As Kashmir was limping to normalcy after bullets mixed with ballot during daylong by-poll, a police raid in a south Kashmir college triggered sort of a crisis forcing closure of academic spaces for a week. Even though the student union has asked for resumption of routine, state managers must sit, discuss and answer some uncomfortable questions

The student unrest that Kashmir witnessed last week was just a glimpse of the anger that gen-next has accumulated while growing up under the shadow of the gun. With tens of thousands of young men and women on roads, it was a lurking danger of getting into a frightening abyss of new chain of violence.

Situation was primarily saved by two interventions. Firstly, the paramilitary forces, currently abundantly available as they wait for the second phase of unlikely polls, were not involved at all by the state police. Secondly, almost everywhere, especially in Srinagar, the civil administration deployed magistrates to ensure the Lakashman Rekha is respected.

“We were literally shadowing the policemen,” one magistrate told Kashmir Life. When a group of boys gave police a slip and took shelter in a shopping complex, a magistrate literally stopped a police officer from chasing them. “Once you get in, either they will kill you or you will kill them and that is what I do not want.” This saved the situation.

Srinagar’s fashionable Moulana Azad Road, which started the protest, was cooled only after the police was withdrawn from the rear of the SP College to enable injured and tired boys go home.

“I gave the boys enough space and time to shout slogans and when they felt tired, I lobbed a few tear smoke shells and they went home,” one police officer said. “What was the harm in permitting them to protest?”

The unrest that seemingly could have marked the beginning of a serious crisis started with that Casper, the South African anti-mine armoured carrier, that parked inside the gate of state run Degree College in Pulwama on April 12. Only investigation would reveal if the soldier-officers in the vehicle were invited or had just come to discuss some Sadhbhavna project with principal, Abdul Hamid Sheikh. A possible investigation will also answer why the soldiers visiting the college choose a Casper and not a routine jeep. Casper is normally an operational vehicle.

Moments after the Casper got in; the students resorted to mass stone pelting. The drama continued for some time and the vehicle retreated. The next two days were normal.

Saturday afternoon when two Rakshak vehicles, this time carrying police, entered the gate, it was the slightly different scene. Fearing it was a revenge of Wednesday, the students pinned the two vehicles. Videos already on the web offer the intensity of the reaction. Soon after, tear smoking started within the premises. As the two sides fought – despite the college principal, fully known to the officer who was leading the raid, intervened, the students were injured. As they were rushed to the hospital, the cops chased them there.

“My hospital is a battle ground, I have injured around and the cops and students are fighting in the hospital premises,” one senior doctor told Kashmir Life. “Smoke from the shells is well into the hospital.” More than 65 students reached hospital, some for very minor interventions, mostly girls fainted by suffocation. But there were two serious injuries which were shifted to SMHS. Police did use pellets guns.

Why police entered into a college with almost five thousand students on rolls? Why the operation took place when both Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police were on leave? Why the raid was carried out at a time when the two videos showing soldiers marshalling youth in neighbouring Budgam were exchanged million times in last 24 hours? Why did the police get into the premises, creating a new precedence, perhaps first time after 1977? Did not the officers know that in wake of historic low poll in Srinagar in which more than eight people were killed, polling in South Kashmir was pushed to May 25? Answers to these questions are crucial to understand the system that seemingly is non-responsive.

Police has its version. SSP Pulwama told Kashmir Life that the police party had gone to see the stone pelters who threw stones on a naka that existed outside the college for years. “There was a slight misunderstanding that police had come to make arrests which it was not,” SSP said.

The senior police officer said they did not do anything illegal as no law prevents police from getting into a college! In such an explosive situation, only Singham style officers can drive two Rakhshak’s into a college?

The event is being seen by political class as “misadventure” by some “young dabang officers” who “in utter disregard of anger on ground” seemingly “wanted to conquer a territory”.

Though the government is well briefed but, at the end of the day, it seemingly is in office and “not essentially in power”, goes the public perception. In quick follow up, it attached the principal for “speaking to the media”!

After Kashmir University Students Association (KUSU), association not in news from quite some time reacted and called for protests, Kashmir was almost on the verge of a major conflagration. The government required requests from officials to close the colleges. “They are so disconnected from the ground that it is embarrassing,” a senior officer told Kashmir Life. “They live in a detached world where Kashmir seems far away.”

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah questioned government’s ability of dealing with the situation. Taking on to twitter, Omar wrote, “why could all colleges/universities not have been closed for a few days after the Pulwama clashes? Is Mehbooba Mufti not alert to situation?”

And in his second tweet he wrote, “I hope Mehbooba Mufti has thought through the implications of mass student protests across the valley. This is a deeply worrying situation.”

Taking cue possibly from requests of the officials and tweets of Omar, the educational institutions were closed.

After four days of serious crisis, despite the closure of colleges, had KUSU not announced a modus vivindi, it might have been a difficult situation to tackle. But the question remains: what happens to the youth bulge? Kashmiri students are being treated unfairly in the academic spaces of Kashmir and, if they choose to study outside, they face a different kind of atmosphere. Youth cannot be engaged by the cricket and football.

If the government cannot permit student activism in the colleges and the universities, wherefrom the policymakers expect the new leaders to come from? How the democracy debate can survive especially after a serious blow in by-elections for Lok Sabha? If the students in Kashmir universities do not work on the issues they are aware of, who will do it? Subjects related to socio-economic and politics of Kashmir on which the students are keen to research and work are being summarily rejected by the faculties across Kashmir. In contrast the same ideas are being encouraged by the universities in Delhi and elsewhere. Why should academic spaces be an extension of the security set-up?

Khelo India Khelo is ok but for any possible engagement, the first step should be permission to student activism. If the universities across J&K can have student bodies with clear ideological affinities with the Sangh Parivaar, Congress or the Left, why cannot Kashmir afford a student union? Kashmir students have not forgotten that their office in Kashmir University was bulldozed. How can this hurt heal?

Talking to BBC, a group of Kashmiri students in Delhi said that their battle is also against the double standards that Delhi exhibits within and outside Kashmir. “What is good for students in Delhi is not being seen as good for students in Kashmir and that is why we are here to avail all these benefits,” one student said. This feeling is completely shifting the threat perception that security grid normally talks about. The interesting challenges in Kashmir to the governance system are generated in mainland India and not in Rawalpandi madrassas.

In the University of Kashmir campus, there is a strong feeling that the government is willing to permit student activism as long as it has seal of approval by the government. “Why do not you get into the past and see how many times Rahul Gandhi flew to the Naseem Bagh campus?” one KUSA member said. “They recruited boys and girls, assured them travel and jobs but they eventually went to their local mosques at the peak of 2010 unrest and disclaim their associations.”

That was the era when even Sajad Lone was keen to have a student’s union. “For the last two years even the PDP is trying hard to create a union,” the member said. “We are not against the political parties not to have unions but let the government permit KUSU.” The member said KUSU wanted to register the reaction to the happenings in Pulwama. “Youth registered it by exhibiting successful display of resistance, unity and valour and that is it,” the member said. “We are responsible, one the message was conveyed, we are back to the classroom.”

The post Campus Reacts appeared first on Kashmir Life.

DP Dhar’s son who runs the prominent school in memory of his father has been witness to Kashmir’s various highs and lows in recent years. In a long conversation, Vijay Dhar laments over the loss that the new generation is so keen to recover but feels chocked for lack of avenues

In 1990, almost everything came to a grinding halt. It was in1992 when my mother took ill and she had to under go a surgery. While she was being carried to the operation theatre, she told me: “Are we going home after the operation”. I said yes, we are going for sure. I just said it.

Once the operation was over, se was all right, I decided to keep my promise. As I started making preparations, the news went out and the Home Ministry said it was impossible. Then Prime Ministers Office intervened. I was given the impression that Pakistan has no other business other than killing me. But I said I am committed to my mother, so I have to go home. Finally we made a compromise. Our names were changed, my name, my mothers name and my wife’s name.

But once we landed at the Srinagar airport, it hardly mattered. People recognised me. But the government took no chance; they put up an elaborate security convoy – four escorts in the front of cavalcade and four in the rear of our car. As we reached home, the phone started ringing. Everybody started calling me, welcoming me back home.

It puzzled me.

