No way to school

Rifat Mohidin in Srinagar

Muadib, 14, has not stepped out of his home in Srinagar after the unrest began in Kashmir on July 9. He has not either been able to study or play. The smell of pepper, teargas and the noise of slogans outside make him restless. The only question he asks his parents is: why is his life not like the happy children he watches on TV?

In Valley, the 48 days of curfew and shutdown have brought the lives of children to a standstill with fear, violence and closure of schools causing anxiety among them. “My parents try their best so that I know nothing about what is happening outside, but I see everything,” says Muadib, a class IX student from Safa Kadal in Old Srinagar which often witnesses violent clashes between youths and security forces. His parents say he has been exposed to the current situation very deeply, and he keeps asking distressing questions.

“He often tells us why all this is happening here, why it doesn’t happen elsewhere in India and why children are blinded here. We have no answers,” says Muadib’s mother, Meema Begum.

Like Muadib, when 17-year-old Rijaab Khan tried to break the monotony and started self-studying to compensate for the academic loss, she suddenly heard the news that a teenager has been shot dead by forces in Srinagar. She again lost concentration and felt depressed.

“Our lives have become a cage. We do not live. Our parents fear for us. We see students of our age being fired with pellets and killed. It badly affects us. We want an end to this bloodshed,” says Rijaab, a class XI commerce student at a government school in Srinagar. Schools in the Valley have had hardly 75 working. This year the schools in Kashmir resumed in mid-March and the last working day before the summer vacation was July 1. School playgrounds have been filled by security forces. The only things the students talk about these days are ‘pellets’ and ‘azadi.’ The current unrest has exposed the children to the worst phase of violence in Kashmir where the psychiatrists believe it is going to have a lasting impact on them.

“I hope and pray that the students cope and be resilient as they did in the ’90s. As a lot of education happens outside the school, community schools seem to be a good alternative in the present circumstances,” says Valley’s leading psychiatrist, Dr Arshid Hussain. Another psychiatrist says the violent atmosphere will impact the cognitive development of the children. “There are chances that the prevailing anxiety could lead to violent behavioral changes as well. Schools’ closure and inability to play will impact their academic performance and can cause personality disorder in the long term,” says Dr Sheikh Shoaib, a psychiatrist at Valley’s major tertiary care, Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital. “It needs a holistic approach to create an atmosphere where these children can think freely, play and study.” 

The summer break was due to end on July 17. It was extended to July 25 due to the turmoil which has already taken 69 lives. Hundreds have been injured, including students like five-year-old Zohra Farooq who was hit by pellets on her leg and two other children in South Kashmir’s Anantnag who were playing cricket and were riddled with pellets when the police fired at protestors. The incidents have forced parents not to send their children to school till normalcy returns.

The current unrest in Kashmir has affected more than 15 lakh school going students. As per figures by Directorate of Education School Kashmir (DSEK), there are total numbers of 11,766 government schools in Kashmir. The number of private schools put by the government is 2,610. The total enrollment in government schools is 9, 33,025 and in private schools the enrollment is 5, 89,734.