Parents said their children would stay home until cellular networks are restored and they can be in contact with them. "How can we risk the lives of our children?" said Gulzar Ahmad, a father of two children enrolled in a school in the city's Batamaloo district where protests have occurred. "Troops have arrested minor children in the last two weeks and several children were injured in clashes," he said. "Our children are safe inside their homes. If they go to school who can guarantee their safety?" Authorities have previously denied reports of mass arrests. Occupied Srinagar's top administrative officer, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, said on Sunday that adequate security would be provided for schools. "I will take responsibility for any untoward incident," he added.
Paramilitary police in riot gear and carrying assault rifles stood behind steel barricades and coils of razor wire in occupied Srinagar's old quarter to deter a repeat of weekend protests. In dense neighbourhoods such as Batamaloo, youths set up makeshift barricades to block security forces from entering.
Authorities reimposed curbs on movement in parts of occupied Srinagar on Sunday after overnight clashes between residents and police in which dozens were injured, two senior officials and witnesses said. Reuters journalists visited two dozen schools in occupied Srinagar on Monday. Some schools were lightly staffed and classrooms deserted. Gates at other schools were locked.
Only one student showed up at Presentation Convent Higher Secondary School, which has an enrolment of 1,000 pupils, and went home, said a school official. There were no students at the barricaded Burn Hall school in one of the city's high security zones. "How can students come to classes in such a volatile situation? The government is turning these little children into cannon fodder," a teacher said, among a handful of staff who turned up for work.