Education is one the institution that makeup the social structure of any Society .Education is single most potent tool of development and inclusive growth in the country. Emile Durkheim calls schools as miniature societies in themselves which prepares the child for generation replacement. But in Kashmir valley Education sector is simmering into various hurdles. Kashmir is an intractable conflict between the two South Asian countries: India and Pakistan. It had affected people of tiny nation badly. Every individual suffered here in this vale of paradise which was known as the beautiful region across the globe. But its irony that due to unrest, turmoil, and cycle of violence, people lost their kiths and kins; and because of all that, State of Jammu and Kashmir suffered a lot.
The 2016 year and current year has seen a painful loss for students. At average two or three days in a week the educational institutions remain close and thus a discontinuity in the education process also creeps in. If we don’t allow our children’s to go to the schools, where will be the human resources to make it a great nation which we dream of? In the current more than 50 strikes were observed which affected the people and students at large.
A fact remains that education process in Kashmir has been held hostage by the ongoing controversies and unsettled issues. Curfews, strikes, protest have become an order of the day. No nation can achieve freedom when it is feeble and Strikes make Kashmir nation even feebler. We cannot save our dignity and cannot achieve goals by calling strikes. We need to something beyond strikes. Who we are punishing by calling strikes on every small and big issue and how does India get affected if we boycott economic activity and work. ..According to UNICEF education can play a crucial role in peace building processes (before, during, or after conflict) and can help to prevent conflict and contribute to long-term peace but when educational remains closed how on earth could someone think of peace building through education. Let’s take the example of Jammu division which is a part of Kashmir but Jammu’s literacy rate is far ahead as compared to Kashmir. In recent UPSC 15 candidates from J&K qualified this prestigious exam, among these only three are from valley. Here we can imagine how much we lacking due to strikes. Strikes are crippling the economy of Kashmir. Students of generation are the worst sufferers as their studies got severely affected by the Strikes. There is no doubt that Kashmir is facing repressive tactics and human rights violation from forces but strikes are not the solution to end this bloodshed. Our students have started to compete at National and International level from past few years, when the same competent will be succeed they can thrive the plight of Kashmiris at bigger forums like at national and international levels.
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Incidentally there is no evidence of strikes in Muslim history. .India‘s own freedom struggle for instance – which has never been hartal driven. This means that hartals on such an extended scale are an exclusive Kashmiri innovation which over the past two decades has had little contribution towards helping separatist leadership towards their goal. Neither is there any significant correlation between strikes and successful liberation movement across the world. History is witness that no country or nation has achieved freedom by obtaining from the work. An alternative strategy needs to be evolved to protest and counter Human Rights violation. Strikes have never been able to attract international attention towards Kashmir in a well curriculum. We are complicating the problems for ourselves; a week nation goes weaker as there are no days to work in. This is the age of internet and modern means of communication can be used to protest the human rights violation.
As per the research report, around 67 percent students attributed the adverse impact on education to the restrictions and curfew which was imposed by government authorities in Kashmir during the summer unrest in 2016. However, only 9 percent students blamed stone pelting and 22 percent blamed hartals for affecting education. The study has been compiled after getting feedback from students in all the 10 districts of Kashmir which witnessed participation of more than 2000 students and over 500 parents. As per the study released by Chinar International for public consultation, around 41.7 percent students have stated that they observed strike to highlight their political issues while as 19.9 percent have responded saying that they observed hartal to follow the decision of the majority in Kashmir.
Hundreds of students of Kashmir are within the boundaries of Prison, strategy needs to be changed. Black out in the night, pen down strike in offices for an hour and other ways can be devised to protest against atrocities committed by troops. Students Lawyers, doctors wearing black badges during work is better way to protest and can be sustained for long. Strikes in Kashmir are a self inflicted wound which desperately needs to rethink. We need a mission statement, a clear demarcation of short term, medium term and long term objectives. It is paramount duty of separatists to devise a new way to protest. This one has damaged a lot. A consensus should be arrived at that the schools and educational institutions shall be kept away from political conflict. By victimizing the education sector, we will be victimizing our future generations. So the need of hour is that the education should be given top priority by all citizens as well as organizations and institutions. If education sector keeps on suffering at the present scale, Kashmir will surely die a silent death.
(The author is a student at Department of Law Kashmir University and a freelancer. His views are personal)
