Srinagar, June 29 -- Across Kashmir, government school classrooms are slowly emptying. The benches are there, the blackboards are ready, but the children are missing.

This is not because education is hard to find. Government schools in the valley offer free books, free uniforms, free midday meals, and teachers who earn higher salaries than those in private schools.

But parents are walking away, often toward private schools that charge fees many can barely afford.

The reason is painfully simple. "If these schools are good, why don't government officers send their own children here?" asks Bashir Ahmad, a father of three from Anantnag.

His children study in a small private school nearby. His question echoes across Kashmir, in homes, in b...