Taliban-type attack against Kashmir schools, almost 20 schools set on fire in Valley since July

Hundreds of parents sent their children to Jammu and Delhi for studies.

Terrorist groups in Kashmir are now following the path of Taliban by destroying schools and ensuring their continued shutdown.

In the last five days alone, five schools were burnt in the valley and over the past three-and-a-half months at least one school in each of Kashmir Valley’s 10 district have either been burnt or suffered damages in fires.

Although the police have registered the alleged cases, no one has been booked till now.

Hundreds of parents sent their children to Jammu and Delhi for studies because the schools in Valle remained shut since the death of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani in an encounter on July 8.

According to officials, seventeen government schools and three private schools have been wrecked in the last three months and around two million students have been prevented from going to schools across the Kashmir Valley.

On September 27, Lashkar-e-Taiba issued a warning to Jammu and Kashmir education minister Naeem Akhtar for trying to re-open schools and colleges in the Valley. Later, in an open letter, Akhtar asked pro-Pakistan separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to allow educational institutions to run, but his plea had no effect on the terrorist groups.

“It is alarming. The people who are behind it don’t want peace in Kashmir. Offices are being burnt as well. We have sought the help of the police,” said Aijaz Ahmad, Director School Education Kashmir.

“It is a matter of concern for us. We are in the process of identifying the miscreants and also putting in place some security measures like area domination to avoid such incidents,” Times of India quoted K. Rajendra Kumar, state’s director general of police.

Despite the fact that students have not even able to cover 50% of their syllabus the government has decided to go ahead with the exams of higher secondary classes in November. The government said it was looking into various options like introduction of more choices in question papers and reduction in syllabus for the examinations.