Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): An incident occurred in Gandabal, a suburb of Srinagar, when a boat overturned and drowned in the Jhelum river around 8 am on Tuesday. According to the official data, there were 15 people in the boat, out of which six people were rescued, while six others died on the spot.
Three people from the same house were among the dead. On the other hand, the operation to find three people including the father and son is ongoing. As per sources, most children on the boat were crossing the river Jhelum to attend school in the Batwara area.
In this tragic incident, apart from other school children, two twin brothers also got drowned. The locals, especially parents, alleged that there was a serious lack of basic educational facilities in Gandabal area.
As a result, parents were forced to admit their children to educational institutions established in other places or areas in order to get better education.
An official source said that the government primary school in Gandabal was established in year 2011 and since then the students have been demanding an upgradation of the school. In a recent Back to Village (B2V) programme, people have demanded upgradation of the school.
Despite having the state land available, the institution has not been upgraded. It is being operated from three classrooms wherein only two are being used for teaching purposes and one is being used to serve Mid Day Meals to the students.
Locals of Gandabal said that in view of tough competition to provide quality education and good studying environment to their wards, they send them to other areas wherein quality of education in government or centrally sponsored schools is ‘far better’ in comparison to the local schools.
Altaf Ahmad, a resident of the area said, “Recently, one of the students of the primary school in Gandabal has taken discharge from the school in view of dearth of infrastructure and has got enrolled in Kendriya Vidyalaya No-1 in Batwara."
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