J&K govt for separate classes for boys and girls to check

The Jammu and Kashmir government has asked more than 500 coaching centres operating in the Kashmir Valley to have separate classes for boys and girls, apparently to check eve-teasing and immoral activities.
At a meeting with the owners of coaching centres here, Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Farooq Ahmad Shah directed them to strictly implement the 2010 guidelines, including ban on carrying mobile phones and informing the parents of a student immediately if he or she fails to attend the classes, following fresh reports of harassment of girl students.
"We have directed them (coaching centre owners) to have separate classes for boys and girls... Classes for boys would be held in the afternoon, and for girls after 8:30 in the morning," Shah said today, adding that there would not be any class before 8:30 am due to cold weather.

The Deputy Commissioner said the centres had been asked to register with the education department and furnish details of their infrastructure immediately.
After the meeting, the centres agreed to implement fully the directives of the government.
"We have decided to segregate the boys and girls in the coaching centres in the valley and implement the guidelines issued by the government," Coaching Centres Association Kashmir (CCAK) chairman G N Var said.

Var said following fresh reports of eve-teasing and immoral acts the government made it mandatory to implement the directions for the Valley's more than 500 coaching centres.
"We agreed to have separate classes and different timings for boys and girls. The centres where girl students are fewer in number, we would have CCTVs in place and there will be separate rows for them," Var said.

More than 55,000 students enroll for coaching in these centres after the schools close for three months in the Valley during winter.
There have been reports of eve-teasing and immoral activities from various areas of the city. In May, 2009, a 17 -year-old girl, Romana Javed, was crushed to death by two eve -teasers in a car in Barzulla area of the city.