Schools, colleges to reopen today

Srinagar, Mar 8: All the schools and colleges would reopen on Monday and resume the routine class work for the students.

Secondary and senior secondary schools besides universities across Kashmir were closed on March 1, 2026, due to the situation following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei amid West Asia tension.

Elementary level schools were scheduled to reopen on March 2, 2026, after over two months of winter vacation.

However, in wake of the situation last week, the reopening of these schools got delayed by a week.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, Minister for Education, Sakina Itoo said that all the schools and colleges would reopen on Monday across Kashmir.

“The government has decided to reopen the educational institution from Monday in view of the peaceful situation,” she said.

On March 1, the educational institutions were closed for two days and later the closure of schools and colleges besides the universities was extended up to March 7, 2026.

Besides the closure of educational institutions for academic activities, the university examinations scheduled from March 2 to 7 were postponed as well.

Following the decision to reopen the schools, Director School Education Kashmir Naseer Ahmad Wani extended a warm welcome to students from Classes 1st to 8th, who will be attending school on Monday, the first day after the winter break.

He emphasised the importance of a positive start to the academic session and directed all Heads of Institutions (HOIs) besides the teaching staff to receive students warmly.

“Ensure that the reopening day is conducted in accordance with the previously issued guidelines and instructions,” Wani said.

The schools have been instructed to ensure that reopening day is conducted in a warm, welcoming, and festive manner.

The schools have been asked to ensure that students are greeted cordially on the first day, and institutions may arrange a child‑friendly ambience including welcome assemblies, motivational interactions, and distribution of candies as a gesture of encouragement to create a joyful and stress‑free atmosphere.

The Director School Education Kashmir earlier said that 2026 would be a year of academic excellence and instructed HoIs to make attendance of secondary class students obligatory in the schools.

The  Directorate of  School Education Kashmir (DSEK) has also prepared an academic planner for the session 2025-26 in line with the implementation framework of the National Education Policy (NEP)  2020.

“A uniform calendar for all government and recognised private schools  of the Kashmir division has been devised for advance academic planning, ensuring uniformity and coherence in academic planning and classroom practice,” the official document reads.

The schools have been asked to lay emphasis on promoting formative assessment dedicated to encouraging the shift from summative to more formative assessment practices.

“Each teacher will design one Holistic Progress Card (HPC) activity, and the best activity will be displayed on the school board throughout the year,” the document reads.

Cluster Heads have been asked to conduct  sessions on HPC and innovative pedagogical approaches besides focusing on HPC based  formative assessment.

The schools have been asked to follow NEP-2020 in letter and spirit besides the National Curriculum Framework Foundational Stage(NCF-FS).

“National Curriculum Framework – School Education(NCF-SE), should  be the guide of the competency based teaching-learning process and assessment,” it reads.

The teachers have been asked to conduct assessment strictly as per the NEP-2020 and maintain the HPC of students as well.

DSEK has said the morning assemblies should be tapped for imparting moral education by means of stories on moral education and participation of students in different activities reflecting morals.

“Also morals should be taught across curriculum – teaching of moral education through academic subjects and above all teacher being a role model should reflect morals so that students catch the reflection,” it reads.

Schools have been also directed that Parent Teacher Meeting (PTM) must  be conducted once a month (26th of every month) to restore public faith in the system and to have feedback.