After weeks of disquieting uncertainty and an ugly public spat involving the ruling PDP-BJP coalition government, the separatist groups and the civil society, Board exams have finally begun in Kashmir Valley.
For the first time in many years, an unprecedented security cover has been mounted on nearly 1,000 examination centres across the valley where more than hundred thousand students of Class 10 and Class 12 will write their papers over the next fortnight.
The prevailing crisis in Kashmir has turned schools into an endangered zone, which needs official patronage to survive.
In the run up to the exam, at least 30 schools were torched as diverse ideologies collided, batting for and against holding the exams against the backdrop of the mayhem over the last five months.
Succumbing to public pressure, the Jammu and Kashmir government last week announced that they would hold the exam in two sessions.
For those appearing in this month’s session, the JKBOSE, the nodal body governing the school education in the state, has announced a 50 % relaxation in syllabus.
In March 2017, the JKBOSE will conduct another round of exams for Class 10 and Class 12 students. However, the students will have to cover the syllabus in entirety and there will be no relaxation for them.
Testing Times
While the exams have remained incident-free so far with more than 90 % students expected to write their papers, the teachers and non-teaching staff of Kashmir's education department continue to remain on their toes.
After schools started falling prey to arsonists, thousands of educational establishments in the Valley are being guarded by their male staff who work in shifts, serving doubly as the night watchmen whose presence is meant to keep miscreants away.
“Teachers are obliged to teach students. Protecting schools is the duty of the police and the government. By linking education with the restoration of normalcy, we are becoming vulnerable to hate and abuse,” a teacher at a government-run school in south Kashmir said, on the condition of anonymity.
On a chilly winter evening this November, Manzoor Ahmād's reverie was broken by the sound of stones raining on the tin roof of the school building where he was putting up. The darkness outside gave him comfort. There is no fire, he thought. Perhaps, the worst is yet to come.
Gathering himself, Manzoor, a teacher, rang up the nearest police station and impatiently walked up and down the length of the room till the police arrived.
After half an hour, I was relieved to hear the SHO at the door. The attackers had perhaps fled from the area. He (SHO) comforted the staff and ordered his team to stay with us for the night. This was the last thing on my mind when I joined the education department.Manzoor
Manzoor is a teacher at a government-run school in Gund village.
Another teacher and two members of the non-teaching staff have been staying with Manzoor in this central Kashmir school. It was their second night at the school.
Differing Opinions
As exams are underway, for some employees of Kashmir's education department, it is the time to pull up their socks and abandon homely comforts in order to protect schools - a place that earns them a livelihood, while also serving as a tool of empowerment in their violence-wracked society.
Gulzar Ahmad Sodagar works as a Contingent Paid Worker at Government Higher Secondary School, Kadipora in south Kashmir.
I have been working here for over three decades. My salary is meagre. Now, I have to spend restless nights here. I am also a blood pressure patient. But it gives me immense pride to think that I am doing something for my society.Gulzar Ahmad Sodagar
For others with dependent families - ageing parents, sick wives and toddler children, this unwritten code comes as a rude shock in this summer of intense political turmoil.
"I have a two-year-old daughter at home but we have been turned into chowkidars. It is risky for us because so many school buildings have been set on fire recently. Had the police not turned up on time, they would have set our school on fire as well," Manzoor, the teacher, said of the attackers.
Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
Video Inputs: Muneeb Ul Islam
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