air Community Schooling Fills the Void’ tag=’h3′ style=” size=” subheading_active=” subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
[av_heading heading=’Open-Air Community Schooling in Kupwara, Kashmir ‘ tag=’h5′ style=” size=” subheading_active=” subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Community Schooling underway in Ditkoot village, Kupwara amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo by Firdous Qadri
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Ditkoot, a town in Kupwara district Kashmir, offers a novel solution to the students who struggle with internet connectivity and the cost to attain education.
Photo by Firdous Qadri
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A remote village in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district has sought to break the COVID-19 logjam on schooling by starting an open-air community school.
Photo by Firdous Qadri
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Basic safety measures like masks, sanitizers, and social distancing are maintained in Ditkoo’s open-air schooling. Photo by Firdous Qadri
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Students from various areas in Kupwara come together to study at Ditkoot’s community school. Photo by Firdous Qadri
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Ditkoot’s open-air community school’s staff teaches students regardless of the conflict and current pandemic. Photo by Firdous Qadri
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Students from the Kupwara region in Kashmir make their way through the forest to the community school.
Photo by Firdous Qadri
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The staff of the open-air community school in Ditkoot Kupwara helps students cross a stream to reach their respective places to study. Photo by Firdous Qadri
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Students study during one of their classes in the community school located in Ditkoot, Kupwara district of Kashmir. Photo by Firdous Qadri
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Ditkoot, a remote village in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district has sought to break the COVID-19 logjam on schooling by starting an open-air community school.
The open-air community school offers a novel solution to the students who struggle with internet connectivity and the cost to attain education. For them, Kashmir’s Ditkoot village has set up open-air classrooms on the green hills with the snow-capped Himalayas in the background.
Ditkoot village’s open-air community school consists of responsible and self-less staff who strive for the better of the future generation of Kashmir regardless of the conflict and current pandemic.
“The classes are being conducted keeping the safety measures in mind,” said Bashir ah dar, local school principal, who helped set up the community school.
Apart from providing basic safety measures like masks, sanitizers, and following social distancing the open-air schooling also supports the reach of students who aspire to learn but cannot afford the digital tools.
Such set-ups by people of Kashmir have been particularly helpful since children in Kashmir have been out of school even before the pandemic struck. On 5th August 2019, India revoked Kashmir’s special status and shut down 4G internet connectivity for the entire region for over a year now.
Photos by Firdous Qadri
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