CHILDREN GET LESSONS AND COMFORT FROM MAKESHIFT SHCOOLS IN TURMOILED KASHMIR |喀什米爾戰亂學校關閉 清眞寺.民宅當教室

Meanwhile, in India, Education suffers as schools are closed in the border areas of Kashmir among heavy exchange of fire between Indian and Kashmiri troops. With daily life in Indian-controlled Kashmir still paralyzed by strikes and rolling curfews, school age children have been kept from leaving home to attend school. However, some have found refuge and resumed lessons in a makeshift school set up by volunteers in a Srinagar mosque. In Indian-controlled Kashmir, schools have been shut and businesses have gone on strike as the region remains under a tight security lockdown. To help the children keep up with their studies, dozens of ad-hoc learning centers have popped up in people's homes or religious centers like mosques since August. And so far, thousands of students have signed up for the classes. 10-year-old Masooma Ali is among those who have found refuge and resumed lessons in a makeshift school set up by volunteers in a Srinagar mosque. The children gather during daylight hours, often sitting on the floor, to hear a teacher read aloud from a text or practice mathematical equations in a shared notebook. ==MASOOMA ALI, student of makeshift school== The situation here in Kashmir has worsened in the last three months, due to which our schools and tuition centers have been closed. We cannot go to our tuition centers as we face restrictions on the roads and the situation can turn ugly at any time. So it's difficult to go to tuition centers. Now in our neighborhood, people have opened a school in a mosque where we study and it is helping us to complete our syllabus. But despite this, we miss our school and friends. The anti-India protests began when a rebel leader was killed in fighting Indian forces on July 8. Since then, at least 90 civilians have been killed, mostly in firing by government troops during protests. Some schools have been turned into paramilitary bunkers ringed by razor wire and soldiers with machine guns. Nearly 20 others have been set on fire. The temporary teaching centers are doing more than just helping students prepare for upcoming exams, organizers say. They're keeping children off the streets and giving them comfort amid the civilian protests. ==IMRAN ALI, volunteer teacher== Situation here is very crucial. There are students also who got injured. Many students got pellet injuries. They are in hospitals. Many students are in lock-ups, so there is no atmosphere of education in the (Kashmir) valley currently. Still, most students in Indian-controlled Kashmir live too far from one of the centers, or have been caught up in the street violence themselves. Many of those killed in the uprising have been students. Hundreds of teenagers are locked up, for fear they might rally more protests. TRANSLATED BY：JESSICA OY