Kashmir Valley schools reopen after three months

SRINAGAR - After remaining shut for three months, schools reopened in violence-hit Kashmir Valley on Monday.

The state government had on Sunday directed staff at schools to be present in their establishments, a day after the Centre asked the Jammu and Kashmir Government to reopen schools as part of an eight-point peace package for the Valley.

Transport is being provided to both teachers and students on eleven important routes in Srinagar.

Exams for Class 10 and Class 12 are to start in the last week of October and first week of November respectively.

Over 3.25 lakh students are registered with the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education for secondary and senior secondary classes.

Meanwhile, the hardline faction of the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference has given a shutdown call for Monday and appealed to students and parents not to cooperate with the government’s directive.

Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that students had suffered the most during the ongoing unrest in the Valley.

The fortnight-long curfew lifted from five districts of the Valley on Sunday.

Curfew was lifted from Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam, Shopian and Budgam districts in South and Central Kashmir and Handwara town in Kupwara district of north Kashmir.

However, restrictions under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which prohibits the assembly of four or more persons, continue to remain in place in Budgam district.

The recent eruption of violence has left the government searching for a new strategy for dealing with the protests.

At least 93 people have died in the last three months. The Kashmir Valley has also been subjected to a series of shutdowns and frequent curfews during this period. (ANI)