Let schools breathe before future suffocates: Morning classes meaningful reform in a warming world

Education School Education

Posted by admin_kas on 2025-07-06 10:17:24 | Last Updated by admin_kas on 2025-07-08 00:32:57

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Mahmood Muzafar

As the unforgiving sun casts its searing gaze upon the verdant valleys of Jammu and Kashmir, it is not only the land that burns—but the very dreams of thousands of students who are once again being forced into prolonged silence, their classrooms empty, their books closed, and their futures paused.

In the face of an unrelenting heatwave, it would be easy—convenient, even—to simply declare an extension of the summer vacation.

But convenience has never built nations, nor has complacency ever shaped a generation worth remembering.

This is not merely a climatic challenge—it is a moral one. And the time to respond with urgency, compassion, and innovation is not tomorrow, but today.

Extending vacations yet again would be a betrayal of our responsibilities, and a dangerous message to send to the children whose eyes are fixed on us for direction.

We must choose action over inertia. We must act smart, not sleep through a crisis.

A simple, elegant, and effective solution already lies before us: transition to early morning schooling—from 6:00 AM to 11:00 AM.

This is not an experimental idea but a proven practice across regions of extreme climates around the globe. From the deserts of the Middle East to the sunlit plains of Australia, from bustling cities in Southeast Asia to rural belts in Latin America, early schooling schedules have helped millions learn without heat becoming an obstacle.

Why should our children be left behind when the world has already found a way forward?

Morning schooling is not just a schedule adjustment—it is a cultural reorientation.

It promotes alertness, discipline, and better cognitive engagement. It helps us use the cooler hours of the day for the most critical part of a child’s development: learning. But for such a vision to materialize, it requires more than just announcements—it demands commitment from every individual in the education system.

And yet, what have we seen instead? At a time when decisive action is required, many of our educational planners and administrators are seen retreating into comfort—celebrating vacations in health resorts and cooler climates, while the very system they are meant to serve lies gasping under the weight of neglect.

There should have been sleepless nights, not silent corridors. There should have been emergency meetings, brainstorming sessions, urgent circulars—not leisurely picnics in the hills.

The future of an entire generation hangs in the balance, and it demands that all stakeholders in the Education Department rise above personal ease and act as custodians of a sacred duty.

We must also begin to treat education as the priority it truly is. Schools cannot remain at the mercy of weather patterns.

They must be strengthened with modern infrastructure: solar-powered classrooms, inverter backup for uninterrupted power, energy-efficient cooling and heating systems, insulated buildings, and access to emergency digital platforms. Even a short power cut can destroy an entire day’s worth of learning; we must no longer accept such disruptions as normal.

Moreover, we must awaken the vast potential of collaborative digital education.

By identifying expert educators and synchronizing schools within clusters under a common timetable, we can implement joint online classes where physical attendance is hindered.

Many countries, including Finland and Japan, have excelled in such hybrid models. With today’s technology, why should any student in Jammu and Kashmir be denied access to learning?

To those teachers who argue that early morning attendance may be difficult, let it be reminded that House Rent Allowance (HRA) exists precisely to ensure proximity of residence to the place of posting.

It is not a benefit for luxury but a responsibility for availability. When education is in distress, every hand must be on deck—not withdrawn in convenience.

Amidst all this, the voice of PSAJK President G.N. Var rings true and timely. In a dignified yet urgent appeal, he has requested the J&K Government under Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Education Minister Sakeena Itoo to resist the temptation of extending vacations and instead implement early morning classes.

He rightly notes that after losing precious months to winter closures, our students cannot afford another academic blow. “Every teaching day matters,” he insists—and he is absolutely right.

We cannot let our children bear the cost of our institutional lethargy. The road ahead is clear—we need policy imagination, infrastructural investment, cultural discipline, and most of all, a shared moral urgency. Let us not react after the damage is done.

Let us act before we are remembered as the generation that had time to intervene but chose instead to sleep.

Let this heatwave be not the reason for another setback, but the spark that ignites a long-overdue reform. The classrooms are waiting, the children are watching, and history will remember what we did—or failed to do—when the future stood in need of us.

The author is teacher by profession, posted in zone Kulgam. He can be reached at mahmoodmuzafar@gmail.com

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