Recently the government of Jammu and Kashmir ordered the closure of coaching centers for a period of 90 days. Due to the students’ protests against the Kathua rape and murder case, the government has been struggling to keep educational institutions functional on a regular basis.
Dozens of students, including girls have been injured in these protests which have been going on for more than two weeks now. In the city, the Amar Singh College and the Women’s Collage, MA Road have been closed since the protests started.
The principals of the colleges have however blamed the police for ‘disrupting peaceful protests of the students’. Various principals in a meeting told the Education Minister Altaf Bukhari that police interferes with the peaceful protests of the students.
According to a report in the Greater Kashmir, principal of a college in southern Kashmir told the meeting that whenever students of his college start protesting peacefully, they are stopped by the policemen from the police station adjacent to the campus, which leads to clashes.
The principal said colleges should “not be established close to army camps or police stations” in the first place. the report also quoted some principals saying that police were using indiscriminate force on peaceful student protests.
the report quoted Bukari saying that principals should treat students as their own children, not share video footage of protests with police and accompany students who are called to police stations.
Meanwhile, the Education Minister has said that the ‘ban’ on coaching centers will not apply to those who are offering professional coaching to students.
He also said that the decision will be reviewed fortnightly.
During the meeting, Altaf Bukhari directed the officials to compile the list of all the teachers working in the coaching centers and also asked the school authorities to conduct a parent-teacher meeting once every week.
While directing the principals to be in regular touch with respective CEOs, Altaf Bukhari asked them to report the problem, if any, to the concerned CEO so that appropriate decision can be taken, immediately.
Recently, in one such protest in Shopian, around 14 people, including students were injured which protesting against the Kathua incident.
On Monday, clashes, which are refusing to die down, erupted in Pulwama and a student got injured.
