Schools in Kashmir set to reopen on monday, after nearly 7 months
Srinagar: Schools in Kashmir are scheduled to reopen on Monday after remaining shut for nearly seven months following the abrogation of Article 370.
Officials of the Jammu and Kashmir education department said all arrangements had been put in place for the students to attend schools after the institutions remained shut for months since August after scrapping of its special status and due to winter break.
The government had made several efforts last year to reopen the schools in a phased manner, but it failed to bear any fruit as the parents kept their wards at home due to apprehensions about their safety.
Towards the end of the year, few schools opened, but students were asked to attend classes without wearing school uniforms.
Kashmir School Education Director Mohammad Younis Malik said all arrangements had been put in place and the timing for the schools falling within Srinagar's municipal limits will be 10am-3pm, while in the rest of Kashmir division, the timing will be 10.30am-3.30pm.
The director urged the teachers to work with dedication for building capacities of the students for their better future.
"It's our responsibility to extend our support to them and redouble efforts to get their syllabus completed well in time," the director said.
He instructed the field officers to visit schools regularly to monitor the follow up of academic planner for timely accomplishment of the set targets.
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Will vacate one of two assembly seats won in 10 days: BJP''s Suvendu
Kolkata (PTI): BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur and secured Nandigram for three times in a row in the recent assembly polls, said on Wednesday that he would vacate one of the two constituencies within 10 days.
Adhikari also asserted that the party's central leadership would decide which constituency he would retain.
"I will vacate one seat within 10 days. The party will decide which one I retain. I will not forget my responsibility towards the people of Bhabanipur and Nandigram," he said.
Adhikari on Monday defeated Banerjee in Bhabanipur by over 15,000 votes, puncturing what was long seen as her safest political refuge and delivering a decisive psychological blow to the TMC, amid a sweeping BJP surge across West Bengal.
Addressing party workers and supporters in Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district, the BJP leader appealed to them not to take out victory processions immediately and instead maintain peace.
"Do not take out victory rallies now. Maintain peace and discipline. Celebrate after May 9, after taking permission," he told party workers.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya on Wednesday announced that the oath-taking ceremony of the new government will be held on May 9 at Brigade Parade Ground.
Referring to alleged attacks on BJP workers during the TMC regime, Adhikari said he would not forget the “atrocities" faced by them and assured them of taking appropriate action against perpetrators through legal processes.
"I was part of the 2011 ‘poribartan’ (change), and now I am part of the real change. I offer my gratitude to the people of Nandigram," Adhikari said.
He was referring to the TMC's victory in 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee party dismantled the 34-year Left Front regime in the state.
Adhikari offered prayers at a Hanuman statue in Nandigram and remembered the BJP workers, who had died in political violence.
"We will work in such a way that the BJP government in Bengal stays for 100 years," he said, expressing hope that the BJP’s vote share in the state would rise from the current 46 per cent to 60 per cent in future elections.
The BJP leader also assured residents of Nandigram of improved drinking water supply and better hospital and education infrastructure.
