“Since the day temperatures have soared to a new highs, the demand of a short summer break dictated by the unprecedented rise in day temperatures going viral on social media sites deserves immediate consideration from the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha , his advisor Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Chief Secretary Attal Dulloo and Principal Secretary School Education Alok Kumar.”
Experiences of decades have shown that weather does not accept the calendars of Governments and people but enforces its own calendars’ on both the Governments and its people at different times in different parts of the world and same holds good this time for the School Education Department in Kashmir amid ongoing intensifying heat wave. Unfortunately the incumbent Director School Education Kashmir is known for tending and trying to enforce his own calendars’ for both the winter and summer breaks for last more than three years instead of drawing calendars for summer and winter holidays on the basis of prevailing weather conditions in Kashmir. Unfortunately this time also Director School Education Kashmir is as usual unnecessarily tending to unrealistically deny a short summer break for the ongoing high intensity heat wave period for schools in Kashmir Valley. Now reluctantly the Director with the approval of the Government has changed school timings by fixing 8.00 A.M the reporting time at schools. Perhaps Director School Education won’t dispute the hard reality that even during his school days the school timing in high intensity heat wave periods in Kashmir used to be 7.00 A.M to 12.00 noon and summer break period during those years used to be of 15-20 days duration. Since the day temperatures have soared to a new highs, the demand of a short summer break dictated by the unprecedented rise in day temperatures going viral on social media sites deserves immediate consideration from the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha , his advisor Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Chief Secretary Attal Dulloo and Principal Secretary School Education Alok Kumar. The announcement of a short summer won’t be a concession to teachers of Government and Private Schools but a respite to children whose physical and psychological health has hugely come under increasing stress of the ongoing intensifying heat wave across Kashmir. God forbid a single casualty or a single critical health issue of any child at any school can become a cause for police investigation which would be obviously humiliating and harassing for both the teachers and as well as the school education department.
“Fact remains that highest priority is the education of children for people in all parts of world and same holds good for people in Jammu & Kashmir but it is also an irrefutable fact that education comes next to health safety of people particularly children. Since ground realities speak themselves about the growing compulsions of a short summer break in Valley and risking the lives of children for a short summer break of one or two weeks is not apparently advisable particularly these days when the trend of online teaching is growing tremendously in Jammu & Kashmir like other parts of the country.”
Significantly very recently the Director School Education Jammu for very right reasons extended summer break for schools of Jammu division in view of intensifying heat wave. Though administrative wisdom demands that timing of the summer vacations should not have been different for schools and colleges in view of the fact that heat waves is as good a respite for elders as it is for children. It is not at all advisable for the Government to fix different timings for summer and winter vacations for schools and Colleges in Kashmir. Interestingly this time schools are open but colleges are shut for summer break and the trend as such has made children but not the elders of colleges vulnerable to intensifying heat wave. Coming back to the growing demand for short summer break for school in view of the ongoing intensifying heat wave the fact remains that highest priority is the education of children for people in all parts of world and same holds good for people in Jammu & Kashmir but it is also an irrefutable fact that education comes next to health safety of people particularly children. Since ground realities speak themselves about the growing compulsions of a short summer break in Valley and risking the lives of children for a short summer break of one or two weeks is not apparently advisable particularly these days when the trend of online teaching is growing tremendously in Jammu & Kashmir like other parts of the country.
