Javaid Ahmad Dar
Winters in Kashmir since antiquity have had a chilling impact on almost every sector of the society significantly affecting daily life, economic activity and the delivery of essential services including Education. The working conditions of labor classes, businesses, service sector and the agricultural activities, though seriously hit by bone chilling cold, yet continue to operate with some evolution in their daily routine work combat the harsh winter in Kashmir. Unless and until we learn to find innovative ways, evolve and adapt to the conditions we can’t progress. We can’t change the nature of the winters but we can for sure adapt to the circumstances that this cold season offers and ensure that this cold weather doesn’t render us in a state of backwardness as compared to the rest of the world.
Education is the heartbeat of 21st-century progress. When this lifeline is damaged during such a crucial and prolonged winter season, we don’t just fall behind — we lose our future. Without strong education, our children are denied the chance to compete with the world, and our nation is pushed deeper into poverty and underdevelopment. The changing times call for innovation and adaptation to ensure that regular class work continues throughout the winter, in line with other sectors of the state. Closing schools for three months is never a solution to combat the winter in fact it creates serious voids in the learning levels of the students that are difficult to remediate post winter vacations. It is often argued that winter vacations are announced because students cannot withstand sub-zero temperatures and because most schools lack adequate heating facilities. However, once schools are closed, nearly 90% of students enroll in tuition centers that often lack even basic amenities such as proper toilets, accommodation, ventilation—let alone heating arrangements. The jumbled, chaotic and often unregulated tuition centres take a toll on the Physical and mental health of students and financial drain of money of the middle and the lower middle classes. The right to free and compulsory education ,a fundamental right in India, established by the RTE Act (2009) under Article 21-A of the Constitution ensuring all children in the age group 6-14 receive quality education, is violated in these private tution centres where hefty amounts are charged as fee and those who cannot afford the fee are denied admission. During the harsh winter months, many children from poor families are forced to stay out of learning, wandering through villages with empty hands and broken dreams, while their wealthier classmates continue learning. With every missed lesson, the gap between rich and poor grows wider. These innocent children who dream of a better future are slowly pushed deeper into a vicious cycle of poverty, not because they lack talent, but because they lack opportunity.
“Experimental winter schools for Classes III–X will use weather tracking to maximize class time. Led by the region’s most expert teachers, the program offers focused instruction while prioritizing student safety during severe weather.”
Government intervention under these circumstances can take the form of a targeted and cost-effective ‘Winter School Initiative’. Instead of a broad resource-intensive program the strategy involves identifying a central structurally sound school within a cluster Head to serve as a designated ‘Winter Hub’. A modest investment should be allocated specifically for critical infrastructure upgrades: installing efficient and safe heating systems, ensuring reliable electricity or alternative power backup, and improving sanitation facilities to function in cold conditions. This will creates a single, warm and conducive learning environment for students from all surrounding schools within the cluster’s ambit, ensuring educational continuity during the harsh winter months when their regular schools become inoperative. Winter Special Schools for Classes III to X be introduced on an experimental basis. In view of the increasing reliability of weather forecasting systems these schools can function with minimal disruption while ensuring the safety of students and staff. In the event of a severe or extreme weather advisory the concerned centres shall be temporarily closed for the duration of the adverse conditions. Once weather conditions improve the schools shall resume their normal academic and co-curricular activities in accordance with the prescribed schedule. The success of this initiative hinges on its human resources. The faculty for these specialized winter schools should be carefully curated drawing from the pool of the most prominent and experienced teachers within the cluster Head. These educators would be selected not only for their subject expertise but also for their understanding of local challenges and their ability to provide accelerated, focused instruction. They could receive additional honorariums for this seasonal duty making it a prestigious and rewarding assignment. However, the physical and human infrastructure alone is insufficient. The true transformative potential lies in rigorous and consistent oversight. The functioning of these winter centres must be embedded within a clear accountability framework, monitored regularly by a joint team of education department officials and local community representatives. This monitoring should assess not just attendance and facility maintenance, but also learning outcomes, teaching methodologies, and student well-being. Such sustained oversight ensures efficiency, deters negligence, and allows for real-time troubleshooting. By guaranteeing warmth, quality education and accountability this focused intervention can indeed work wonders. It has the potential to drastically reduce seasonal learning loss, improve overall academic performance, increase student retention rates, and set a replicable model for overcoming environmental barriers to education, thereby uplifting the entire educational scenario of the Union territory.
(The author is working as a teacher in Education Zone Vailoo of J&K School Education Department in Anantnag district. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
[email protected]
