Even as the state government has adopted fire safety measures in the various schools of Kashmir on High Court’s directions, it is yet to train the employees in basic firefighting.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court in November last year directed the state government to take all preventive measures to save the school buildings from burning.
The direction had followed the burning down of 25 schools in 10 districts of the valley during the six month-long unrest sparked by Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani’s killing.
Eleven of these schools were fully damaged in the fire incidents.
The High Court had ordered providing adequate lighting around the schools and enhancing the wages of contingent paid workers, so that they could discharge their duties as watchmen.
While majority of the schools complied, their staff doesn’t know how to use the equipment.
“We procured fire extinguishers and water tanks soon after the High Court’s direction. But the problem is that our staff doesn’t know how to operate it,” said Chief Education Officer Anantnag, Ghulam Rasool Shah, told The Kashmir Monitor.
“We are now thinking of holding some separate training sessions for them.”
Anantnag district, where two schools were torched last year, has 1,555 government-run schools.
The CEO, Anantnag, said that only the schools functioning in rented buildings have not been provided with the equipment.
“We have some 391 private schools here. Directions have been passed to them as well for installing fire extinguishers,” he said.
The CEO Bandipora, Mohammad Shafi, said they have recently completed the process of installing firefighting equipment in all the government-run schools of the district.
He, however, said that the staff has not been trained.
“We will make a schedule for training our staff. Recently, we were informed that all the schools have been equipped with firefighting mechanism,” Sahfi said.
In Srinagar district, where no damage to any school building was reported during the last year’s agitation, majority of the schools function in rented buildings.
The CEO concerned, Arif Iqbal Malik, said that they had to install firefighting equipment only in the government schools having separate buildings.
“All the schools with separate buildings have been provided with the firefighting equipment,” he said.
The CEO Budgam, Inderjeet Sharma, said that they have asked the schools to train their staff and public in operating the safety equipment.
“We have recently received a detailed report on the schools that have got the firefighting facilities. The others have been provided with alternatives for avoiding fire incidents,” he said.
In schools of north Kashmir’s districts, including Baramulla and Kupwara, the administration has not held any training programme for the staff.
Date:May 11, 2017