After remaining shut for 100 days, schools in Kashmir Valley reopened today with students and teachers given a free passage by security forces despite curfew and restrictions in many parts.
However, attendance was thin against the backdrop of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's call to parents not to send their wards to schools and colleges.
The education system in the valley had become a collateral damage in the ongoing unrest, which began on June 11 with the killing of a 17-year-old student in police tear smoke shelling.
In order to ensure the smooth functioning of schools, the state Government has pressed a fleet of state road transport corporation buses into service.
More than 170 buses were deployed on 11 city routes for facilitating the movement of students and school staff.