No nation can hope to attain the heights of intellectual eminence and spiritual greatness by just relying on petty, paltry, and fearful people. It is imperative to cultivate moral courage, intellectual integrity, independence of thoughts, diversity of talents, originality, and initiative among young minds. And this can be achieved through education only. In view of the importance of education, Jammu and Kashmir made education free of cost to all its people. But with an overall literacy rate of 68.74% compared to India’s average literacy rate of 74.04%, the kashmir does not reflect a great education system.
“Insurgency severely damaged the education of the young minds in kashmir. Throughout the first half of the 1990s, the schools were either shut or the roads leading to them were closed. That is in case terrorists did not destroy them. Even when opened, there were frequent cordon and search operations or crackdowns or strikes, thus preventing students from attending their classes. The use of force by these extremists hijacked the examination system till the mid-1990s and later undermined it in one way or another.”
The youth fell into the gun culture of the late 1980s, leading to insurgency and militant activities during the 1990s. Many schools, colleges, and other educational buildings were burnt during the insurgency, which harmed the overall education system. Though many infrastructures came up during the succeeding years, the crying needs for educational aids, resources, and faculty enhancement programs were utterly neglected. When the Indian Army inaugurated the first army school in Kashmir in early 2008, it paved the path for a resurrection of the education system in kashmir, which was devastated by militancy.
When insurgency broke, education at all levels was the worst hit. Most of the school, college, and university-level students were local Kashmiri Hindus. Their exodus created a vacuum in the education system. The education set-up collapsed. Many schools, colleges, and university buildings were burnt and razed. Leading educational institutions remained shut during the peak of the insurgency. Safety concerns overtook academic ambitions for both parents and students. Their (terrorists) indictment ran in various matters such as appointments and promotion in government jobs, admission in professional colleges, loans, etc. Allegedly, they even arranged for mass copying in examinations and secured favourable results from the teachers and other governing bodies.
The insurgency drastically created a gap between the education and interests of the students in J&K. The erstwhile state faced the problems in making young minds educated due to the hostile environment. It put a hindrance in the smooth education system and thus created a rage among the students. Students in general encountered fear, threat, and depression. The education system was disturbed and distracted.
Ever since the inception of Operation Sadbhavana Indian Army has established 46 Army Goodwill Schools and assisted approximately 1900 State Government-run schools by renovating, modifying infrastructure augmentation, and providing equipment. All goodwill schools are affiliated with the J&K State educational board, barring two residential schools located at Rajouri and Pahalgam, affiliated with the CBSE Board. The popularity of Army Goodwill Schools can be measured by the fact that there is a growing clamour from the local populace for opening schools in almost all corners of J&K. Approximately 15,000 students are currently enrolled, and close to one lakh children have obtained primary/higher secondary levels quality education during the insurgency.
One of the significant challenges of education in conflict is its discontinuity, which affects the students’ academic performance and psychosocial and social development. To provide equal opportunity to children from marginalised sections of society and those affected by terrorist violence, the Indian Army has been sponsoring the cost of their education. Approximately 840 students receive scholarships for studies in schools within and outside the state. Army has assisted nearly 565 students in obtaining admission to various institutions outside the state, prominent among them Pacific University, Udaipur, Global Research Institute, Kurukshetra, NOIDA International University, Greater NOIDA, and Hunar-e-Tarash, a Rural Affair Ministry initiative. The state of J&K has a unique mix of the population that comprises Gujjar/Bakarwals (nomadic tribes) in sizeable numbers. These mobile groups migrate every year within the state in the summer months to the upper reaches and the lower foothills in the winters. While doing so, they traverse all three distinct regions of the state. To ensure that their children get quality primary and middle school education, the Indian Army runs special Shepherds Schools for the nomadic groups.
The restoration of the educational system and bringing it back on the rails remained the most significant challenge ever since the insurgency sprouted in J&K in the 1990s. Though this revival system was initially slow, it has picked up the momentum over the last 6 to 7 years. There has been an increase in the number of schools and other educational institutions in J&K. Keeping at par with the national educational system, the UT will soon shift from a 10+2+3 scheme of education to a 5+3+3+4 system of education. In the budget allocation for the year 2020-21, there has been a substantial increase in the budget for primary education (23.49%), higher education (17.51%), and health and medical education (11.74%).
The J&K UT has 12 universities, including two central universities, one IIT, one NIFT, one IIMC, and one IIM. To increase the accessibility of the students, the govt of the day has implemented the national flagship programs such as Shagun Shiksha, Smagar Shiksha, Mid-day-meal, Diksha, etc., which provide the quality education. Kashmir higher education vision document focuses on making J&K educational excellence. Thanks to the avenues youth of the J&K making for Civil Services, Defence & Para Military Forces, IITs, NEET, AIIMS, etc.
Education can help us strengthen emotional integration by systematically removing remnants of religious bigotry and fanaticism. This could be achieved by eradicating all the traces of racial, cultural, and national chauvinism and arrogance by enabling young minds to become broad-minded, tolerant, and rational. These can be acquired through a proper kind of education. Education can be a sustainable tool for achieving post-conflict peace and providing stability and normalcy to the region. It is also a means of instilling hope and positivity and offering an opportunity to the youth surrounded by violence.
Despite of everything, these kashmiri children show there courage and will power every single day towards education. See :-
Courtesy : Col Balwan Singh Nagial