Ashes to Dust: Kashmir’s Schools Are Burning, but No One Knows Why

Since the civil uprising erupted on 8 July after the killing of Burhan Wani, at least 23 schools have been targeted.

Anantnag’s Hanfia Institute, the oldest in the area, gutted in fire. (Photo: Muneeb Ul Islam)

On 21 October, a day before the tragedy struck, the staff of a government-run school in a south Kashmir district called a meeting and decided to resume the classwork.

With authorities unrelenting on the issue of postponing school exams in Kashmir Valley against the backdrop of the prevailing crisis, the staff had no option but to gear up their preparations.

We made some phone calls to the staff members who had failed to turn up for the meeting. Some parents were also informed about the opening of the school. We had no option but to prepare the students for the exams.

A teacher attending the meeting told <b>The Quint</b>

Angry protesters set ablaze a government high school building at Chatawatan in south Kashmirs Shopian district. (Photo: Muneeb Ul Islam)

As the night set in, unidentified arsonists consigned the school building to flames. No one is sure who did it.

Next day, the oblivious villagers woke up to the sight of smouldering pillars and charcoal frames of half-burnt windows in place of the school building. The fire had reduced it to ashes.

• At least 23 schools have been targeted since Burhan Wani’s death on 8 July
  
• J&K police say the investigation into at least half dozen such incidents of arson pins the blame on localised factors, ruling out any larger conspiracy
  
• The announcement of on-time exams, despite the agitation in the Valley, has not gone down well with the student community
  
• Hurriyat leaders refuse to let schools reopen, arguing that the students are mentally scarred
  

Hanfia Institute in Anantnag set on fire. The institute is the oldest building in the area. (Photo: Muneeb Ul Islam)

Raging Fires

Schools in Kashmir are burning but no one knows why.

Since the civil uprising erupted on 8 July after the killing of Burhan Wani, at least 23 schools – 20 of them government-run, two private and one Jawahar Navodaya Vidyayala – have been targeted.

Seven were reduced to ashes. Although such incidents were barely reported in the initial two months, September and October, according to police, have seen the worst.

In some cases, evidence points to the involvement of students themselves. It is not merely a coincidence that the spike in these attacks comes with the announcement that examinations will be held on time, despite four crucial months of academic calendar having been wasted.

A senior police officer

Sources in J&K Police told The Quint that investigation into at least half dozen such incidents of arson pins the blame on localised factors, ruling out any larger conspiracy.

In at least one incident, reported from Botengu village of south Kashmir, 'accidental' teargas shelling on a school by forces sparked the fire, which reduced the school building to ashes.

A school gutted in Batengoo after a teargas shell landed inside. (Photo: Muneeb Ul Islam)

Employing Education in Politics

While Kashmir has remained paralysed in the last four months with at least 94 civilians, many of the students, killed in retaliatory action against protesters by government forces and thousands injured, the announcement of on-time exam has not gone down well with the student community.

The issue attained political tones when senior leader of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, Naeem Akhtar – who crusaded major reforms in the education department in his ongoing stint as the state’s education minister – wrote an open letter to the Hurriyat patriarch, Syed Ali Geelani.

Akhtar’s appeal was that schools must be allowed to open so that the students don't lose their academic year.

The Hurriyat refuses to budge, making education a casualty of the hardening of postures on the two extreme ends of the political spectrum in the Valley.

While the government has refused to postpone the exams, the Hurriyat wants unconditional release of all the people who have been arrested over the last four months before it calls off the agitation, a demand highly unlikely to be conceded.

Hanfia Institute at Lal Chowk gutted in fire. (Photo: Muneeb Ul Islam)

But What's the Cost of This Agitation?

The unprecedented agitation in the Valley has produced a generation of "street warriors".

The unending spell of strikes and shutdown has created a psychological emergency. Children are suddenly finding their classmates vanished, because they are either dead, blinded by pellets or maimed during protests.

No doubt it is an unprecedented situation. The lockdown in Kashmir will have its repercussions because it has disturbed the young population psychologically. They need to be counselled first before they are asked to resume academic activities.

Mushtaq Margoob, renowned psychologist in Kashmir

People try to salvage the burning Hanfia Institute at Lal Chowk, Anantnag. (Photo: Muneeb Ul Islam)

Defusing the Crisis

A three-member team of the high-level delegation from New Delhi, headed by former union minister and BJP leader, Yashwant Sinha, met the Hurriyat leader Geelani for the second time on Thursday morning with the same appeal: Let the schools run normally. The Hurriyat patriarch, however, was of little help.

No sane person can oppose or deny the importance of education.... but education can only thrive in a calm, peaceful and dignified atmosphere... (By opening schools), these innocent kids will be far from getting their education as they are mentally and psychologically disturbed and terrified.

Syed Ali Geelani

But the mood on the ground is that even if the Hurriyat wills, few schools will open.

While the J&K High Court on Thursday dismissed a PIL seeking deferment of exams, which are scheduled to start from 14 November, the authorities are preparing a security plan for exam centres after the Prime Minister's Office waded into the issue.

At a time when the heads of prominent schools in Kashmir are calling for rescheduling the exam, it is time to rethink. Until a middle ground is found, Kashmir may witness such conflagrations more often in the coming days.