Shopian: After remaining in headlines for many days after the government accused its “former teachers” of militancy activities, an accusation which the institute refuted, the Siraj ul Uloom educational institute in Shopian has again come in the limelight after two of its former students qualified the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
Both the students however don’t belong to Shopian but south Kashmir’s district Anantnag and north Kashmir’s Handwara.
The students on Sunday were honoured by the school authorities for their meritorious performance in the national-level exam. The students are Qaiser Gulzar, son of Gulzar Ahmad, resident of Nowshara Anantnag, and Fazin ul Islam, son of Mohammad Maqbool, resident of Handwara.
Qaiser scored 606 points in the NEET exam. He had studied at Siraj ul Aloom till Class 8 and later went to a government school for further studies.
Islam scored 541 points in the NEET exam which was held amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
School authorities told Kashmir Reader that both the students had studied at their institute for many years before moving to other schools.
“It’s not the first time that our students have proven that hard work and dedication always bear fruits,” an official from the institute told Kashmir Reader.
He said that many of the students of the institute now occupy higher ranks of the civil services. “Some of our students have gone to international and national institutions where they brought laurels to Kashmir,” he added.
Mudasir Ahmad, a teacher at Siraj ul Uloom, said that the extraordinary thing about the institution is that it provides both modern as well as moral education. “Most of our students who have gained a place in government services are Hafiz-e-Quran,” he said.
A few days ago, police had claimed that three teachers of this educational institute had been booked under the Public Safety Act for their involvement in unlawful activities. The school was also accused of “radicalising” students and that 13 of its students had taken to the path of militancy.
These accusations were strongly refuted by the school authorities who asserted that none of their students had become militants and the three persons who were booked under Public Safety Act were never teachers there.

Raashid Hassan