Annual board exams to begin in ‘tense’ Kashmir valley today

The annual board examinations, scheduled to begin in Kashmir on Monday, will be an acid test for the PDP-BJP coalition government which announced the schedule for examinations despite opposition from various quarters, including the student community.

All arrangements have been put in place for the smooth conduct of the examinations for the Class 10 and 12 which are scheduled to start on November 14 and 15, respectively, officials said, allaying fears of any trouble or inconvenience to the students appearing for the annual exams.

“All arrangements are in place for over one lakh students scheduled to appear for the 10th and 12th class examinations. While 484 exam centres have been set up for about 48,000 candidates for class 12th examination across Kashmir division, as many as 550 exam centres have been established for 5,5000 candidates for class 10th examination,” an official of School Education department told PTI.

Schools in the Valley went on a two-week summer holiday on July 1 but could not resume functioning due to the unrest which was triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani along with his two associates in an encounter with security forces in a village in Kokernag area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on July 8.

The unrest has left 85 persons dead and thousands injured while hundreds of people including students were booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) for participating in the protests.

The official decried the burning of schools, saying it should not have happened.

As many as 32 schools have been targeted by unknown persons since the unrest began in Kashmir on July 8.