I summoned my servant and asked him why he let people know I am back. He said he did not his actions did. “I had gone to the butcher asking for two kilograms of mutton,” the servant told me. “He was shocked; he said has the Sahab come? I said no. He said that I had not taken so much of mutton for all these years. That is how the news spread.”

For the next five weeks, we stayed in Srinagar, believe me, we never cooked out breakfast. People would rung me up saying do not come to us and we also are not visiting you. But we will keep a tiffin at the main gate and please pick it up. These tiffins would be sniffed by the security dogs before reaching our breakfast table. That is what Kashmir is.

After endless visits, when finally I re-settled in Srinagar, I started thinking on doing something. Education came so naturally to me. I started asking myself: if this state introduced free education as early as 1951, why is J&K second from the bottom in the all India ranking? If we have nine universities, why are 100 thousands boys and girls from Kashmir going to get education to various places across India? I started thinking about the enormous cost that it entails for this much of people in moving out of Kashmir.

Karnataka’s base to music is Kashmir music. In Tamil Nadu, the routine thread ceremony (a Hindu custom of baptising the younger boys into the faith) is interesting. They recite certain Slokas that mentions Kashmir and when it happens the boy has to stand up and face Kashmir and then walk six steps towards Kashmir and then only his ceremony is complete. This is in deference to Kashmir that has remained the epicentre of knowledge and enlightenment.

That is what the image Kashmir historically has been all about. And now we live in time where we do not figure anywhere in education. That is how the idea of creating DPS in Srinagar was conceived.

When I decided to start the school, my family did not talk to me for three months. They wanted it in Delhi instead. When the spade work started, I got so huge response that, one day, I told my wife, my support throughout, that we should not do it. She asked me why. I said there are too huge expectations from us. But somehow with the support of people, we did it and created a successful model. Mufti Sahab wanted me to open DPS in all districts, I refused. Instead, I want local entrepreneurs to join, as they did in Budgam, Baramulla and Anantnag. I am getting 150 students from Pulwama daily. It can sustain a full-fledged

It took me six months to convince DPS in Delhi to come to Srinagar. Then it took me another six months to get the CBSE recognition. That was an interesting tale. As I was waiting outside the office of CBSE boss, his deputy came. He asked me the purpose and when I told him that I am from Kashmir, he asked me if am a Muslim or a Hindu Kashmiri.

It really shocked me. This forced me to literally gate-crash the office of the CBSE chairman. After listening from me, he finally gave me a checklist carrying 29 items. It was back-breaking so I started explain what Kashmir is all about. He understood it and was gracious in erasing almost everything barring five clauses. He said for any educational institution in Kashmir, the standards will change.

Right now, Jammu has CBSC in 16 schools but in Kashmir there are only four schools with CBSE. I do not know why.

Till recently, Ms Mehbooba Mufti come to power, we had separate laws governing education in Kashmir and Jammu. I do not understand why, a fee fixation committee exists in Kashmir and not in Jammu. I still do not understand why High Court in Jammu stays a particular order and in Srinagar the High Court is unwilling to listen.

If the government decides the timing of schooling, then I believe government has lot of time. Why can not government do its own work? I visited a government school and found eight teachers for four students. Why should not government go to these areas and instead choke the private sector. They must inspect but they can use any on-line system now.

Recently we had a music competition in which lot many schools participated. One government school bagged a prize of Rs 1 lakh. When asked the boys what they will be doing with this money, they said: “Our school has only two rooms, we will use this money in creating two more.” One of the prize money winning groups was so naive that they took the cardboard prize cheque, used at ceremonies for photo-ups, to the bank! Now this system is using its powers to choke the private sector. Why?

Recently I was in Delhi and some senor official asked me about Kashmir and talked about “stakeholders”. I asked him who the stakeholders in Kashmir are. He said: “separatists and you”. I told him that I am not a stakeholder because quite a few years are left in my life. The real stakeholders are people who have fifty years of their life with them, I told him. I asked him what they are actually doing for the real stakeholders.

I told them that Kashmiris are not interested in your money. They can even pay you back the sum of Rs 15000 crore you so frequently talk about. Kashmir has changed but they do not know.

I went to Cochin and saw 300 Kashmiris there. I asked them are they doing something. They said: Aes Mara Kya Phatir Chah? (Are we mad?). They sell handicrafts and make a decent living.

Me and my wife were walking on a street in Angkor Wat in Cambodia that we were interrupted: Adaab Mara. It was a Kashmiri Muslim who instantly brought us a nun chai and then we talked. He said he operates his shop in Beijing from Angkor Wat.

Kashmiris live everywhere across the globe. They work and have proved their worth. They are the stakeholders. The stakeholders are 100 thousands Kashmiri Muslim boys and girls studying across the country.

Does anybody know that Kashmir exports saffron honey and lotus honey worth crore of rupees a year. Does anybody know that Kashmir sells walnuts for Rs 900 crore? Some people started Lavender farming and now they have created a demand for 5000 litres because no oil on earth is as fragrant as the Kashmir Lavender is. Kashmir would traditionally plant flowers on graves. We called it Mazaar Posh (grave flower). It is actually Iris and was planted to keep the rodents away. Does anybody know that its medicinal importance has linked it to some stomach cure and Kashmir is exporting it right now? Kashmir rose oil is a sensation world over.

The real unsung heroes in Kashmir are the women. They suffered a lot but they fought militancy. As they found Lala not coming to Srinagar for purchasing crafts, they pushed their males out to earn the livelihood.

Again, the society has understood the importance of education. In our school, I usually do not intervene in interview. But recently I asked a young lady who she was. She said she is the last of the four sisters. They all were working: one in bank, one in insurance, one in a university and the fourth had applied here. I asked her if any one was married, she said no. Why? “Our father is a driver. He has broken his back in raising and educating us. Now it is time to repay a bit, we are delaying our marriages just to see him in a bit of comfort,” the lady responded. That is new Kashmir youth, the real stakeholder.

The other day, I was talking to the kids and telling them about the infrastructure being raised – the tunnels, the roads and other things. Then a small kid stood up and said: “I am not going to eat your train?” I had no answers.

Only last week when Norwegian ambassador came to interact with students, a kid asked about what they should do in a state of conflict. The ambassador said: “Trust each other”. Then he talked about how Norway is driving its economy while lacking any real resource of its own.

Two years ago, Home Minister of India came and delivered a talk. Excited, the politician agreed to a Q&A session. One kid asked: “This morning, I came to my school, wearing my uniform and I card. At the gate, I was stopped and my bag was searched. When I asked why it is being done, they said, the Home Minister is arriving.” She was an eighth class student.

Then, another boy got up. “My parents tell me the entire security is around to keep me secure. But then, why these security men stop me and ask me questions?”

Home Minister cut the session short and left.

People often disagree with me when I talk about Kashmir issue. I do not see any Kashmir problem but nobody agrees with me. I see the problem of the young man who is being deprived of basics. When they ask me about solution to Kashmir, I tell them to ask this 15-16 years old child, he will tell you that he wants to be left alone, to be permitted to build his future and their lies the solution.

But what are we doing for him?

Only education department has a yearly printing order of nearly Rs 400 crore. Why can not Kashmir be a printing hub, if Singapore can be? Get 1500 boys and give them what it takes, they will create the hub.

Every year, government schools require uniforms worth Rs 100 crore, private schools need around Rs 50 crore. Then police and other forces require for another Rs 100 crore. Why cannot a cutting, stitching hub be created?

If somebody has money and four kanls of land, why can not he be permitted to start a nursing school?

How much time it takes to create an IT hub in Srinagar? All these things would require six months to happen.

(The copy is based on the observations Dhar made in a freewheeling talk with Masood Hussain)

The post The Dhar Dictum appeared first on Kashmir Life.

The ban at home on campus politics has not stopped Kashmiri students from seeking bigger roles in mainland India universities. Marila latif meets this Budgam boy who is one stop grievance redresser for Kashmiri students in Punjab

In 2013, when Aadil Bhat, 23, first landed in Chandigarh, Punjab, to pursue B Tech in Civil Engineering, he had no idea how life will turn out to be in an alien land.

As promised to his parents, Aadil focused on his studies while staying away from the politics of the place.

Located in Kharar village, around 13 kms from Chandigarh city, the life in Doaba Group of Colleges was peaceful for hundreds of Kashmiri students studying there.

