Chief Secretary rules out mass promotion SANDWICHED SCHOOLCHILDREN GK CITY CORRESPONDENT Srinagar, Jan 17: Chief Secretary Muhammad Iqbal Khanday on Saturday ruled out any possibility of mass promotion to schoolchildren of flood-hit Srinagar thousands of whom for the past three odd months have been pushed to study in two classes simultaneously, a pressure which has affected their mental health. The issue popped up during Governor NN Vohra’s interaction with the civil society at SKICC. Dr Amit Wanchoo had drawn Governor’s concern towards the plight of schoolchildren. But Chief Secretary said that there was no plan to grant any mass promotion to the schoolchildren. Khanday said that the exams would be held as scheduled in March 2015. An official handout from the Information department hinted towards the development. “Responding to the conduct of school examinations, the meeting was informed that the exams had been only postponed and shall be conducted at the due time,” the handout said. While officials have been reluctant to grant mass promotion to schoolchildren, three months on, thousands of children are preparing for two classes. Reasons: Coaching centers in the City in violation of norms are conducting classes for the new session while the administration has miserably failed to act even though the former had advertised the new admissions through print and electronic media. With the Directorate of School Education Kashmir and the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir failing to solve the problem, schoolchildren study in two classes simultaneously. This sandwiching, as per the experts, has put the children to mental and other health problems. Greater Kashmir has been constantly highlighting the issue with regard to Srinagar, the district worst devastated by floods where over 70000 families lost houses and household to floods. While initially “sandwiched” children complained of problem in sleeping, dry mouth and dizziness, their anxiety has worsened with new symptoms of “adjustment disorder”. Having failed to get respite from the concerned officials the schoolchildren and their parents had sought Governor’s intervention during his visit Saturday. Observers had been saying that mass promotion to all classes except for 10th and 12th, conducted by JK State Board of School Education, was the only logical way out of the problem. Pleading their point they said as a part of the “continuous comprehensive evaluation”, the students have already cleared more than 75% of their syllabus by appearing in three tests, including their half yearly exams.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 04:36:50 +0000
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