A remote village in Kupwara district, north Kashmir launched an open-air community school to help students catch-up on lessons missed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ditkoot, a village in Kupwara district, now offers open-air classes to students who don't have access to the internet.

"The classes are being conducted keeping in mind safety measures," said Bashir Ahmed Dar, a local school principal, who helped set up the community school.

The academic year in Kahsmir has been disrupted since August 2019, when India stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special semi-autonomous status and imposed a lockdown. An internet blackout was also enforced until January 2020.

Kashmir has been under coronavirus lockdown since March.

Community Schooling underway in Ditkoot village in kupwara district amidst COVID19 pandemic.

Social distancing being maintained and children are seen wearing masks as well.


A remote village in north Kashmir's kupwara district has sought to break the Covid 19 logjam on schooling by starting an open air community school.


Ditkoot, a town in kupwara district offers a novel solution to the students who struggle with the internet connectivity and the cost to attain education which is now relying on modern technology. For them, the Kashmir's town has set up open-air classrooms on the green hills with the snow-capped Himalayas in the background.

"The classes are being conducted keeping the safety measures in mind," said Bashir Ahmed Dar , local school principal , who helped set up the community school.


Apart from the basic safety measures like masks, sanitizers, social distancing the open-air schooling also supports the reach of these students who aspire to learn but cannot afford the digital tools.

The move has been particularly helpful since children in Kashmir had been out of school even before the pandemic struck. In August 2019, Centre revoked the region's special status, which caused the 4G internet connectivity to go off.