Srinagar, October 3
Separatists have ruled out exemption of schools and other educational institutions from their shutdown and protest calendar , which is issued after regular intervals to prolong and speed up the unrest that erupted in early July following the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahadeen Commander Burhan Wani .
They have decried the “ lecturing on the future and education of Kashmiri children” by the mainstream leaders from the government, whom they described as “ stooges of India” in a statement issued here this evening.
The statement issued under the three big names in the separatist landscape Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik has ruled out any rethink on changing the scope of the calendar to allow the schools to function normally, untouched by the street protests.
Geelani and others issued this statement apparently in response to the mounting pressure to allow the children unhindered access to schools . The separatists made it clear that they had no such plans and went on to draw the parallels between the educated illiteracy and the real education of distinguishing between “ good and bad and right and wrong.”
The statement read that the “literacy only makes us and our children familiar with sounds and signs but real education is what liberates our minds. Education enlightens the soul and enables a person to distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong, truth and falsehood”
“ Going by the basic and traditional definition of education, those presiding over the worst oppression of Indian state and lecturing us on ethical and social graces can be anything but educated. .”
