In Kashmir, Students Defy Hurriyat’s ‘Hartal Calendar’ To Appear For Exams

Tens of thousands of students sat for their Class XII annual exams on Monday after four months of unrest during which schools remained shut across the Kashmir Valley. Officials said nearly 95 per cent of 45,000 students appeared on the first day of the examinations across 484 centres in the valley.

"The Class XII examinations were conducted smoothly," Zahoor Ahmad Chatt, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education, told IANS. He added that 98 per cent of Class X students have already taken their admit cards.

Authorities made elaborate security arrangements at all exam centres, where police and paramilitary security forces were deployed in strength. Parents ferried children to the exam centres using different modes of private transport as a separatist-sponsored shutdown continued.

Examinations for Class X are set to begin on Tuesday for which some 55,000 students have been enrolled. Since all educational institutions, including schools, have remained closed since 9 July, the authorities decided to allow a 50 per cent cut in the syllabus for those students willing to take the exams.

Over the past three months, the Hurriyat Conference, a group of Pakistan-sponsored Islamist leaders in Kashmir, lead by ring-master Syed Ali Shah Geelani, has been issuing ‘bandh calendar’ for schools and businesses in the valley.

With inputs from IANS.