Kulgam, Sep 04: As Kashmir prepares to mark Teachers’ Day on Saturday, a government school teacher in Kulgam is spending his holidays working to improve the school where he has taught for more than a decade.
Muzafer Ahmad Lone, who teaches at Government Primary School Ganaie Mohalla Pariwan, recently hired painters and spent thousands of rupees from his own pocket to repair and repaint the school building.
Lone said the painting work was only one part of his efforts to support the school. Over the years, he has spent thousands of rupees on various school-related needs and has also coordinated contributions from colleagues whenever additional requirements arose.
“This is what I do on holidays,” Lone told Rising Kashmir.
The school was established in 2011 with 10 students and now has more than 100, according to school records. The students currently share three rooms, which serve as classrooms as well as space for the office, library, laboratory and sports store. More than 54 children study in one of the rooms.
As enrolment grew, Lone and his colleagues stepped in to meet some of the school’s additional requirements. His efforts have also extended to strengthening engagement with parents and the local community, including encouraging mothers to participate in school meetings and helping provide learning materials to children who need additional support.
Lone credited his colleagues for their cooperation, particularly Abdul Hamid Ganie, Sabzar Ahmad Raina, Shakeel Ahmad Mir and Sabina Rehman.
With training in modern teaching methods, Lone has introduced puppetry, project-based learning and ICT tools in the classroom to keep students engaged despite the limited space.
His work extends beyond his own school as well. Lone said he has served as a District Resource Person at DIET Kulgam, DIET Shopian and DIET Banihal, supporting teacher training and mentoring programmes.
Lone’s work with teachers has included ICT integration, competency-based teaching, project-based learning, assessment, classroom management, lesson planning and the use of teaching-learning materials.
“If one teacher improves his or her practice, the impact reaches dozens of children. That is why I believe teachers should learn from one another and keep growing,” he said.
Lone said the confidence of teachers in the school was also reflected in their decision to enrol their own children there.
“Our teachers’ confidence in the quality of education here is evident by their decision to enrol their own children in the school,” he said. “Parents realised that packed classrooms won’t yield good results.”
Students have also joined Lone while he works on the school building. “Even students join me after seeing me do such jobs,” he said. Parents, however, say the school’s infrastructure remains a concern.
Sheeraz Ahmad, a resident of Pariwan, told Rising Kashmir that his two wards, Arzaan Sheeraz, 4, and Arhaan Sheeraz, 7, study at the school. He said he was satisfied with the teaching but disappointed with the infrastructure, adding that the limited number of rooms means students have to be accommodated in crowded spaces.
“I do not want to take my wards out of the government school, but if the infrastructure is not upgraded in future, I may have to consider it,” he said.
For Lone, the work goes beyond maintaining the school building. It includes supporting fellow teachers, mentoring educators, engaging parents and finding new ways to make learning more practical for children.
