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Journalism of Courage
The Jammu and Kashmir Board of Secondary Education (JKBOSE) Thursday declared results of the Class X annual examination that concluded in October last year in the Valley. But as the internet shutdown continues in Kashmir since August 5, it was a struggle for students to see their results.
The exams were conducted last year despite no classes following the imposition of restrictions after the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 on August 5. Parents did not send their children to schools despite relaxations in curbs.
A senior JKBOSE official said that a total of 65,393 students had appeared for the exams and 48,905 have qualified — recording a 74.79 pass percentage.
However, students found it difficult to know about their results. “I called one of my relatives in Delhi to check my result. Since the last many days, there were rumours about the announcement of results so I was constantly in touch with my relatives in Delhi,” said Uzma Amin, a student from Srinagar.
Arif Ahmad, a resident of Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, said, “One of my cousin’s works in the media and since he was able to access internet at the media facilitation centre, I asked him to help me out. After some time, he gave me the good news about my results. I passed the exams successfully.”
Several parents from far-flung areas said that they were yet to know about their children’s result. “I am yet to know the results of my daughter,” said a resident of Gurez in North Kashmir’s Bandipora.
Officials in Srinagar agreed that students faced inconvenience due to the internet gag. “Had there been internet, everyone would have been able to check their results in just a few seconds. This time it is a little different and you have to check it either on a gazette or through SMS,” an official said.
JKBOSE Secretary Riyaz Ahmad said they printed around 300-400 gazettes which arrived in Srinagar on Thursday. “Earlier, the number of gazettes used to be less but this time, because of the communication problem, we published more gazettes,” he said. “We have distributed the gazettes in Srinagar schools today and by tomorrow morning it will reach all the places across Valley.”
Meanwhile, Dehradun-based Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) on Thursday ran 60 helpline numbers to enable students to check the Class 10 results of Kashmir division.
According to JKSA office-bearers, within hours of the declaration of the results, more than 6,000 students from Kashmir contacted the helpline numbers and got their results checked.
JKSA spokesperson Nasir Khuehami said more helpline numbers would be run when Class 12 results are declared in the coming days.
—ENS inputs from Dehradun
