Schools have been shut down in Jammu and Kashmir for the past four months due to the prevailing unrest in the valley. Students have been missing classes and were relieved when the state government, on Thursday, announced that all students will be promoted to the next level. No detention policy or no detaining of students in any class, will continue for this academic year also.
An official of the School Education Department told that with immediate effect, students from class 5 to class 9 and class 11 from recognized private schools and Government schools of the Kashmir Valley will be promoted to the next level. The officer also said that second term examinations for all these classes have been waivered and that the new academic calendar for the schools in the state will start immediately. An order to scrap the ‘No Detention Policy’ from classes 5th to 9th by the earlier government shall be brought into effect from 2017.
Due to the encounter of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani by the security forces in south Kashmir’s Anantnag on 8th July, schools that went on a two week summer holiday from July 1st could not resume classes. Hundreds of people, including students, were booked under Public Safety Act for taking part in the protests in which 86 people were killed.
The board examinations for classes 10 and 12 are underway as per schedule and the attendance was above average. The government has also given a relaxation of 50% in syllabus. It has also been declared that students of 10th and 12th, who have not appeared for the November exam, can write a separate exam in March 2017 without any relaxation in the syllabus.