In the heart of Srinagar’s commercial district is one of Kashmir’s oldest schools in which some of the Valley’s most prominent figures have studied. The Tyndale-Biscoe boys school was set up in 1880, while its girls wing, the Mallinson school, was established in 1912. Both schools stand on 10.6 acres of land leased from the government in Sheikh Bagh, in the heart of Srinagar. They have two branches – one in Baramulla set up in 1996 and another in Budgam established in 2003.
But now there is a threat to the Srinagar schools. Traders who have businesses in the area adjoining the institutions have demanded that they be relocated to the city’s outskirts because the congestion caused by its students and school buses is affecting business. This has caused consternation among the administration and alumni of both schools, and has led to a former student starting an online petition addressed to the state government, the Srinagar Development Authority and the Srinagar Municipal Corporation to protest against any such move.
The demand to shift the schools was an “attack on history and heritage” said Hadhiq Khan, an engineering graduate and former Biscoe student, who started the petition earlier this month. “Half of Kashmir is emotionally connected to…
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