An educational facility that runs out of a cowshed, in South Kashmir’s Kokernag area

Sameer Ahmad

Anantnag: In the absence of a school building, students at Margan Gadvail village in Kokernag area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district study under the open sky.

The school was established in 2004 as a primary school and was upgraded in 2014 to a Middle school in the village.

The Government Middle school in Margan Gadvail kokernag, has been turned into a cowshed exploding the over-inflated balloon of the so-called improvements and achievements in Education with a loud thud.

Eighteen years have passed since its establishment, but one room is all that the school has in the name of infrastructure. Government Middle school Margan Gadvail, where at least 150 students are studying is about 4 Kilometers from the ZEO office at vailoo kokernag, is among several of government-run schools here in Anantnag District which are glaring examples of the State’s poor education system.

The Middle school runs in a private building in the village and the family members of the house also live in the same building where the students are studying. The house has four rooms, two rooms are used for family members and the other two are used for school purposes, one among them is the office and another is for teaching 150 students. Forget libraries, a computer lab, internet facility or any other present-day requirement, the students are forced to squat on bare floors.

It makes a total mockery of the education system of our valley where the school board is hung on a cowshed next to the so-called school.  Where one expects to hear school bells and chatter of school kids, there is the mooing of cows and the stench of dung.

We are disappointed to see students sitting on the ground in the open, regardless of the season. ”We have written to senior officials to arrange the school building for students, but it has all gone in vain,” said showkat Khan, a school teacher. Adding in adverse weather conditions such as rain, students are sent home.

The school is a glaring example of the State’s poor education system. The children of the poor like us are left at God’s mercy, said a resident Abdul Rahim khan. For them, a computer is a distant dream. The authorities did not bother to acquire the land for the school and as such, it has been converted into a cowshed, he said. Added how they can even compete with the students of other schools?

In every back-to-village program, ”we highlighted this issue with the officials and demanded a new school building in the village, but nothing has been done so far”,he said.

The Headmaster of the school while talking to the Arising state said that they have been raising the issue before the higher authorities but to no avail. In almost every meeting that is conducted in the ZEO office, we raise the issue but nothing to this effect has been done so far, he said.

Talking to Arising state official sources in the ZEO office said that we have written several times to the CEO office Anantnag regarding the school at Gadvail kokernag, but all goes in vain. The officials in CEO chief education office Anantnag are in deep slumber and didn’t take any action resulting in the suffering of the students.

However, talking to Arising state ZEO vailoo Manzoor Ahmad said that we have already written several times to the higher-ups regarding the school and we hope that the matter will be resolved very soon.

Meanwhile,talking to Arising state CEO Anantnag Mohd Khalil said that he was unaware of the issue and he will visit the spot,  and assured that he will take up the issue with officials and the matter will be resolved very soon.