Sheikh Mujtaba, 18, a class twelfth biochemistry student from Lachipora in Uri’s Boniyar block, can’t receive the WhatsApp message from his school until he treks to the top of the nearby mountain. That is how he is able to catch 2G signals on his phone and access online classes.
Sheikh Mujtaba is not alone. Along with him are his friends and students of various classes from primary to university level and also teachers from surrounding villages. Against a backdrop of dense lush green mountains, students squat in straight lines to catch signal while ensuring physical distance.
The small sliding tin roofs of houses, the vast golden rice fields and dense cornfields are the sights below the unconventional open-air classroom that apparently lack a teacher. Birds hop and swing on branches of trees, the raven’s voice echoes in the silent dense jungle and at foothills, the brooks rush and roar.
EXAMINATION OVER!
As the cool fresh breeze flips the pages of the book of the 12-year- old Shahid, a student of the sixth standard, he turns his head upwards and smiles with a sigh of relief: “My examinations are over. I have to return the phone to my elder brother and then I will play.”
Shahid’s pastime these days involves climbing walnut trees in the village with his friends. His hands bear brown stains from harvesting of walnuts.
From a distance, his hands look hennaed, as if he has come from a wedding event.
His senior, Shakeel Ahmed Sheikh, a seventh-grader, travels more than two kilometres for online classes. “My uncle apprised me about the better connectivity at a higher altitude. But I am scared of shooting stones, landslides in rains and snakes,” said Shakeel, who uses his uncle’s mobile phone for his classes.
Denne historien er fra November 14, 2020-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Denne historien er fra November 14, 2020-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Before The Kabul Retreat
Described as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, Afghanistan was always termed to be at peace when it was at war. But the land-locked desert country that was always in turmoil and one of the worst targets of the Great Game suffered immensely throughout, especially in the last 40 years, Masood Hussain writes
FINGERS CROSSED
Almost everybody in academia and politics that Khalid Bashir Gura spoke to, the response over Kabul happens was simple – wait and watch
Parliamentary Committee In Srinagar
The visiting 28-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs have had detailed interactions with top civil administration and discussed developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a 4-day visit. Congress leader and MP Anand Sharma is heading the committee.
MUSIC IN MUD HOUSE
Deep into north Kashmir, Faheem Mir meet a small community that sings and lives on folk music but is facing a tense situation in the last few years
THE KABUL SPILLOVER?
Security experts are divided over the possible impact of the Kabul situation on Kashmir. But the dramatic Taliban triumph has altered the region’s geopolitics, for the time being, writes Riyaz Wani
Durga Bhawan At Katra
To enhancing facilities for the convenience of the Vaishno Devi pilgrims, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation for the Durga Bhawan, a high utility pilgrim-centric facility worth Rs 24.4 crore. The facility will accommodate 4000 pilgrims.
Women Empowerment
In the first, 480 talented girls from Jammu and Kashmir were included in the degree and diploma courses of the Pragati Scholarship. Jammu and Kashmir has also got nine scholarships under the Saksham Scheme for Persons with Disabilities.
‘SOME HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT IS THE OUTCOME OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN KASHMIR STAND-OFF'
Foreign policy expert and editor of HardNews magazine, Sanjay Kapoor believes that Taliban 2.0 has more legitimacy unlike in the past as it had signed a deal with the US and negotiated with other countries of the region, but the final verdict can be passed only after it manages ticklish issues involving half of its population, the women
Boredom Is Creative?
Getting bored is not as boring as it gets, writes Azra Hussain
LG In Bangus
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Bungus Awaam Mela amidst grand arrangements for village games, exhilarating local performances, and other activities to celebrate the 75th year of Independence.
