The Poor Man’s Child

In Zone Kunzer and Tangmarg, simmering tensions between educators, officials, and political actors have spilled onto social media and into staffrooms, infecting what should be neutral pedagogical spaces. Accusations, counter-allegations, and bureaucratic retaliation have turned the educational ecosystem toxic and caught in the crossfire is the most voiceless stakeholder of all: the poor man’s child.

Over the past few weeks, social media platforms in these zones have turned into war rooms of accusation and counter-accusation. Advocate Tajamul Ishfaq Mir, DDC member Tangmarg, has openly criticized the ZEOs of Kunzer and Tangmarg for allegedly turning government school students into cheerleaders for political events. Photos and videos of students clapping in uniform, lining grounds not for sports but for politicians, have stirred the conscience of many.

What should have prompted soul-searching instead ignited a larger storm. Acting ZEOs, who are also overburdened principals of higher secondary schools, stand accused of reshuffling staff without proper approvals, favoring some while punishing others and overseeing transfers that critics describe as “academic brain drain.” Whole schools have been left without lecturers amid this political posturing.

If this weren’t troubling enough, an unsettling polarization has emerged. Some teachers have taken to social media to defend the ZEOs. Pages and posts many under the guise of support are now turning into stages for monologues and mudslinging, while classrooms go untended and lesson plans lie abandoned. What are they telling our children, that shouting louder on Facebook and WhatsApp matters more than showing up for class?

All this while, the students, the very heart of our education system suffer in silence. Their parents, many of them daily wage earners, speak of betrayal. They ask. “Why is learning on pause while ego battles play out?”

The answer lies in a shameful administrative vacuum. Both Zone Kunzer and Zone Tangmarg have no permanent ZEOs. For more than five years, these critical posts have been filled on an “additional charge” basis, entrusting leadership to principals already neck-deep in their own school duties. This dual responsibility is not noble; it’s dysfunctional. You cannot wear three hats and serve three roles with equal justice. Something or rather someone suffers. And that someone is the poor man’s child.

Let’s be clear: education is not a side hustle. It cannot be run on ad-hoc arrangements and political alignments. If the in-charge ZEOs are indeed capable of shouldering multiple responsibilities while meeting institutional needs, then let it be made official. Appoint them permanently and relieve them of their principal duties. If not, appoint dedicated officers who will place students not status at the center of their service.

It is time for all stakeholders, teachers’ forums, educational officers, and political representatives to exercise restraint, wisdom, and above all, empathy. Your debates must not eclipse your duties. Your power struggles must not paralyse the system. Most importantly, our children must never be treated as collateral damage.

It is also time for the MLA of Gulmarg to break his silence. Is he comfortable watching education being governed by shadows and surrogates in his constituency? Or will he speak up for the children, for their schools, and for clarity in administration?

This is not just a local issue. It is a moral one. We cannot allow our government schools to become collateral damage in a larger game of political positioning. The stakes are too high. Every day of inaction is another lesson lost, another dream deferred, another future compromised.

We cannot afford to let the poor man’s child and the teacher to become pawn in political turf wars. Nor can we allow the functioning of our schools to be determined by who aligns with which party. If the Secretary of School Education is serious about reform, then the first act must be administrative: fill the vacant ZEO posts in Kunzer and Tangmarg immediately and transparently.

For the sake of the poor’s child lets together appeal to the Secretary of School Education: step in. Act. Restore sanity. Fill the vacant ZEO posts now. Let the principals return to their full-time “dignified” academic duties. Let teachers focus on academics and let our zones be led by officers who are solely devoted and focused on one mission—education.

Let us remind ourselves that the child of the poor man does not ask for privilege. They ask only for protection; from chaos, from exploitation, and from being forgotten. If we cannot guarantee that in our schools, where else will they find it? It is time we rise above factionalism and politics. Not tomorrow. Now for the sake of the poor man’s child.