Kashmir Digits

The future of 120 students is suffering at Upper Primary School (UPS) Lawoosa, Kupwara as they have no teacher for Mathematics.

“Right now we are taking community classes under the open sky, but at the time of regular mode of teaching, students suffer due to lack of accommodation,” said a teacher posted here.

Only six teachers including a headmaster are posted at UPS Lawoosa that tells upon the sad state of affairs of the school.

“We have a dearth of teachers and the available teachers are over burdened because every one of them has to teach eight to nine classes every day,” said another teacher posted here. The deteriorated buildings of the school also pose a threat to the students.

“We have time and again been requesting the higher ups to demolish these dilapidated structures and construct new buildings but to no avail,” said another teacher.

“The department should focus more on quality education and that is impossible in absence of basic amenities,” a local said. “Established in 1962, the school being the oldest in the area, never remained a priority for the government.”

Meanwhile, Zonal Education Officer (ZEO) Mawer Muhammad Maqbool acknowledged the problems being faced by the students told Greater Kashmir that he had written to the higher ups to augment the infrastructure.

About the absence of a mathematics teacher, he said that two of the seven teachers posted at UPS Lawoosa were trained non-medical graduates.

“They can easily teach mathematics upto 8th standard but I don’t know why they are reluctant to teach the same,” he said.

9 classes crammed in 3 Rooms

The school operates nine classes from the three crammed rooms.

The broken kitchen shed and blocked washrooms also mar the smooth functioning of the school. No fencing around the school premises is another factor that haunts the school functioning.