Srinagar, July 18
Frustrated at the disruption of normal life, private schools in the Valley have started mailing e-lessons to their students. But neither teachers nor students find that a satisfactory solution.

Naseema, a schoolteacher, grumbles, “This is not education but merely a way to keep students busy.” Students, she says vehemently, need to go out, socialise and learn from each other.

As if to echo her sentiments, her son, Salman, a student of class VII, starts howling on being told that he again would have to stay at home and give the school a miss.

The war of attrition in the valley since June 11 and the prolonged shutdown have taken a toll. Saturday was the first normal working day for many in over a month. But the city shut down later in the afternoon following separatists’ call.

“What about the person who has to carry his ailing relative on his shoulders to the hospital miles away, with his car having been smashed by the protesters?” Bashir Ahmed asks bitterly. “How can students, who have cleared the common entrance test, complete formalities and take admission?” he wonders.

A growing number of people in the Valley have started voicing their reservations over the separatists’ strategy.

“I know people who get large amounts of money for paying to stone-throwers, but they don’t give a penny to the youth. The youth remain under the illusion that they are doing this for a greater cause,” claimed a young man at Baramulla.

A teacher in a government school confirms the trend. “We have a few students, who never attend classes on Fridays and Saturdays; but when we tried to strike off their names from the rolls, their parents explained that their children go for stone-throwing so as to earn some money,” he said.

Indeed, a Member of Parliament from Baramulla, Sharif-ud-din Shariq, claims students are being paid Rs 200 to Rs 300 a day for hurling stones.

“People who provoke the youth to come out on streets and hurl stones should volunteer to send their children first to join us,” said a disillusioned stone-thrower who is now in police custody.

The disruptions have left people devastated.

Sheeba Mir’s mother suffers from carcinoma but couldn’t get life-saving drugs from the hospital. “Drugs in the open market are beyond our means,” she explains. Reaching the hospital is an ordeal as protesters do not spare even ambulances, she adds.

“I had to consult doctors at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura. Since no transport was available, I managed to board the staff bus. The vehicle was stopped at a number of places and people questioned by stone-throwers,” recalls Aquib Ahmad, a resident of Budgam.

Many people have lost jobs. “Last evening, I received a call informing me that the office is closing down as the situation is unfavourable,” confided a distraught Akeela Bano.

Shaista Akther, a front office executive, has been braving disturbances to attend her office. But she admits that it is scary to walk down deserted streets.

Most people, however, continue to blame the government for not doing enough against people responsible for civilian killings.