Education On A Tightrope: Students Cross River With Rope Swing To Reach School In Jammu Kashmir Village

Locals from Ghath village in Kathua district are forced to cross the local river with a rope swing due to lack of a bridge.

Transcript

00:00This is not any adventure sports event, but the daily ordeal of young Mamta Devi of crossing

00:14a river to reach a school in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathwa district. Scores of students like Mamta

00:23besides locals from Garth village have to put their lives at stake every day to cross the

00:29river with a rope swing slid on a cable in absence of a bridge.

00:59They have to put the bridge in the ground to the river, i have said yes, it's a big deal there,

01:04but the structure of the river has gone and it's not used to.

01:07So i have never said that, we have written a bridge as well, see if we do not have to pull.

01:12But now we have all of the structures within the river, but it's a small and open.

01:18For student Mamata, the government's slogan,

01:38was mere lip service, as daughters had to play with their lives every day to reach the school.

01:46Sir, there is a very dangerous force, because there was a group called the government.

01:53The government had a very difficult time to get here.

01:57And there was a couple of people who wanted to play with their lives.

02:00We said earlier that the girls would learn more.

02:03Now we go from here and don't have a difficult time.

02:08We have a very difficult time to get here.

02:12It is hard to get there, there are many people here and there are many people here.

02:18So I want to say that there will be a pole here.

02:21We have to go from here, so there is a danger here.

02:25Look at how much water is here.

02:27So we have to go from here,

02:29those little children have to get together,

02:32like a first or second person.

02:35So we have to go from here.

02:37If someone goes from here,

02:39they can go from here.

02:42Locals said the route was the only mode of commutation for them

02:47and lack of a bridge was putting lives at risk,

02:50even causing mishaps in recent years.

02:53Locals appealed for construction of a bridge across the river

02:57to prevent any untoward accident,

02:59saying their repeated pleas to local authorities had gone unattended.

03:12Muhammad Ashraf Ganai from Katwa for ETB Bharat.