Shah Basit
On Saturday, as dozens of young children reached their school to attend the first paper of their annual examination, they found the gates of their school locked.
Eyewitnesses told The Kashmiriyat that dozens of students of the Government Primary school at Naqashband Mohalla in Wayilwooder area of Ganderbal were forced to stay under the open sky in the immense cold after the land owner locked the school building, demanding a job as promised by the authorities.
Nisara Begum, the land owner said that she had donated the piece of land for the Government school in 2013 and at that time she was promised that they will be given a job in the school. “Now it has been over 10 years, and we have not received any jobs,” she said.
“Recently there was an opening for a helper at the school. They did not give the job to anyone in our family, which clearly is not acceptable to us. The job was our primary condition to donate our land to the school,” she said.
Her son said that they are being made to run from pillar to post for the job for the last few days. “Initially, we approached the officials who asked us to approach the Sarpanch. The Sarpanch asked us to contact the ZEO, who in return sent us to the Sarpanch. They have been making us run from here to there for several days now. It has been several days that we tried to cordially resolve the matter, however, the officials paid no attention to our demand. Now we are forced to lock down the school,” he said.
A parent speaking to The Kashmiriyat said that the locking down of the school has caused worry among the students and the parents equally. “It was their first exam today and they have come to find their school locked,” a parent said. He demanded that the Department and the landowners resolve the issue at the earliest.
Meanwhile, officials of the education department reached to the spot to resolve the issue. The school was reopened after assurances by the officials.