Govt strictures no deterrent to students

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 23

Despite the government ordering ban on the functioning of private coaching centres across Kashmir for 90 days, the student protests continued in various parts of the region on Monday.

Minister for Education Syed Altaf Bukhari on Sunday announced that the private coaching centres had been ordered to close operations for the next three months, calling them a ‘distraction’ for students.

The decision, officials said, was taken mainly to prevent the growing student protests across Kashmir. Despite the ban, student protests were witnessed in Anantnag, Baramulla, Pulwama and Kangan on Monday. A few students suffered minor injuries in the clashes.

A senior police officer from Baramulla said they had detained over two dozen students involved in stone-throwing. “The students were detained and will be released after a counselling session,” the officer said.

In Baramulla, clashes erupted after schoolstudents took to streets to demand justice for the Kathua rape-murder victim.

The government had ordered closure of a number of degree colleges in volatile parts of the Valley on Monday to prevent student protests.

The protests have intensified in the past one week and more than 30 students have been hurt in clashes. Despite government’s preventive measures, there has been no let-up in protests.

An official, who was present at the meeting chaired by the Education Minister on Sunday, said action would be taken against the coaching centres which did not obey the order.

“This is being done so that the students do not take to roads. The instructions have been passed to all district administrations and a formal order will be out soon,” the official said.

The ban on coaching centres has, however, not gone down well in Kashmir and the government move has been criticised.

At the Sunday’s meeting, the minister asked the Department of School Education to make a list of teachers who were working in private coaching centres.

The minister recently warned students that if they continued protests, the state government would be forced to close educational institutions.

Pupil injured 

Srinagar: A student sustained pellet injuries in Anantnag on Monday when youths threw stones at soldiers during a protest against the Kathua rape-murder. Wamiq Aijaz was taken to a hospital. Immediately after the clashes broke out, markets in Anantnag shut and public transport stopped plying. Clashes between stone throwers and security personnel also broke out in Shopian and Pulwama districts. Police sources said after youths stoned an Army vehicle in Shopian’s Pinjora village, soldiers fired several shots in the air to disperse the mob. In Murran village, an Army team was attacked with stones. IANS