Srinagar, March 7 (IANS) After the three-month-long winter vacations, schools across the Kashmir Valley re-opened on Friday, bringing back activity, joy and cheer to over 9,000 government and private educational institutions here.
Due to the absence of adequate heating arrangements and other facilities needed to protect children during the harsh winter months in Jammu and Kashmir, authorities are left with no option other than shutting the schools for a long winter recess.
When school buses appeared on the road in Srinagar city and other towns of the Valley on Friday morning, it looked as if life and activity had returned to the otherwise sleepy Valley.
Parents were seen waiting at bus stands with their impatient children to help them board the school buses that ferry the students across Srinagar city and other cities and towns of the Valley.
Schools wore a festive look as teachers received the students at the schools with love and warmth. Schools were initially scheduled to re-open on March 1, but due to snowfall and inclement weather conditions on February 28, the winter vacation was extended till March 7 by the authorities concerned.
On Friday schoolchildren could be seen hugging and greeting friends and class fellows as they returned to the welcome routine of class work and activities after three long months of being confined to their homes because of the biting cold.
The holy Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan is going on in the Valley and since children are not mandated to keep the dawn-to-dusk fast, parents had given their children small lunch boxes to keep away the hunger pangs and the chill of the day.
Despite the weather having improved across the Valley, chilly wind sweeps down into the area from snowclad mountains surrounding Srinagar city and other towns.
—IANS
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