Overcrowding Crisis: 85 students jammed in single classroom at Karnah school

Kupwara, Oct 22: Government Upper Primary School (UPS) Kandi Bala in border town Karnah, Kupwara, is grappling with a severe infrastructure crisis, with 85 students from eight classes forced to study in a single classroom, exposing the stark gap between the education department’s claims of improved rural school facilities and the reality on the ground.

The three-room school has only one classroom available, while the other two are used as an office and a kitchen-cum-store for the mid-day meal scheme. The situation worsened after another local school was merged with UPS Kandi Bala, further swelling student numbers and straining the limited space.

Parents and students expressed alarm over the cramped conditions. “Imagine children from Class 1 to 8 studying together in one room. How can they learn properly?” a parent said. A student added, “We are crammed in a single room. Learning has become really difficult. Authorities must build a new school to ease our struggle.”

Compounding the risk is a decaying chinar tree directly above the school, posing a serious safety threat to students and staff. Locals claim repeated warnings to authorities have been ignored. “It seems they are waiting for an accident to happen,” a resident told Greater Kashmir.

Parents and residents have urged Deputy Commissioner Kupwara, Shrikant Balasaheb Suse, to provide temporary arrangements such as prefab classrooms until a new building is constructed.

Zonal Education Officer Tanghdar Shah Mohammad acknowledged the hardships and said a new building proposal will be submitted. Regarding the decaying chinar tree, he added that the matter would be taken up with the revenue department.