Srinagar: Kashmir University Model School, which was established in 1988, has not made much progress in the last 30 years.
Located on the vast campus of the University of Kashmir at Naseem Bagh in Srinagar, the school continues to struggle due to lack of infrastructure.
The floors of the classrooms creak when students walk over it and the furniture, as per teachers, has not been replaced for years. “This school is located inside the premier institution for higher education in Kashmir. It should be a laboratory for the department of education. It should be a model, but unfortunately, it is in a bad state,” a university employee said, adding that the senior officials of the varsity prefer to send their children to other schools.
Despite demands by teachers, the authorities of the University of Kashmir have failed to upgrade the school, which is up to Class X.
The university is a fully residential campus and the school had been established for the children of the employees of the varsity, but teachers said only children of Class IV employees and low-rung officials were enrolled at the school which was one of the main reasons it had been ignored.
“No attention has been paid to the school. We have been demanding upgrade of infrastructure for years but no one has paid heed,” said a teacher who has been working at the school for more than two decades. “The school has no sports infrastructure as a result of which students do not take part in any sports. The institute is on the university campus but has been completely forgotten,” the senior teacher said.
An employee of the school said former Vice Chancellor Khursheed Andrabi had not even visited the school once in his three-year tenure which ended in October last year.
“The infrastructure is the same and nothing has changed here despite the school being located in such a big university. It has never caught their attention,” said another employee of the school.
“The current VC visited the school once. He promised us that he will develop the infrastructure in the school, but we do not believe it till it happens,” the employee said. Not only the students, but the teachers also continue to suffer. After decades of service, the teachers have not been promoted. There are only 22 teachers for 300 students.
“We have also approached the court. We have not been given promotions and our salaries are not on a par with the state government employees. In every aspect, the school has been ignored,” said another teacher.
Teachers said the university had recently appointed teachers on a contractual basis but they had quit after being told they would not be paid salaries for the winter months. (Tribune)
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