The Chemistry of Kashmir ’s Winter Schooling

The higher you go, the cooler it is. The
Government's decision to keep the
Winter Schooling on for high and higher
secondary classes to "secure the future
of lakhs of students" has triggered a
debate on how well-equipped the schools - both government-run and
otherwise - are to grapple with the icy
days ahead. Ironically, the top schools dotting the
education landscape of Kashmir had
perhaps not known that winter has set
in.
Stirred from the deep slumber, as they
are, by the harsh lessons learnt from this year's summer unrest, these institutions
now say they have placed bulk orders for
tin-bukharis. Bukharis emitting smoke. A
concept long forgotten by schools,
colleges and even the Kashmiri
households, what with a host of modern- day heating gadgetry storming the
markets with every new winter. They
say the bukhari outlets - mostly
concentrated in Srinagar's Bukhari Lane
at Maisuma - who had long given up the
trade and perhaps even forgotten the contours of their end-product, are now
working overtime to meet the school
orders. As many as 650 Valley schools ran classes
December 16 for Day One of Winter
Schooling; for the first time since 1885,
when the Maharaja over-ruled wintry
norms with decree "Learning On". Ask a
Class XII student of a prestigious private school in Valley: "Yes, we shiver to the
bone. Our hands and feet are frozen.
We are often told to rub them to
generate heat." The student, who
recently appeared for the JK BOSE
exams, further said the exam centre was like Siberia. "We couldn't write till we had
created enough friction for the numb
fingers to move." Don't they (the Board
authorities) seek exam fee from
students?
"Rs 650, to be precise," the parent sighed and, in the same vein, moved
down the memory lane to his old school
days.
Incidentally from the same school as the
ward, he said the school would declare
"winter" by November 1 itself, a good 45 days more to go before the school bell
finally announced the long winter-break.
The students would be required to form
a human-chain from the school
compound to the building attic and in
only half-an-hour tonnes of firewood would reach the safety of the stores. A
tin-bukhari would be allotted to each
classroom and the teacher-taught would
team up to regulate the heat that
emitted.
"We were even circulated Kangris (earthen firepots) for the first few
minutes of exam writing. The blood
would again come to the boil and the ink
would flow," reminisced the parent,
easily from the era of Chelpark inkpots
and Parker pens. Interestingly, the Winter Schooling had
set a debate rolling between the parent-
ward, bordering a clash between the
two contrasting periods, the two
generations, the old and the new, the
era of simple education and what they nowadays term as "fleecing" by schools. "Kangris in exam centres," exclaimed a
shocked ward. "They don't even provide
us the continuation-sheets." The refusal
to give extra answer-sheets by exam
authorities created a furore in Valley
recently. The students have lately been protesting the curbs on what they call
"Right to Exam Expression", besides
other syllabus-related issues. Perhaps the days of essay-type questions
are a 'goner', when the parent (then a
student) was supposed to fill extra
sheets detailing the 17 raids on India by
Muhammad Ghazni.

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