Schools, colleges to be shut in Kashmir

July 18, 2016 Hot from the Oven Valli Sarvani No comments

With all the strife going in Kashmir, the government has ordered schools and colleges in the Valley to be closed. However, the reopening of them has been postponed to July 25 as opposed to July 18. The government of Jammu and Kashmir government extended summer vacations by a week because of the chaotic situation there.

There have been several protests in the Valley after the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani. According to Education Minister Naeem Akhtar, the government decided to keep things peaceful for the young students. The government made the decision to extend the summer vacations in the schools and colleges of the Valley by one week, the Minister said.

He added that this extension was done taking into account the ongoing strife in the valley. He says that law and order problems have been occurring in the valley which resulted in this decision. Originally, the government wanted to reopen the schools after a 17-day summer vacation on July 18.

He said that based on the situation, the schools and colleges will reopen on July 25. They will only reopen if the situation has been normalized by then.

Since the death of Wani on July 9, there have been several protests all across the Valley of Kashmir. Many of them have been violent. The death of Wani and two of his associates happened in an encounter with security forces a day earlier.

Several clashes resulted because of that death. In the ensuing clashes with security forces, 39 persons including a cop have been killed. The violence resulted in the injury of 3,160 persons including 1,500 security force personnel. Due to the extreme violence, the normal lifestyle of many citizens was destroyed. Due to the separatist sponsored-strike and curfew-like restrictions that the authorities imposed to control the situation, the mood of the valley has been completely disrupted.

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