Adil Lateef
SRINAGAR, Apr 23: State Government has decided to resume academic activities in colleges and higher secondary institutes after closing them for a week following unprecedented protests and clashes by student community against police action in Pulwama Degree College and elsewhere.
Education Minister, Syed Altaf Bukhari said all the colleges and higher secondary schools will remain open from tomorrow. “I appeal the students to focus on academic and career activities. They should not allow outsiders to exploit their sentiments. I also appeal parents to cooperate with the Government to help achieve academic excellence of their children,” he said.
The Education Minister said he has asked Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan to probe incidents of assaults and protests and submit enquiry report within a week. The Minister, without naming anyone, assured that the “culprits” who assaulted students during protests will be punished. The student community in Valley hit streets after police entered Pulwama Degree College to arrest students involved in stone pelting on Army but the students foiled the attempt, ensuing massive clashes.
The Education Minister said he has asked security forces to stay away from educational institutes. “I have asked security forces not to interfere and enter into college and schools premises,” he said. The Minister, in his appeal to students, said stone-pelting doesn’t suit them and instead approach their teachers and institutional heads. “I appeal the students to talk to their institution heads and teachers in case they face any issues. Taking to streets and stone pelting do not suit the students,” Bukhari added.
Although the State Government decided to resume work in colleges and schools but the management of prestigious SSM College of Engineering and Technology has informed their students that the classwork shall remain suspended tomorrow on April 24 as well. The College management, according to students, did not cite any reason about the continued suspension of classwork.
Over 100 students were injured last week Monday after students across the Kashmir staged protests in and outside their educational institutes against the police and Government. The police responded by using water cannons and teargas shells while students resorted to heavy stones, ensuing clashes all across the Valley. The protests first broke out in Srinagar’s SP College and Women’s College and later spread to other districts of the Valley.
Following the protests, the Government suspended 2G and 3G mobile Internet services in Valley while it also closed down all varsities, colleges and higher-secondary schools. Last week, the protests in the Valley by student community did not end even as Kashmir University Students’ Union (KUSU) urged them to return to their classes as more and more high school students, majority of them girls, took to streets.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel