<![CDATA[The home schools teaching Kashmir's unwritten history amid Indian lockdown]>
It is 9.30AM and the winter sun is shining on Ghulam Mohammad Ganai's house in Samboora village, Kashmir. Outside, the empty road and closed shops give the scene a glum look, but things are very different inside. Children, sitting in rooms turned into makeshift classes, are humming nursery rhymes and doing maths equations.
In August, Ganai was approached by a group of local teachers and volunteers after schools and colleges were shut following India's unilateral decision to revoke Kashmir's autonomy " which took effect on October 31 " and impose military restrictions on the region.
The group wanted to start a school for children missing classes due to the lockdown, and they needed a space to operate.
"We discussed it in the neighbourhood and then my next-door neighbour and I decided to provide them space for the community school," says Ganai, 54, adding that the initiative was only possible with the collaborative effort of the entire village.
While he provided his newly constructed house as a venue, other villagers brought whiteboards and markers. Another local donated mats for the children to sit on. Today, around 400 children " from kindergarten to Year 10 " attend.
"We begin at 9.30am and end at 12.30pm. Children from other villages also come here to study," Ganai says.
Last month, the Indian government ordered the reopening of upper-secondary schools and colleges in Kashmir, but attendance has remained thin.
Parents are hesitant about sending their children out as tensions remain high for the third consecutive month since the revocation was announced on August 5.
The government is also holding final examinations for Year 10 and Year 12 students, despite complaints from those sitting the tests about not having enough time to prepare.
Teachers at the Samboora community school work without any salary. Photo: Adnan Bhat alt=Teachers at the Samboora community school work without any salary. Photo: Adnan Bhat
In these tough times, volunteer schools such as the one operating in Ganai's house offer a glimmer of hope to young students in the Kashmir valley eager to continue their studies.
In the summer capital Srinagar, 50km from Samboora, Monis-Ul-Islam is also running a school from his home. Monis and his friend Afshan started by printing posters about their effort, and posting them around mosques and other public places to inform students and parents.
"We started just after Eid, around August 14. At first we had only a few students but as the word spread more and more students started to come in," Monis says during a break from his classes.
The 26-year-old and his team of volunteers are teaching more than 70 students from different age groups. "It's like a regular school. We start around 9am and it continues till 2pm," he says.
Year 11 student Moomin Zargar went to Monis' volunteer school after a friend told him about it. He was hesitant at first, but after attending classes and seeing his fellow classmates there he decided to attend regularly.
"We had attended only 50 days of classes in school this year. So I had no option but to look for help to complete our syllabus," he says.
While the Indian government has framed the removal of Kashmir's special status as a move to push much-needed development in a region torn apart by three decades of armed conflict, Moomin questions what good it will do if students like him cannot continue their education.
This is not the first time Monis " who is pursuing a master's degree in water resources management " has come up with such an initiative. In 2016, after Kashmir saw a massive civilian uprising following the killing of a popular militant commander, he ran a volunteer school for more than three months.
Monis-Ul-Islam says he wants to give Kashmiri youth "some hope to hold on to". Photo: Adnan Bhat alt=Monis-Ul-Islam says he wants to give Kashmiri youth "some hope to hold on to". Photo: Adnan Bhat
Monis teaches his students physics, chemistry, biology and maths. While he admits it might sound peculiar that one person is teaching all the subjects, he knows it is the need of the hour. "While everything is falling apart around us, we wanted to give our youth some hope to hold on to," he says.
Apart from teaching regular classes, Monis and his fellow volunteers have also been giving their students some lessons in Kashmir's unwritten history. He says the situation around them is such that the teachers cannot escape from discussing the current political environment in the valley.
"We have never been taught the history of Kashmir. Whatever little we know about Kashmir's history has been passed down to us by our parents as part of the region's oral history, which has little to no mention in textbooks provided at the schools here," he says.
A month back, a friend of one of the students was detained by police. The news, Monis says, created a lot of fear among those attending his school. It was then he decided to bring up some of these issues in class, in discussions ranging from the current atmosphere of fear in Kashmir to how the Indian government's decision is going to affect the students' futures.
Abdul Hameed Ganai teaches physics at the volunteer school in Ghulam Mohammad Ganai's house in Samboora. He says he makes a conscious effort to educate his young students about Kashmir's history and present turmoil post-August 5.
The 29-year-old volunteer teacher says it is important for his young students to know why they cannot go to their regular schools, and why they have not been able to see their friends for months.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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