But the ‘peace’ proved short living for Kashmiri students living outside Kashmir. In 2013, a row erupted in many college campuses after Kashmiri students cheered for Pakistani cricket team, during a match between India and Pakistan in Mohalli.

“I still recall those difficult times when Kashmiri students were hunted like criminals,” recalls Aadil.

While the match was on, around two hundred students, both Kashmiris and locals, sat inside a small common room in front of a television set. As Kashmiris began cheering for their favourite team, a section of local students reacted. “The noise coming from the common room was frightening. I instantly rushed to the spot to see what is going on,” recalls Aadil.

By the time Aadil reached the spot, a full-fledged brawl has broken out between Kashmiri students and locals. “They had beaten a few Kashmiri students,” said Aadil. “I quickly intervened to pacify the situation.”

That day on Aadil decided to seek larger role in campus politics for sake of safe-guarding Kashmiri students in his college.

Next year, when student’s union election was declared, Aadil filed his nomination for the Chairman’s post.

“I wanted to give representation to thousands of Kashmiri students who are studying outside,” said Aadil.

Aadil won with a huge majority as Kashmiri students from eight affiliated colleges came out in large number to vote for him. Since then Aadil is Chairman of his colleges union representing Congress backed Punjab University Students Union (PUSU).

“I entered student’s politics for sake of helping my fellow Kashmiris,” said Aadil, who won his third term recently.

That day onwards whenever a Kashmiri student is in trouble in any part of Punjab, he contacts Aadil for help.

Most of the cases Aadil receives are related to unavailability of hostel, or an apartment outside the campus, or issue regarding admission, or fee related concerns.

“I know how it feels to live and study outside Kashmir,” said Aadil, a resident of Budgam in Kashmir.

Aadil, like most of the students studying outside Kashmir, is aware of his limitations to do much in conflict ridden Kashmir. “Back home there is no scope for student politics as everything is seen from the prism of conflict,” feels Aadil. “So I thought, why not help make lives of students a bit easy outside.”

At the start of new academic calendar Aadil is in demand as freshers approach him with a number of issues concerning them. “I never say no to anyone,” said Aadil.

In his three years of tenure as Chairman of PUSU in his college Aadil has successfully made contacts with who-is-who in Chandigarh. “It helps in the long term as a student’s representative to stay in touch with the people who matter,” said Aadil. “On a number of occasions I was beaten for being a Kashmiri. The conflict back home is always there in our lives.”

In his last three years of stay at Chandigarh, Aadil has helped hundreds of Kashmiri students. Since 2016 summer uprising in Kashmir, the number of students from valley seeking admission in Punjab colleges has surged. “I can understand what a parent has to go through to send his children outside Kashmir,” said Aadil. “And my presence as Chairman ensures that their kids are safe here.”

At a number of occasions Aadil had arranged food, lodging, books, and even money for Kashmiri students in their hour of need. “I left Kashmir to study outside in a peaceful environment, but peace eludes a Kashmiri always,” said Adil.

A few back a Kashmir girl was harassed by some Haryana based students in Chandigarh. “When they saw me coming to her rescue, all of them ran away,” said Aadil.

But despite such minor incidents Aadil believes Punjab is safe for Kashmiri students. “You see what is happening in places like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Faridabad. That way we are quite safe here,” said Aadil.

In last few months the number of attacks on Kashmiri students studying outside has increased alarmingly.

“Every innocent killing back home takes an emotional tool on people like us who are away from Kashmir,” said Aadil. “I have not visited my home in last three years. I cannot bear to see brutalization of my people.”

The post Representing Kashmir! appeared first on Kashmir Life.

After forces stormed a college campus in Pulwama, student protests became a new norm in conflict ridden Kashmir. Umar Mukhtar tries to find out why stones replaced pens across Kashmir

On April 12, 2017, a Casper – a mine protected vehicle used by army in Kashmir – crossed the main-gate of Government Degree College in Pulwama, it caught everybody’s attention.

Before students could have made sense of their presence inside the college campus, around two dozen army-men got down from the vehicle and started asking around. “They were looking for stone-pelters,” said Aabid, who was present inside the campus that day.

Within no time students started gathering around them. “We were puzzled how come army enter a college campus when our classes were on,” said Aabid.

Once students started questioning their presence inside the campus, army-men reacted by manhandling a few students.

“This enraged students and it led to protests inside the campus,” said Aabid.

As protests intensified army-men left the scene in a hurry.

But three days later, headed by a police jeep, two armoured vehicles entered the campus. “This time they were in a different mood,” recalls Suhail, a first year student. “Without warning they resorted to ransacking and tear-gas shelling.”

Within no time the campus turned into a mini-battleground with students engaging police in stone-pelting. “They fired pellets, bullets and what not,” said Suhail.

As images and video of panicked students, especially girls, found their way on social-media sites, campus across Kashmir started to feel uneasy. The fuel to the fire was added when a video clip, showing two army men thrashing a youth brutally went viral. “It (video) broke everyone’s heart across Kashmir,” said a Srinagar based journalist who wants to remain anonymous.

Even more than a month has passed but nobody is sure what triggered the crisis. “They (police) was hunting for students who apparently were involved in stone-pelting in their respective areas,” said Suhail. “They came to make arrests inside the campus.”

A college official, who wished not to be named, however blamed a senior police official for the mess inside the Pulwama College. “He was known for such misadventures, but this time he has crossed all limits by entering a college,” blamed the official.

The day ended with over two dozen students injured, some of them with pellets. “Entire campus looked like a war zone,” said Asif, a first year student.

Next day students from almost every educational institution, both private and government, were on streets, protesting against “brutality” on their fellow students in Pulwama.

The most intense protests were reported from Srinagar’s Shri Pratap (SP) College and Government’s College for Women. Within no time protests spiraled out of college campuses to the busy Lal Chowk area. Over next few days, pictures of female students, with stones in their hands dominated newspaper front-pages. Soon more colleges joined in. What started in Pulwama, was now a pan Kashmir phenomenon.

“For first few days government exercised maximum restrain, but then they resorted to their usual tactics: use force to crush,” said a Srinagar based journalist. “Injuries and arrests once again started a chain reaction that Kashmir has lately witnessed.”

A senior academician who was keenly watching the events that unfolded after Pulwama incident feels, “students are part of the same society that has seen brutality first hand. How can they stay immune to happenings around them? They just needed a trigger to vent their emotions.”

Over next fortnight protests continued across Kashmir with more areas getting involved. “We had never seen students coming out like this,” said the journalist. “This was pan Kashmir involving almost entire student fraternity.”

However, instead of trying to pacify the angry students, and punishing those who entered Pulwama campus, a witch-hunt was started. Ariz, a student from Pulwama, was dragged out of Sumo vehicle and arrested while he was returning home after college. “I was taken to the police station where I was stripped, abused and thrashed,” he alleges. “They knew I was not involved in stone-pelting but they wanted me to name those who are.”

Ariz was let go after three days of captivity after his parents managed his release.

Ariz’s friends said they would wear a Pheran over their uniforms to enter college premises as police is constantly hunting them. “A number of students were arrested while they were on their way to college. Our uniforms had become our enemies,” said Ariz. “They treat us like we are criminals. For godsake we are just students.”

However, in a bid to pacify student’s tempers, government shifted SHO and SP Pulwama. “It was too little and too late,” said Haya, a student from Pulwama. “They are now chocking our space as students as well. We will not stay quite. We will be back on streets.”

In between crisis government started rolling heads in campuses. The first one to roll was of Principal Pulwama College’s, where it all started.

“Blaming teachers for something they had no control over is insane. Why don’t they sack the officer who entered the Pulwama College,” asks a senior teacher. “They have chosen soft targets to cover their failures.”

Waseem Parvez, 24, who is doing Master’s in Computer Application from Kashmir University, equates government response to student’s protests with ‘shooting of an arrow into a bee hive.”

He blames government for provoking the students by storming a college campus during class hours. “Our government seems to live in another time-zone and planet,” said Parvez. “How can they not know the ground situation in Kashmir? Everybody knows what these youngsters went through since July 2016, except those who claim to represent us.”

Parvez has a piece of advice for government to deal with the angry students, “Instead of using pellets, tear-smoke shells and bullets, they should throw flowers back at them. I am sure students will respond likewise. They are our future; please don’t hunt them like criminals.”

