Students suffer due to dept’s negligence 
Snow-hit schools continue to be in summer zone
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Poonch, December 13
The state Education Department doesn’t seem interested to mitigate the sufferings of students in snow-hit areas of this frontier district. The department continues to put certain schools in areas experiencing snowfall in the “summer zone”. The department by placing these schools in “summer zone” is making these to function in cold weather conditions without the necessary heating infrastructure and is paining the students.
As the customary is, schools in areas which experience high temperatures during summers and moderate temperature in winters with no snowfall are put in the “summer zone” and the schools which experience moderate temperature in summers and moderate to high snowfall during winters are placed in winter zone.
Sources in the Education Department here divulged that the department continues to make certain schools located in moderate to high snow-hit areas function during winters that too with little provision of heating arrangements in the schools.
They added that Middle School, Darati, in Mendhar zone, all schools in Batta Durain area 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 had become difficult for students to study in intense cold, sources said.
“Our area experiences heavy snowfall during winters and the school continues to function even during winters. There is no provision of heating system. It is not possible for us to sit and study since we have to sit in intense cold conditions,” a student of Government Middle School at Batta Durian on the condition of anonymity said.
A local official of the Education Department said the fact that these schools had been placed in the summer zone speaks of the faulty planning of the government. “The department shall place these schools in the winter zone. This will be in the best interest of students and teachers of these schools,” he added.
Director, school education, Jammu region, Zahida Khan told The Tribune that if the people of these areas wished to have these schools in winter zone, they could apply for the same.