During Marriage Season, Locals Use This School As A Marriage Hall
Nadeem Lone
Srinagar: The Government Boys High School Bemina Srinagar where the Director Education Shah Faisal recently suspended 18 teachers for “remaining absent from classrooms” has all together a different story to tell. These teachers seem to have been made scapegoats for none of their fault.
Soon after the visit, the director, who is Kashmiri’s first IAS topper of his batch, posted on social media that this Bemina School is among the dirtiest schools in Kashmir as the teachers have miserably failed to maintain the premises neat and clean.
But there is other side of the story. The Kashmir Scenario team visited the school and talked to students, teachers and locals around.
The Director had said that the school had zero percent results, which after thorough investigation, turned out to be a white lie. According to official records, in 2015 the school had only four students who had appeared for the class 10 examinations. Out of these four, one student got distinction while the other three also passed out with flying colours.
Shah Faisal as the director education has taken some much needed revolutionary steps to revamp this ailing department, but by suspending 18 teachers at Bemina School, he has been caught on a wrong foot.
Before suspending the teachers and blaming them for failing to keep the school clean should have known that this building where the school is housed is not only a school but also serves as a marriage hall for the community there.
When there is any marriage ceremony in the vicinity, the school authorities have to vacate few classrooms for the marriage ceremony. “At that time, we merge these three classes in one class,” say the teachers.
The one corner of the school premises-which actually is a public park and also serves as a garbage dumping yard for the locality, is being used by the chefs to cook Wazwan and the tents are being erected on the rest of the premises.
The school authorities say they can’t object to anyone, as the whole property belongs to Auqaf Committee. The local Auqaf Committee has given four rooms to the school on rent.
“We pay rent of four classrooms and not of the whole building. Even the second story of the building is locked. We have no rights on that even,” they said, adding, when the school closes at 4, people do their kind of things in the park and even dogs are roaming here.
“How can we clean such a big public place every day? Is it our duty to clean a public park every morning? Here we have no peon, no sweeper? We have written to the authorities dozen of times, but to no avail. The authorities have failed to provide infrastructure to this school. There is no playground, no premises of its own. We have been punished for nothing. Nobody listens to our story,” say the fuming teachers.
This High school has just four classrooms. The Auqaf Committee has also given three more additional rooms to the school so that the space shortage issue is sorted out. But whenever there is any function in the locality, the school authorities have to vacate these classrooms on those days and students either stay at home or are being merged in one class.
The teachers say they just fail to understand why they have been suspended. Even the teachers who were on the casual leave have not been spared.
“I was on a casual leave. Even I have also been suspended. Let’s accept that the teachers were missing from the classrooms, but what is the fault of those teachers who were on leave,” said a female teacher.
The teachers also said that one student failed to answer correctly the Director’s questions while the rest of the students performed well. “Why the Director only highlighted the case of that very student who failed to answer. He should have highlighted about those students also who answered him correctly and solved the mathematical problems. Instead of encouraging, the director has discouraged us. We feel ashamed to stand before our students. The students make fun of us. They keep on shouting that our all teachers have been suspended. We feel humiliated,” said the teachers.