Srinagar, Sept. 4 -- Every September, the rituals return. Bouquets are carried into classrooms, stages are decorated, and principals deliver rehearsed lines about sacrifice.

Teachers' Day unfolds like a performance in Kashmir, a ceremony of gratitude played out in schools across the valley.

For a few hours, the teachers are called the backbone of society, the builders of futures. Then the applause fades, and they return to lives marked by strain, silence, and neglect.

Private schools now shape the education of most Kashmiri children. More than half of school-going students are enrolled in these institutions, their parents persuaded that private classrooms promise discipline and results.

The reality is rarely glimpsed by outsiders: the...