Ghulam Mohiddin, who heads Boys Higher Secondary School, Pulwama, feels the onus of normalising the situation lies on police. “They (police) should adopt parental approach while dealing with students. I am sure they don’t respond with force when their kids act like this at home. Then why to use force against these kids?”

Ghulam Mohiddin thinks “by restoring to tear-gas shelling and pellets, police is giving reason to miscreants to exploit the situation.”

Questioning the government’s method of dealing with the crisis former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah termed the situation as worrying in a set of tweets.

“Why could all colleges/universities not have been closed for a few days after the Pulwama clashes? Is @MehboobaMufti not alert to situation?”

The post Campus Chaos appeared first on Kashmir Life.

A 1999 batch KAS officer, Shabnum Shah Kamli, heads state’s Department of Technical Education (DTE).She tells Syed Asma, despite huge potential to change lives, DTE is secluded and disconnected

Kashmir Life (KL): What exactly does Department of Technical Education (DTE) do?

Shabnum Shah Kamli (SSK): In simple words our department has huge potential to make society a better place to live.

The job of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) is to convert non-technical people into technical people. These ITIs cater to skilled labour class, thus not in the limelight like other institutes. Besides, people who are trained here belong to the lower-middle class of the society.

Similarly, polytechnic is a very vast sector. Mid-level technocrats are produced from this department as well.

They might not belong to the crust of the society but they help to make the crust. But saying all this, DTE is a secluded department.

KL: How many polytechnic colleges we have in the state?

SSK: There are 24 government and nine private polytechnic colleges in Jammu and Kashmir. Half of these are in Kashmir valley. Before 90s, I am told the state and status of these institutes was much better.

KL: Is there an effort to retain its lost glory?

SSK: I was recently appointed director of Koshaliya Vikas  – a centrally sponsored skill development mission.

Every state was asked to identify skilled people whether employed or unemployed, illiterate or literate, organised or unorganised, from a specific age group who will be encouraged to sprout and get employed.

KL: The department is producing skilled labours already. How is this scheme going to make any difference?

SSK: The scheme was introduced recently, so not much has been done on the ground. Former CM had directed us to revive the traditional arts.

We have identified wood carving, papier-mâché, Pashmina work, Basoli arts and Phulkari. We have already started the admission process.

KL: How is the response?

 SSK: Response is very poor. We literally were on our toes to make people understand the importance of these courses. Most of the students had no idea what we were offering.

KL: What could be the reason for such a poor response?

SSK: I think people have lost interest in promoting the traditional arts. These traditional arts fetch nothing to an artist, so why would he encourage his children to take it up as a full time profession.

But out newly designed courses will help artisans to become an entrepreneur. We are getting trainers from outside who will help these artisans start small units on their own.

KL: But how can an expert from outside help in reviving Kashmir’s traditional arts?

SSK: It is entirely going to be our thing. We are only hiring people who could guide; nothing more.

As we lack an industrial presence in the state, we have no expertise in this sector as well. When our students go outside Kashmir to work, they face many issues as they have no working exposure. They don’t even have the exposure to handle latest machinery as they have not seen them. These outsiders help our students to stay connected with the outside world.

KL: Do you think our institutions lack infrastructure and exposure?

SSK: I think it is because of lack of industrial presence in the state. It is basically co-related. Almost 80 percent of the syllabus in technical education in on-job, and we are supposed to take students on industrial tours for practical training. But we have a very few industries in the state, so that defines the lack of exposure. We are trying to get some latest automated machinery in Kashmir, but it will take years to match the industrial standards outside valley.

KL: Is the department working on measures to fill the gap? 

SSK: Skill Development Mission is part of the same measure. We are in the process of learning new techniques to boost the sector in Kashmir. Besides, our focus is on building our won infrastructure rather than sending students outside for training.

KL: Any deadlines for the projects?

SSK: We are in a process of setting up a school in Udhampur and other places. Big changes are in the pipe-line.

Our administrative work is done and we are waiting for approvals from Delhi. We are planning to involve big names like Jawed Habib, and request them to adopt courses in our ITIs. But to implement any such plan we require lots of money, which we have to seek from GoI.

KL: A number of new polytechnics opened recently lack required infrastructure.

SSK: Eighteen new institutions have been started. We were given a sum of Rs 8 crores to start a polytechnic. Then state government pitched in additional Rs 5 crore, but that is not still enough. Lack of funds has hampered our work.

The campuses at Samba, Kathua, Kulgam, Budgam and Islamabad are almost complete and in use.

It takes time to complete a project in Kashmir, but we will soon shift nine of our institutions to new buildings.

KL: Is poor infrastructure reason for lack of interest among students?

SSK: I am yet to figure out the reason. I will try to exemplify my confusion. In an ITI we are running two courses, one is self-financed and other is for free. People will opt for the first one. The reason is we think whatever is given free is not good. We offer the same infrastructures, same teachers but people still opt for the first one.

KL: Isn’t that good for you? You can start earning from it.

SSK: Yes, I am thinking of revising the fees structure. It will help us improve the overall standard and infrastructure.

KL: Any other reason that is keeping students away from these polytechnics?

SSK: As I already mentioned, the main problem is we lack proper industrial infrastructure and poor private sector. In J&K government is both buyer as well as the seller. So the opportunities to innovate are very less.

I am trying to convince students to start their own units, like opening a small plumbing unit in their locality. Looking at the construction boom in Kashmir, such a unit can be highly profitable. It will take time but we need to change the attitude of people.

Besides, we need to improve communication skills of our students. The need is to properly communicate, propagate and market our skills and start earning from it.

KL: How many success stories are there from these institutions so far?

SSK: Honestly, not many. It’s still the beginning. But the response I got is overwhelming and I hope things will change for good. I visited Rajouri and Poonch last year to promote our new courses, and the response was overwhelming. I think students lack proper guidance.  If we talk to them and motivate, things will definitely change.

Perhaps bureaucrats don’t think that way, but I need effective results and for that I have to stay connected with the people. I know what we are doing, but people too need to know what we are doing. All my projects and planning is futile if people are unaware about it.

KL: September 2014 floods damaged most of the infrastructure in polytechnics completely. How much has been restored?

SSK: It pains to see these institutions in shambles.

Most of our institutions were submerged but now our staff and students are rebuilding the infrastructures on their own.

I am really proud of them. However we need lots of money to completely restore what has been damaged by the floods. It looks like this sector is not on the government’s priority list.

KL: Do you offer courses for specially-abled people as well?

SSK: There are a number of schemes for specially-abled people. We even have reservations in ITIs as well. But we need to work on it.

KL: Two years back a young boy committed suicide after there was negligence on part of an examiner. What happened to that case?

SSK: I headed the enquiry. I got the paper re-evaluated and it was found that there was negligence on the part of the examiner. He wasn’t from our department so I could not take any action. I handed him over to the Department of School Education where another committee was held, headed by their director. But I have no idea about its status right now. Besides, we took the measures for revamping our department. We now check the credentials of the paper setter and paper marker and do not outsource any of the departmental activity.

Tens of thousands of students seeking higher studies in various professional colleges are put to severe problems in absence of private education set up in the state. Zafar Aafaq offers details of how the private educational sector from plains takes its classrooms from Srinagar

In mid June, when a local educational consultancy hosted an Educational Expo, hundreds of students aspiring to get a professional degree turned up at Indore Stadium in Srinagar, not far away from the Amar Singh College, the nerve centre of Kashmir’s new Cluster University. More than a dozen colleges and universities, operating from across India, had set up stalls to cash in on the student aspirations.

Aspirants being counselled about various courses by the consultants (KL Image)

Mostly, the student preference was Bachelors in technology and engineering.

Khursheed Khan, 17, had come from Pulwama to find the “right” college that matches his specifications: affordability, reputation and distance from home. His first encounter at the fair happened to be  with a Noida based University which had planted a stall right in front of the entrance.

In a persuasive tone, the Proctor of the University tells Khan that their institution is among the best private universities in India. The large billboard constituted a wall of the stall carried a wide angle image of the building. Overawed by the photo of the campus, Khan felt convinced that this university must be definitely the best. But once he was told that he has to pay more than one lakh rupees per year, Khan’s interest start faded. Slowly, he moved out to another stall.

