By Basharat Rashid
Tral: Nine years on none, from the Hajin, a tribal village in Aripal town of Tral, has passed tenth standard exams. The last student to qualify matriculation exams was in 2010.
Hajin is just 15 kms from sub district headquarters and has five schools, including one middle and four primary.
The schools have around twenty teachers.
While students at the two schools pass their 8th standard, however after joining High School none has passed the tenth class exams in almost a decade.

Villagers accuse the education department of ‘playing with the career of students by not providing them better education till 8th standard’.
“Since there is a policy of not witholding students, they simply let them join next classes. The education they impart is not upto mark thus leading to failures in higher classes,” villagers rue. Only five persons have qualified matriculation in the Hajin village, three of them have qualified 12th as well.
“All the five are government employees now,” villagers told INS.

Javid Ahmad, is the last studnet from the village to have qualified 10th class, in 2010, is also working as government employee.
He is also pursuing his graduation from GDC Tral.
He is the only student from Hajin village who has managed to go for further studies.
Javid expressed concern over the failure of students.

“I am trying my best to spread awareness among kids to get educated,” he said, adding that education department failed to impart proper education among the students.
District Education Planning Officer (DEPO) Pulwama, Manzoor Ahmad Khan, told INS that despite awareness programs from education deptt. students of the village are not serious regarding studies. “They don’t come to schools regularly, which results in their failure.”
“Parents also fail to ensure regular attendance of their wards by not sending them to the schools, which is the main reason for all these problems,” Khan said.
Pictures by Basharat Rashid