Jammu And Kashmir To Shut Government-Run Orphanages, Set Up 2 Boarding Schools

Jammu: He was just five years old when his militant father was killed by security forces in an encounter in north Kashmir's Bandipore district in 2008. Zahid Ahmad has been living in a government run orphanage in Srinagar ever since. A government school student, he spends most of his time studying and working to realise his dream of becoming a doctor. Soon children like him will shift to a better facility.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to wind up all its orphanages and instead set up two boarding schools for orphans in Jammu and Srinagar.

"I want to become a doctor, how? I will study hard and go to a good college," said Zahid Ahmad.

"We want that we should have a good school and good teachers who teach us well and take good care of us, so that we study well," said Safeer Ahmad, another orphan student.

There are close to 1,000 orphans in 17 government-run orphanages across the state. The concept of bringing all of them under a single roof is to ensure that their development takes place on modern lines and in a holistic manner.

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While the focus will be on imparting quality education the step will also keep the children away from the social stigma of being parentless.

"The idea is that the state government will go all out to make a place for these children like we make for our own children. It is a very big step, it will require a lot of funding", said Sajjad Lone, minister for Social Welfare.

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