In one “shop”, a man, in his early fifties, representing a Dehradun based university lectures Khan and a group of boys on how to choose a university.

At the very entrance of the next stall, set up by Lovely Professional University Jalandhar, the receptionist asks Khan to fill up the form before any conversation starts. This is the exercise Khan performed at Sharda University stall as well. In fact all the stall owners seek basic details of the aspirants that help them create a data bank to see market choices. It helps them in following up the interactions.

“What was your percentage in twelfth standard?” the receptionist asks Khan.

“It is below 70,” Khan responds. The receptionist tells khan that he can still avail scholarship, if he qualifies the University’s Scholarship Test.

In one “shop”, a man, in his early fifties, representing a Dehradun based university lectures Khan and a group of boys on how to choose a university. He tells them before asking about the fee, you should check some other things which include if the university has an R&D department and how reputed it is, what alumni say about the university, and whether it is recognized or not.

Khan takes a round of the hall and comes with a bag full of positive assurances, promises, claims like 100% job guarantees, no hostel issues, cosy hostel rooms, alumni confessions. Some of the institutes try to persuade him by showing him photographs of celebrities “who often visit their institutes”. He returned with a good load of broachers, carrying pictures of the campuses, visiting faculties, alumni and prospects of high salaried jobs, and higher studies abroad.

After filling a dozen chits, he leaves the hall without actually zeroing in on any one institute. “I am not sure which one to choose, because there is not much difference in terms of what they offer,” Khan said. “Going by their claims, all institute seem similar.”

In all the stalls he came across hosts telling him that there are only a few seats left. “You should hurry up because by the first week of July the admission session will be over,” he heard almost everywhere. Some institutes offering low fee broachers to visitors, one of the event organisers said, end up in a sort of extortions. “They charge hefty amounts of fine for not adhering to institute rules and at the end of degree the total money paid is almost equals the institutes seemingly expensive.”

These fairs are just one of the formal exercises aimed at phishing the clients. Scores of colleges and institute have already setup their offices in Srinagar and some peripheral districts. Besides, there is a huge network of consultancies having tie ups with these institutes of India and even abroad.

This being the season of admissions in plains, every day newspapers are stuffed with advertisements of colleges and consultancies making same promises. Some even hawk 100% job placements.

Kashmiri students studying across India often land in hostile situations when host societies react to events not even remotely connected to Kashmir. This has created a chain of events every time India and Pakistan meet on the cricket pitch. This has led to a new priority for students seeking admissions outside: How secure and friendly the campus and hostels are?

This priority of students has helped counsellors to take up this issue first. They assure that campus and hostels are guarded by security guards, hostels are on campus or just a few kilometres from campus. Meals are healthy and hygienic. There are residential apartments for students in the area if they wish not to stay in the hostels. If the campus is located in rural belts, the admission counsellors put it in a way that the student feels as if it is the city.

Aspirants visit consultancies in Srinagar and outside to know about the courses offered outside J&K (KL Image)

With a huge network of consultancies spread across Kashmir, the challenge for aspirants is how to choose even a consultancy. There is fear and cynicism in the mind of the aspirant given that cases of deceit and cheating from local consultancies. To manage this tension, the educational institutes especially from North India , now send their own people, mostly comprising alumni, teachers or administrative staff to their newly set up “regional offices.”

Consultants at the consultancies have their own methods to prove their authenticity. “We have a policy that if we cannot furnish the admission confirmation letter to the student in one week, we return the money,” says Imran Farooq, an engineer, who runs a consultancy at Baghat Barzullah. “We have a very huge success rate as we do admission, directly.”

Farooq’s consultancy has tied up with almost all the institutes seeking students from Kashmir. His desk is full of prospects copies and brochures of institute that have now become familiar among aspirants. From South to North of India, from Bangladesh to Iran, Farooq is a consultant of every institute.

But all the glitters are not gold. Students who are already studying or have completed their degrees in these institutes don’t sketch a good picture of their institutes. Dawood Lone of Kupwara landed in a teaching shop in Ambala Haryana. He was shown beautiful images of hostel rooms fitted with ACs and comfortable bed. He did not know it was a bait. Once there, he found it wrong.

“There are frequent power and water outages in the hostel” Dawood alleged. “Most of the teaching staff is not qualified, many of our teachers have just B-tech, with no or little experience and they are assigned to teach students perusing B-Tech.”

But all the glitters are not gold. Students who are already studying or have completed their degrees in these institutes don’t sketch a good picture of their institutes.

Similarly a counsellor of an engineering institute in a dusky village in Palwal (Haryana) had told Rahil Malik, a student from Srinagar, at the time of counselling in 2012 that their institute is just located in the immediate outskirts of Delhi. He found it located 80 kilometres from Delhi border”

Even campus placements claims are a hoax. Aadil Mir, from Baramulla, completion of B-Tech in 2014. Then, he was offered a job as a customer care executive in a local company in Chandigarh. For Rs 9000, a month, he worked for six months and returned home.

 In last many years a lot of students went to study on the basis of Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS). As the government agencies work at their own pace, some of these students faced humiliation and threats of expulsion.

“Often students were barred from submitting examination form initially,” says Zakir Dar, who is studying in a Rajasthan University with PMSSS support. Zakir said he was taught by very poor teachers who were not qualified.“I would never suggest any one to come to this university.”

The number of students going out for studies has been on increase. Market estimations suggest that barely 15000 students had moved out for studies in 2005 which has gone up to 35,000 a year now. This number can sustain any number of private universities in J&K but the government is seemingly unwilling to permit investment.

 (Names of the students were changed on request)

The government adjudged two teachers as the best in 2017. They were honoured at a gala function last week. Later they told their story to Aakash Hassan

Postgraduate in Hindi, Lovely Singh was vigorous to implement her teaching skills in Government schools after she was inducted as a teacher in 2002 spring. She was already teaching for five years in private sector. Full of ideas to “transform” the school she would assigned, she was keen to bring light to the students, mostly from humble backgrounds.

“The challenge, as I thought, was not primarily the students, but the atmosphere and the infrastructure of the schools,” says Lovely Singh, now 50.

Her initial posting was in hilly and remote Budhwani belt of Samba. As she began her “mission to give overall education to the children,” she felt saddened over the condition of the school, dim-lit, dark and unelectrified. “Getting the administration get bulbs in school would have taken long time,” she said. She utilized her own money and got the school electrified.

“It was not just installing an electric bulb but a new hope in the kids of that remote place,” says Lovely, who has been conferred as Teacher of the year award, with another teacher, by the Department of School Education.

Currently when teachers of government schools are being seen as lethargic owing to the under-performing schools, bagging best teacher award is no child’s play. Teachers with exceptional qualities and urge to serve the society can be eligible.

“There is a set procedure in the selection of the teachers,” says Director School Education, Dr Ghulam Nabi Itoo.  Teachers working at the elementary level are eligible to apply. “A committee at district level headed by Chief Educational officer scrutinizes the list and creates a short list which is then scrutinized at state level by top officials,” he says. There are at least sixteen indicators to evaluate the performance of the teacher.

“Teacher’s work towards enrolment, publications, extraordinary work and contribution at the level of administration are some of the basic parameters taken into consideration,” Itoo said.

Lovely Singh is certainly full of the requisite qualities.

When she was later shifted to Girls’ Middle School Kalwal (Jammu), her first day was disappointing. When she entered the school premises she noticed that there was no gate. “My first thing was to install a gate.”

Similarly in SMRHC Higher Secondary School Jammu she again could not resist looking at the condition of the furniture at the school. She brought 150 benches for the school.

Resident of Ghazimghar Jammu she also shot to the fame within her fraternity after she was entitled to outstanding performance for the way she maintained Mid-day-meal for the students of the Ghandhi Nagar School. The menu was so impressive that it was recommended for all the schools of the Jammu region.

She is also teaching kids who beg at the streets and are from very poor families, ill-affording enrollment in a school.  This time she is teaching 30 of these underprivileged kids.

Other teacher, conferred with the award of Best Teacher is Mohammad Iqbal from Kupwara. A Physics scholar from NCERT Ajmer who later studied Astrophysics at Punjab University Chandigarh, he has been part of a research for Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Iqbal who believes in teaching at grass root level and incorporating scientific temperament among the students, for success, is a story in itself.

