Kashmir schools reopen after winter vacations
Thin attendance on first day due to heavy snowfall
More than 10,000 schools up to 8th standard Monday opened across Kashmir after a long spell of winter vacation even as thin attendance marked the first day in many institutions due to adverse weather conditions and swine flu threat, officials said.
Students had a tough time navigating to their respective schools as parents struggled to ready their children amidst plunging temperatures. The schools opened after 111 days of holidays.
Earlier they were expected to open on 23rd February but were continuously closed due to bad weather. The high schools are already functioning.
At many places, students complained of lack of heating arrangement in classrooms while water-logging made the situation worse for students in some areas.
According to official figures, 10,400 schools opened today after the vacations.
People were apprehensive of sending their children to school due to swine flu threat.
“Earlier also I was not in favour of sending my four-year-old son to school due to swine flu threat and now the bad weather gave us another reason to keep him away for some time,” said Fayaz Ahmad, whose son studies in LKG at a private school in Srinagar.
“The flu virus is more dangerous in cold weather and since children remain a high risk group, we kept our son away from school as a preventive measure.”
The Directorate of School Education had already issued a health advisory to schools and asked the staff to follow precautionary measures in full spirit. In places like Shopian where snowfall cut off many roads, a number of schools could not open.
“Almost all schools opened today, so this academic session has officially started. Due to adverse weather conditions the attendance remained thin,” said Showkat Beigh, Director School Education Kashmir.
“Our prime concern is the safety and well being of students. Wherever the condition was not good for opening of schools, we let them decide what is good for students even if that means closing the institutes. Number of private schools took a day off to avoid inconvenience to children.”
