Snow-hit schools placed in summer zone 
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Ghani-Mendhar (Poonch), January 17
It may sound weird, but it is true. The state government has put certain schools in areas experiencing snowfall in the “summer zone”. These schools are made to function in cold weather conditions without the necessary heating infrastructure. As such students are being held to ransom.
As the practise goes, schools in such areas are put in the summer zone where the temperature during summers is too high and there is no snowfall in the winters.
Sources in the Education Department said Middle School, Darati, in Mendhar zone, all schools in Batta Durain of Balakote zone, including Government Middle School Batta Durain and Kalai Hillaan in Surankote zone (all in Poonch district) had been placed in the summer zone even as these areas experienced snowfall in winters. In the absence of proper heating arrangement, it has become difficult for students to study in intense cold, sources added.
“There was snowfall in our area a few days back. It is not possible for us to sit and study since we have to sit on jute mats with no heating arrangement,” said Niaz Ahmed, a student of fifth standard at the Government Middle School in Ghani A local officer in the department said the fact that these schools had been placed in the summer zone speaks of the faulty planning of the government. “They (government) can rectify the blunder and place these schools in the winter zone,”he said.
“This will be in the best interest of students and teachers of these schools. It will facilitate teaching and learning process and eventually the standard of education”.
Director, school education, Jammu region, Avtar Krishan Raina, admitted that schools placed in the summer zone fell in areas experiencing snowfall. “We will seek the report from the chief education officer concerned on the matter. Once we get the report, we can take up the matter with the government with the necessary recommendation,” the director said. “It is the government which has to decide whether these schools can be clubbed with the winter zone”.