Inducted in Education Department in October 1993, he has taught in different schools of northern Kashmir.  He has remained active in preparing science models and programs for the students interested in the science subjects.

Iqbal has been also assembling students and getting them trained at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar and Kashmir University, through number of programs. “These programs were conducted to inculcate in them the potential and exposure so that they can appear for different completive examinations,” he says.

In Higher Secondary School of Langate, teaching of Iqbal changed course of learning there. “He created a sort of atmosphere and attracted students towards science subjects,” says a student from Langate.

That is perhaps why ratio of his students increased manifold. “It was 12 first and now it is 112,” he says.

He believes that a teacher must be subject expert and active in co-curricular activities, for creating successful teacher.

“For me creating atmosphere of studying science subjects among the students was not easy job. I believe student’s interest in a subject is fundamental,” he says. “But I also made an effort to find good students and try to make them interested. When I am done with my classes, I enter into 10th and 9th standard classrooms. This is to give them initial lectures and prepare them for studying science in advance.”

Besides his science teaching skills he has been awarded for working as NCC wing of the district and coordinating NSS.

The process to facilitate teachers at the state level annually, begun in the year 2006. With interruptions since 2011, the process has been revived.

The facilitation is aimed to respect the hard work of the teachers, says Dr Itoo. “We want to take this award at the zonal level so that best teachers are recognized and facilitated. Teachers need to take their work as a mission and excel in their work.”

Schools became surprising targets of arson and destruction after Burhan Wani’s killing in July 2016. Officially all are operational. Umar Khurshid visited some of these schools to report how the students are managing their education despite lack of space and key basics

Nazir Ahmad, a science teacher at Islamabad’s Islamia Hanfia Higher Secondary School remembers spending September 19, 2017, strictly as per the routine that situation had enforced on the ground. It was around dusk when his phone buzzed. It was one of his students informing him in a choked voice: “Sir School Haz Doud.”

Shocked, Nazir’s phone fell from his hands. He started running towards the school, almost 5 km away. Somehow, he managed to get a bike from one of his acquaintances and he drove off very fast.

Before him, many of his colleagues, students, and residents, had reached the spot. Shrouded in smoke, he could see the flames leaping up into the sky as people were carrying water in buckets to help fire men to douse the fire. “I was shocked to see the major portion getting into cinders,” recalls Nazir.

This was not the only or the first school that was destroyed in 2016 summer. Schools started going up into the smoke within days after teenage rebel Burhan Wani was killed in July 2017. By the time the trend stopped, more than 35 schools were burned.

This was not an ordinary building. Since 1926, this building has remained the centre of learning in the town. But after the fires devastated it, the school was left unattended till Kashmir became normal.

Once school resumed its routine, the students are being adjusted in merged classes, thanks to the Wakf Board that allotted the school some more. Teachers and students find it really difficult to manage with extreme scarcity of space.

“Apart from 15 classrooms, three fully equipped science laboratories, one office, and a library were gutted in the fire,” Sajad Ahmed, the Principal, said. “We converted book store into the staff room.”

“We sometimes feel moving in a war zone because of the un-cleared debris,” one student said. “Some of us even try to skip classes because of overcrowding.”

After the fire, there was a survey and talks about the estimation of the loss and restructuring but there was no follow up.

Iqra Public School of Batagund, Verinag is a private middle school which was burnt down on October 23. It was a lovely three-story building with eightclass rooms and an office, all destroyed by fire. Its loss was felt much more because it was privately run and owned and teachers were also local.

It took the school managers a month to locate some space to resume teaching. Authorities came, recorded things and left. Teachers contributed from their own earnings to help managers construct some rooms, which they did. “We would have taken another building on rent also but the money ultimately comes from students,” explains Mohammad Ayoub Bhat, the principal. “All our students come from middle-class backgrounds.”

Since the school has been shifted to the new place many students have left the school giving the reason that it’s very far from the residential areas.

October 10, 2016, was Sunday. At 4:15 pm, Showkat Ahmed principal Government Higher Secondary School Kabamarg got a call from an unknown number informing him that his school was in flames. He tried calling Abdul Salam 50,Chowkidar but it did not mature. He finally started seeking lift to reach to Kabamarg.

Before the incident, Showkat had met with an accident and his leg was wrapped with plaster. “I was not even able to walk, due to the pain and heavy weight of plaster,” says Showkat. Frustrated over the destruction of his school, Showkat asked one of his family members to cut his plaster and managed to reach his school. His school was on fire.

Showkat was not the lone teacher who reached the spot. He saw his colleagues taking out lockers, furnitures and other lab equipment.  Of the ten rooms, eight were destroyed.

Once the situation improved, the school administration repaired some of the rooms but students still have serious space problems. “Imagine 100 students in a normal room,” Showkat said. “Many of the female students feel suffocation for lack of space.” Science stream faced the worst because the laboratory ceased to exist.

The same day,state run Boys High School Batengoo was also destroyed. Of its ten rooms, seven were destroyed including library and laboratories.

At 2:00 pm, Matina Tabaan, the principal, got a call telling her that a massive protest was going on outside the school. Two minutes later, she got another call that a tear gas shell landed in the school and it caught fire. Matina rang up her CEO.

“I got many calls later,” Matina said. “But I was helpless, I could not move because of situation.” She and three of her colleagues, however, reached their school, the next day. Amid wails, they drafted a quick damage report and submitted it to the higher-ups.

Later with the help of local school funds, some rooms were renovated. ““We have eleven rooms functional in which 10 are being used for classes,” Matina said. ”Till we renovated it, we took a local building on rent but we never stopped teaching.”

The Government Middle School of Halpora ( Vailoo) was set ablaze on November 14, 2016. It had a two story building. Since then students are being taught in an old unsafe building.

After an incident, the school was combined with the primary school and the building of eight rooms allotted to them is unsafe. More than 250 students are running the risk of getting hurt in the building.

Gulshana Banoo 38, who heads the school, said the building is totally unsafe and it can fell down anytime. “We are eight teachers and we don’t even have a proper room available for the staff,” she said.  “The second storey is crumbling; we get scared while walking up the stairs.”

Students and the parents said that since their village is far from the district headquarters, authorities rarely bother to visit and see the sufferings of the students. “Not a single officer has visited the village after the fire,” even teachers confirmed.

Government High School Narsenger (Vailoo) was burnt down on November 3, 2016. Local Zonal Education Officer (ZEO) Bashir Ahmed Mangnoo said since this school burning was the second case in his area, he was frustrated. “I did not know how to deal with it,” Mangnoo said. Though he is sure that both the school will be renovated, his problem is the roll: 600 students in the unsafe building.

Ghulam Rasool Shah, Chief Education Officer said that the authorities have revived these schools with the local school funds. “Some would require more resources,” he said. “We have forwarded the list to higher authorities so that those schools will be renovated soon, but no funds have been allotted yet to any of the school.”

Unlike 2016, the educational campuses across most of Kashmir had interrupted schedule because the doors would shut more frequently than ever. Muhammad Younis explains the phenomenon, its consequences and a possible way out

The January 2016 row over martyrs’ memorial in Pulwama paralysed the normal living for weeks. This led Aamir Amin, a newly twelfth class pass from the town’s government higher secondary school to decide to get enrolled in any institution outside the district.

 “I am a non-medical student,” Aamir said. “As Pulwama witnessed shutdowns and hartals more often, I didn’t want my studies to suffer, so I took the admission in a Bijbehara College.”

Although costs were huge and distance much more in comparison to his town’s college, Aamir ready to bear the odds, provided his studies were not compromised. But it was destiny that he had only a few months of study in Bijbehara College that Burhan Wani was killed in July. “The rich lot of the valley, the sons of bureaucrats, politicians, and others, go out of the state for studies, but people like me, who come from poor families (Aamir’s father is a manual labour), have to satiate that thirst in the valley itself,” Aamir regrets. “And when we are being denied the same, it is like keeping us starving.”

A little respite visited Aamir’s door, when separatists appealed teachers to start classes for the students in their catchment areas. “We would try to go on foot to the teachers who we thought knew even the basics about our subjects. It wasn’t sufficient in any way, but we had no alternatives.”

