PULWAMA, May 5 -- Inside the Government Upper Primary School (UPS) Chewakalan in Pulwama, the sound of children reciting lessons mingles with the relentless clang of tin sheets baking under the harsh sun. For more than a year, children as young as six here have been forced to study in sweltering, makeshift tin sheds-their only "classrooms" as the construction of a new building remains painfully incomplete.

The scorching summer heat turns these sheds into ovens, while winter transforms them into icy chambers. With no fans, no proper insulation, and no respite from extreme weather, students and teachers alike endure unbearable conditions.

Ghulam Mohammad Dar, a local resident, shakes his head as he watches children fan themselves with not...