‘It can’t get funnier than this’: Some schools in Jammu ask students to wear uniform during online classes, parents fume

Srinagar: Believe it or not, schools in Jammu region have asked students to wear uniforms during online classes leaving the parents fuming.

The directive from the school authorities came after the resumption of online classes in the wake of the government’s decision to suspend classes till April 18 amid a spike in Covid-19 positive cases.

“During the last Covid lockdown, there was no such order from the school authorities. However, few schools are now asking students to wear uniforms during online classes. These schools just want to mint money from parents and if this trend is not nipped at the bud, others too will follow suit,” said Narendra Sharma, a parent in Jammu.

Social media was splashed with similar reactions from other parents in Jammu.

However, J&K Private Schools Association president Kamal Gupta said few schools had taken the decision individually.

“This is not a decision taken by our association. It has been taken by schools individually. They have done this so that the students have a feeling of school during online classes. There is no question of minting money from the parents as the students already have school uniforms,” Gupta told reporters.

Meanwhile, Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) president GN Var said schools in Kashmir valley had issued no such notice to the students.

“We won’t allow these things (in Kashmir). There is no logic in this. Even if some schools go for it, it should be done with the consent of parents,” Var told The Kashmir Monitor.

He said they will pass a word to their counterparts in Jammu region so that the order by the concerned school administrations was withdrawn.

Schools in Jammu and Kashmir had resumed classes from March 1 last month in a phased manner. Earlier, schools had mostly remained shut in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 in 2019 that was later followed by the Covid lockdown.

Several parent associations had objected to the government’s decision to reopen schools, especially for lower classes.