After a “barren” year, when the doors of the educational institutions finally opened again, another controversy surfaced in Pulwama, when on April 15, a police jeep, two armoured vehicles entered the campus and beat the students to pulp. It triggered another crisis that resulted in shutting doors of most of the educational institutions in Srinagar and south Kashmir.

Time and again, the process is still going on: a simple law and order situation asks for closure of educational institutions. By now, Aamir is struggling in the same first year he got enrolled in more than a year and a half ago.

Saima Rashid, 20, recalls when on August 9, she was waiting in the degree college of Tral, along with her classmates, for their undergrad exams of Urdu paper. All of a sudden, the slogans of freedom reverberated outside the premises, by which all came to know that a gunfight had started between militants and police in Gulab Bagh. The exams were slated at 2pm and the gunbattle started at quarter past one. Luckily because of some technical fault, the paper was cancelled.

Saima quickly came out of the college to board a vehicle to reach her home, Awantipora, some 12 kilometres away. But in town’s main market, the bus terminal was deserted, no vehicles around. Locals had gathered, raising slogans as three militants killed and a civilian were killed in the clashes.

Saima wanted to seek help from her parents but the mobile services and internet were snapped. She could have stayed at someone’s house until the situation would turn calm, but her parents would turn restive and it was her concern. She started on the deserted road, except been swarmed by the people in uniform.

“When I was walking back home, all alone, the paramilitary men would sneak glances at me, and I could feel my heart pounding,” Saima remembers the ordeal. “All the way back home, the sight of the forces terrified me out of my wits.”

When Saima reached home, a little before evening, her parents had been utterly anxious about her whereabouts. “In such circumstances, study for our little ones is impossible. We can’t trade their lives for knowledge. It is better to see them home than to wait for anything terrible happening to them,” her elder brother, said.

The next day, the class work in all educational institutions of the district was suspended.

On August 23, students in degree college Islamabad were peacefully watching a police tournament going on in its grounds, when after half a dozen of over’s, some top officials of the army dropped by and started unfurling the tri-colour. All of a sudden, the air inside turned vitriol and students torched the stage and vandalised everything.

In the aftermath, the normal college work remained suspended for a couple of days in the college. Even when the college resumed routine, majority of students did not turn up, fearing detentions.

Firdous Ahmad Itoo, an Assistant Professor in Bijbehara College, said such situations are now daily occurrences, because of which students are unable to concentrate on their studies. “Less and less number of students attends the classes, which, on an average, we are barely able to teach for not more than three days in a week,” Itoo said. “We have lost a good period of time, and the worst part is, it is still happening.”

To get the education sector out of this mess, Firdous expects nothing from the government, but the shoulders of the society he puts the onus on. “To my opinion best thing will be to make our educational system functional even during the days of shutdowns. And even if it needs parents to escort their wards to respective institutes during such times, they should. Why shouldn’t they?” he asks. “I request people not to compromise education because it is the only instrument which liberates the minds. It is difficult but not impossible. Till date it seems that we as a society have failed because we never do course correction.”

“In 2017 colleges are worst hit,” Nazar ul Islam, an Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, said. “Soon after an encounter the administration calls off class work in the respective area. The continuity in teaching breaks. The relation between students and teachers has gone to the bottommost. Mere using of notes to pass the exams has degraded the standard of education here.”

The anger is brewing. “We will hit the streets, whenever any one of our people is killed, blinded, or molested,” Aarif Mohideen, a first year student, said, insisting reaction will be there when the life and honour of the people around him is at stake. “We can’t be neutral, how can we be?”

Acknowledging Aarif’s sentiments, a senior academician said that students are part of the same society that has seen brutality first hand. “How can they stay immune to happenings around them? They just need a trigger to vent their emotions,” the academician, who wishes to remain annonyous, said. “It is only up to the government to come up with a much deliberated solution to pacify them. For sure, using force won’t do a great job here.”

Syeda Afshana, an Associate Professor in Media Education Research Centre of Kashmir University, suggests the students be allowed to protest peacefully. “ If you suppress their voice, you are pushing them to the wall,” she said. “The reaction could turn uglier, if government keeps on choking them.”

This suppression of voice, according to Nazar, seems the reason behind the number of casualties of school and college going students in 2010 and 2016 uprisings.

“Students were doing well. From even the most conflict affected areas, like Tral, students were bringing laurels in studies,” a senior journalist said. “Some were trying their hands in writing. Others were becoming eligible for top posts in administration. This frequent closure of educational institutions is not a normal process; something is cooking up in the backdrop.”

“Day in and out, by shutting doors of the colleges and schools, the government is depriving the students from their basic right, education,” Syed Afshana said. “This would only keep the students in dark. Result would be that their constitution, their thinking patterns would take on some unpleasant hue.”

For Riyaz Ahmad Baba, who teaches Environmental Science, the government, if it is sincere to pull through the situation, can transfer the teachers to their catchment areas. “Even if there is any law and order situation then, the students can reach their teachers. And for that matter, teachers also have to take the moral responsibility. Extend help to cut through this darkness engulfing our new generation, a ray of hope.”

While there is rat race amongst private school owners to get the best of the new generation, there has not been any effort on their part to manage a small population of children who have serious handicaps. Saima Bhat visits Vijay Dhar’s DPS to see a different world for the kids otherwise abandoned by the education sector

Every morning, for the last 15 of her 25 years of life, Qurat-ul-Ain continues to wake up to the darkness. Living without the complete use of her eyes, Qurat, a visually impaired girl has only support of a white cane to move around. But her strength is her memory. A single visit to any place is enough for her brain to record the sequence and memorise the map.

Not intimidated by the handicap, she starts her day from the gates of Delhi Public School, Athwajan, where her driver drops her. With the help of the cane, she straightaway walks to her office, a seven minutes walking distance, an NGO, Satya Devi Resource Centre (SDRC).

Qurat fought the battle of her life. Now she fights to train children who are visually impaired or low on vision. She has a training class comprising seven students.

Born as a blessing for her parents, the first two years of her life were smooth. At two, she developed complications. Once in hospital, ophthalmologists diagnosed of her having Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), an inherited, degenerative eye disease that causes severe vision impairment due to the progressive degeneration of the rod photoreceptor cells in the retina.

Breakdown in the retina cells of Qurat, shattered her parents; a businessman father and mother, a government employee, who retired as a tehsildar now.

Her doctors advised the family against her schooling. “She might loose her vision completely at the age of twelve,” doctors said.

Disheartened, her parents choose her comfort over her education and decided to keep her away from studies hoping she may retain her vision for few more years.

The decision had its impact on the young mind. The morning drill of her two siblings, both brothers, at home started to take toll on her psyche. Every activity ranging from boarding school bus, carrying books, copies, pencils, colourful bags and then writing their homework in evenings and parental attention made Qurat uneasy and her desire to live life of a normal child grew manifolds.

“Those days were very though. It was impossible to make my parents understand that I also want to study,” Qurat remembers. “I used to cry every morning when my brothers would board their school bus.”

The parents had their compulsions. But one day her tears bore the fruits. As she turned three plus, a local school teacher approached her mother, who used to see Qurat weeping every day and requested her mother if she could take Qurat to her school where she will socialise with others. Once told about the limitations, teacher promised mother that she would not be allowed to study.

Quart had her way. Instead of toys and games, books and copies fascinated her more and she started her formal education, finally.

“I wanted to do everything that my brothers do.” Initially Qurat was able to study like any other student but gradually as predicted, she started losing vision. By that time she was preparing to write for class 10th exams.

She did not leave it there. Struggling to come to terms with her loss of vision, she strived to find a place for herself in the world.

While writing her exams, she requested school administration if she could write her papers under open sky. “Sun light used to help me. I was sitting in exams with regular students. The only relaxation visually impaired or low visionary students had, was the three percent relaxation in their pass percentage,” She remembers, as if it was yesterday.

Her speed became the hitch, though she was well prepared to write answers for every question. The speed cost her few questions, but she managed to pass her board exams with at least 60 percent marks.

Her success motivated her parents as well.  Partnering her in studies, Qurat’s parents helped her to photocopy books in larger font size and those copied books she could study in day light only.

In her eleventh standard exams, she realised she should apply for a scribe, a writing helper, which continued till she graduated.

After the formal education, in 2015, the DSW department of the University of Kashmir which has a special cell for differently abled students, conducted a special workshop where they invited all visually impaired students, including Qurat and they were imparted trainings by National Association for the Blind (NAB) or National Institute for Visually Handicapped (NIVH), on how to use computers and internet.

