Srinagar, May 6 -- In the hills and hamlets of Kashmir, the classroom remains a fragile space. In many government schools, a chalkboard and some benches are all that greet children every morning. But beyond the crumbling walls and basic infrastructure, the real challenge lies in something more invisible: the absence of structured lesson planning.

It is easy to assume that a teacher who knows their subject will naturally teach it well. But mastery of content means little if the teaching has no direction. Good teaching does not begin when the teacher walks into the classroom. It begins long before, with careful thinking about what students need to learn, and how they will learn it best.

Lesson planning has always mattered, but with the ar...