Kulgam school functioning from rented premises irks students, teachers
Anantnag: A middle level school in south Kashmir’s Kulgam districtcontinues to function from a rented building and is located in between two sawmills in Matalhama area, locals said Friday.
Locals from Matalhama area of Kulgam said that the school was established in year 1966 and was upgraded to middle school in 2006, however, the school continues to function from rented Auqaf building located inbetween two sawmills.
They said that students of the school are exposed to severe noise and air pollution due to noise of diesel generators and straw coming out of the sawmills.
Abdul Rashid, a local said that on request of Auqaf one sawmill owner shifted it few feet away from the school while other one continues to function close to the school.
“Once sawmill owners start generators, students are unable to listen to their teachers properly thereby affecting their education,” he said.
Continuous exposure to loud noise can lead to serious problems among students studying in the school and most of them belong to financially weak families, he added.
Locals said that they have been pleading before government authorities to shift the school but as of now, nothing has been done.
They said that after repeated requests to the government, last year DC Kulgam had directed revenue officials to identify land so that the school can be shifted.
They said that on directions of DC, a team of revenue officials visited the village and identified a patch of state land for constructing the school building. However, disappointingly, construction work has not commenced till date, they said.
The locals have now once again requested higher ups to look into the matter at an earliest and take necessary steps so that students won’t suffer anymore.
Meanwhile, an official of the education department assured that construction work will start soon following which school will be shifted there.
Jahangeer Ganaie
