Established in the year 2009, Govt Primary School Rangrez Mohalla, Kulgam had just eight students enrolled till the first year. But, with the appointment of a teacher, Naseer Ahmad Shah, the school witnessed an unpredictable rise making the classrooms abuzz with educational activities.
The school, which now looks at par with the private or public schools in the vicinity, was established to cater to the dropouts in the area. Once Shah got into the school, he supervised and find some loopholes that kept students away from getting enrolled there. He marked the list of priorities that need to be done and to get the attention of the students towards it.
The area had a low literacy rate and Shah on the very first day decided to educate all of the students with dedication, love and care. “I started to teach local students from the rented accommodation with the assistance of colleague Gowhar Khalil,” Shah told Rising Kashmir.
He addressed every issue with a positive intention and committed himself to quality educationand started the KG classes in 2010. He said, “with every passing year my school prospers. Initially, I faced many problems and the prevalent system discouraged me many times, but I continued with my dedication and it started to pay off within three years.”
He got a primary school block approved and was was built in 2012 with three rooms. They relocated there and started working in the classroomsin 2013.
Registrations were increasing day by day and later the then CEO Abdul Ahad Ganie sanctioned construction of another three-room building that was completed in 2016.
“Because of the influx of registrations, we would close the admission process prematurely. Students from private institutions started seeking admission in our school. In 2018, the school was upgraded on insistence of parents. And another three-roomed building got sanctioned,” he said.
“I met higher authorities for help and got everyone involved, be it ZEO, the CEO, and Members of Parliament. As an outcome, I got computers from local MPs and established a computer lab in the school,” he said.
Naseer considers the school as his home and, whatever he needs for his school, he runs frompillar-to-post to get that. As progress became evident Administration extended me a support at every step. May it be the Education department or District Administration Kulgam.
“When someone works with zeal and zest, the parents, community, and the administration remain supportive. Every year we admitted dozens of students from private schools in our school. We have today 250 students with only seven teachers. The school is in the town of Kulgam where there are 11 Govt Schools and 10 private schools,” Naseer said, adding“During the pandemic, we started our own YouTube channel for students and imparted education according to the timetable daily.”
The said teacher from the very beginning was imparting computer education, moral education, and general knowledge to the students. For his service in education, he has received a “best teacher” award from the district administration and a couple of times from zonal education officers.
