The Winter Teacher of Kashmir

Inside tin sheds and canvas tents, a Kashmiri teacher keeps learning alive for nomadic children who can't stay in one place.

- Iffat Aurooj

Shazia Bashir refused to let winter decide the fate of her students.

Each winter, this government schoolteacher from Baramulla saw children pack their books away, only to return months later struggling to write their own names. Many didn't come back at all.

Children of the Gujjar and Bakarwal communities struggled the most.

Their families shift from one settlement to another, following their animals to places where the air stings and homes are tents tied against hard winds.

These children grew up learning everything except how to stay in one classroom. Their education scattered as soon as they moved.

Shazia looked at this cycle and told herself that winter schooling needed someone willing to challenge the rules stitched into the land.

She borrowed a tarpaulin and found a dented blackboard with chipped edges. A tin shed, once used to store tools, became a classroom.

Five children arrived on the first day, dressed in many layers, curious and unsure. Their fingers were stiff while turning pages. The cold bit through everything.

Their parents waited outside. They expected the effort to end quickly. They had seen teachers turn away once the cold made teaching uncomfortable.

Shazia came again the next day. And the next after that.