Change in school timings within the municipal limits of Srinagar city announced by Director School Education Kashmir just two days ago could be a compulsion for either academic or administrative reasons for the Government but it is also an irrefutable fact that coaching for which students seek admissions in November continues till September is a necessity as students of both government and private school whether taught well in schools or not seek admissions at coaching centres for the purposes of better performance in annual examinations. What matters the most is the fact that parents and students are as deeply concerned about coaching as deeply they are concerned about schooling and rather it would be more appropriate to say that coaching has become an inalienable part of education in the fastly changing scenario of coaching, counselling and schooling in Jammu and Kashmir like other parts of the country. As such keeping in view the timings of the coaching centres it would have been more advisable for the Government to continue with the school timing already enforced in Srinagar after the opening of schools in March this year. Otherwise also setting different timings for urban and rural schools generates a sense of rural-urban divide among both the students and as well as the parents of both government and private schools across Kashmir. Students of Srinagar schools not getting the enough time for attending classes at coaching centres but their competitors in other parts of Kashmir Valley not finding any disturbance in the time schedule at coaching centres would by all standards of understandabilities also generate a sense of rural-urban divide among the students and as well as their parents in Kashmir Valley. It is not good for the psychological health of children to let them feel sense of rural-urban divide in school timings when the uniformity in the curriculum has been very rightly maintained in urban and rural schools since last several decades across Jammu & Kashmir.
“A uniform school timing for urban and rural schools won’t by all standards of understandabilities leave any psychological impact on the minds of the students either in urban or rural parts of Kashmir Valley and as such better it would be for the Government to ensure uniform school timing in rural and urban parts of Kashmir Valley the way it continued for decades together”.
What matters the most is the fact that since change in school timings also causes physical inconveniences to parents also, the Government would have sent a message of goodwill to the students if it would have sought the views of the parents before announcing the change in school timings within the municipal limits of Srinagar city just two days ago. A uniform school timing for urban and rural schools won’t by all standards of understandabilities leave any psychological impact on the minds of the students either in urban or rural parts of Kashmir Valley and as such better it would be for the Government to ensure uniform school timing in rural and urban parts of Kashmir Valley the way it continued for decades together.
