Srinagar: While the fresh spell of rain in several areas of Kashmir has brought some relief to the heatwave-hit Valley, the Education Department has decided not to extend the summer holidays and to reopen schools on Tuesday. However, the order issued by the authorities—particularly regarding online classes after school hours—has left people wondering whether logic has any place in the current dispensation.
Though the School Education Department has clarified that these online classes will be held from Grade 6 onwards after students are dispersed from schools, the idea still defies logic.
In municipal areas, online classes are scheduled to begin at 12:30 PM and end at 2:00 PM, while in non-municipal (rural) areas, classes will start half an hour later—from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM.
A quick analysis is given below:
What the Government Says:
- Schools falling under municipal areas of all districts, from Primary to Class 12, will function from 7:30 AM to 11:30 AM.
- Schools in rural areas will function from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon.
- After reaching home, students will take a one-hour break and then attend online classes for two hours.
- Teachers will remain in schools until 2:00 PM to conduct online classes.
What Parents Say:
- In Srinagar and other municipal areas, it takes students almost one to one-and-a-half hours to reach home from school, as buses have to drop students at multiple locations. Most government school students, however, walk home.
- Mathematically, the majority of students will leave school at 11:30 AM, reach home by 12:30 PM, take a rest until 1:30 PM, and resume online classes—which will have to end by 2:00 PM, as per the government order.
- In rural areas, nearly all government school students walk to and from school. If they leave school at 12:00 Noon, it takes them at least 1 to 1.5 hours to reach home. So where is the time for online classes?
“It seems the education authorities are living in some dreamland, where they visualise and imagine things without applying their minds,” said a retired lecturer from Bandipayeen in District Baramulla. “Nobody is opposing the new timings, but do the authorities even know how far students have to walk to reach school and return home? In many areas, there is no transport facility—and where there is, most students can’t afford it.”
Even in municipal areas, parents express strong reservations.
“My son studies at a prestigious public school in Lal Chowk. It takes him one and a half hours to reach school, and the same to return. I have to board him on the bus by 6:00 AM—which means he gets up at 5:00 AM—and he’s back home by 2:00 PM. Then, as per our so-called ‘educational lords,’ he must rest for an hour and attend an online class. Who exactly will take that class, and how is he expected to focus?”— questions Ehtisham A. Bhat, a parent from Zakura, Srinagar.