Qurat was a quick learner. A resident of Sonwar, Qurat applied for a job in DPS in July 2017 and got it. Now she is a trainer and in-charge of SDRC that started its operations a month later. She is training seven other students who are visually impaired or low with vision, in the age group of fourteen to fifty, for orientation Braille, mobility, communication and computers while using spoken English language.

Her first lesson to her students is to face the disability confidently. She motivates them to use a cane. “It is very important to use it and I motivate all of my students because it is the only thing that can save us. When normal people will see us using cane, they will automatically think that we are blinds and we need space. They have to understand if they go out without a cane, they might get banged with anything and we cannot blame other people.”

In Kashmir, Qurat believes using a cane has social stigma attached to it which is the reason only a few use it.

With her another colleague, Hilal Ahmad, who teaches braille and orientation mobility to the students, Qurat teaches them computers using screen reader software and communication skills.

“The advantage of our courses is that an individual should become independent and he should pursue education so that they can be employable in future and do not remain isolated,” Qurat said. Other than trainings, the centre is giving them an opportunity to socialise and meet more people with same problems to boost up their morale.

While talking about her experiences and the interactions with her students, Qurat says such people are not only isolated in societies only but their families also take them as ‘burden’ because they can’t do anything.

Qurat’s hope of managing life and then imparting training to others facing similar problems came true, courtesy, an initiative of DPS, Athwajan. Other than this resource centre, DPS is running a school for differently abled students.

It all started in 2009 when promoter of DPS, Vijay Dhar had a guest, a mother, at his school office. She had come along with her differently abled daughter, Raunak and she had cut her wrist. The mother, who had despair in her eyes, requested Dhar to do something.

That request made Dhar to call his staff and made them think if they could help such students. Meanwhile he got another kid, Qismat, who was one of his family friend’s grandson and finally he decided to start a school with these two students, for differently abled students, which perhaps happened for the first time in any privately run school, in Kashmir.

Before enrolling them, he sent four of his teachers to New York, under Global Education Foundation, for special education, exchange scheme and got them trained in special education for specially challenged students and in next session a few teachers came from New York under the exchange programme which is continuing till date. Now this school running within a school has 114 students and 37 teachers!

In the computer lab, two visually impaired students, Zainab, 7, and Farees Rafiq, who is in class 2nd, have put their headphones on, which are connected to the computers.

Zainab and Farees both speak good English. Even if they are not able to see their computer screens, Zainab says she was ‘selecting words in a word file which she was going to save in a different file document’ and Farees says he was writing in a word document.

But Zainab was joyous to hear a particular voice. To which she murmured ‘Dhar Sir’.

After meeting Zainab, Dhar says, “If I don’t come to see Zainab frequently, she either mails me or comes straight to my room in another building and questions why I did not come to meet her.”

On the first floor of special school’s building, on the left side, small classrooms are used by the teachers to attend to the students, who are separated as per their problems in groups and the right side cubicles are used separately by the senior and junior students.

Other than computers, the students with low vision or who are visually impaired, are taught with aides and contrast. The slanting boards are used so that their books are at a proper inclination where light does not provide any glare or does not play any obstruction.

In the room just opposite to the computer lab, one student was lying with a therapist who was brushing his legs.

Munazah, who is in-charge of the school, says, in the occupational therapy section, the autistic children are helped with their sensory needs. “They need brushing whenever they get hyper. It helps to calm them,” she said.

Presently there are at least 12 autistic students and three therapists in this section of the school.

Other than academics, these children are given training to sit as well. If they are hyper then there are no academics for them. “In that case they are allowed to be with us and we start with their academics only when we feel a change in them.”

In the English remedial centre, students with learning disability, who are not able to cope with English as their second language, are helped by teachers. “They work with four chore skills of language with fun based activities.”

In this section, the students from main school also come for classes if they feel they need to improve their language skills. The other section of this class helps the students with problems in Maths subject.

The speech therapist also help students in managing their speech problems.

The school has adopted two curriculums for this special school: integrated and the functional. Munazah says that the integrated is adopted for the group that does their curriculum with the main school, but they only provide academics as and when required.

But in the functional system, they have students who cannot cope up with the academic. “So we do their academics and then they shift to main school for socialisation like games, arts, interactions and all.”

Other than academics, around nine students come for their vocational trainings. “If we feel children after reaching 12 or 13 years of their age, are not able to cope up with their studies, we shift them to vocational centre and train them according to what their parents say what jobs they are going to take in future.”

“Three teachers work for their skill development like communication, mathematical, self-help so that once they leave they are able to maintain log books, use computers or know how to interact with clients,” Munazah said.

All the students are given pick and drop by their parents and the hyper ones stay in school up to 1 pm only. “Once we feel like they are ready to enter the school, we take them to school. In the beginning we seek parents support, we ask them to sit with us because most of them are difficult initially.”

The idea behind starting the initiative to educate differently abled students, Vijay Dhar says was a part of education system, which is mandatory under law. “But no one among the regular schools is doing it except for DPS, which is the first school that has ramps from ground floor to its top floor. There is just one private school started by an NGO, Chotey Taarey and that too was started after efforts of a Swedish doctor, who saw two special children were chained in their homes, somewhere in peripheries. Till then we did not know we too have such children.”

Dhar says he faces lot of difficulties in getting such students as their parents are shy and feel ashamed of  having such children. “We need to educate them more because these children also need luxury in education. J&K was the first state in India to declare free and compulsory education but we are struggling hard for providing basic education.”

The waiting list for DPS special school is 400 as on September 1, and for Chotey Tarey it must be around 600, says Vijay Dhar, who is contended with his decision and feels proud when he got to know Raunak is doing a good job and Qismat is doing his film making course in Whistling Woods International.

Government schools in Kashmir are the best in human resource and  poor in infrastructure. But the major reason for the parents to stop sending their kids to the state run schools is not infrastructure or the teachers. The archaic and faulty text that is part of the curriculum is the real problem, reports Javid Sofi

On March 12, 2012, when schools across Kashmir were festive after season’s winter break ended, Government Middle School (GMS) at Gundipora (Pulwama) had an awkward situation to face.

The number of students started dwindling sharply.  Parents in Gundipora, a habitation of around 170 households were getting their wards discharged form GMS.

 “Around 70 students were registered in the school that year,” recalls Ghulam Nabi Ganie, an aged resident of Gundipora, who had retired from state’s horticulture department as junior agricultural extension officer few years ago. The migration was so fast that within first few weeks of the season, barring five students belonging to poor families, all others had left and joined private schools.

Private schools were hyped by villagers so much that they became synonymous with modern education. Eventually it swayed the remaining five students, who had initially resisted migration, thereby brining GMS Gundipora to closure. Authorities shifted teachers to other places.

For next two years, the school remained locked. Now in disuse, the premises of the school building comprising three single storied huts, witnessed growth of wild shrubs and many verities of thorny bushes.

Authorities of school education department decided to give it one more chance before officially closing down the village school. New teachers were posted in April of 2015 and a village education committee was constituted to oversee the functioning the school.

A series of meetings and deliberations resulted in motivating parents to send their kids back to the school on condition that their kids would be taught text books other than those prescribed by the Jammu and Kashmir state board of school education (JKBOSE), at least up to fifth standard.

The proposal was accepted; school syllabi for lower primary classes were framed as per demands of villagers. This led many students to return and rejoin the school they had abandoned earlier.  In a short span of time GMS Gundipora started outshining reputed private schools in its vicinity. The school enrolled around 90 students.

Bashir Ahmad Thoker, head-teacher at GMS Gundipora, considers it more of an innovation than violation of JKBOSE’s set norms. “We had no option than to accept the demands of parents,” Thoker said.

Parents had a strong reason for rejecting JKBOSE prescribed textbooks. JKBOSE approved textbooks were unappealing to students because they were printed on poor quality paper.

Aged Ganie, who has admitted his grand-daughter, Falak Farooq into the school, believes that JKBOSE approved text books are not as per with demands of time. “The books are staffed with outdated information,” he said.

Ishtiyaq Ahmad, a teacher at GMS Gundipora, is teaching environmental science to lower primary classes. Though, he likes content of board approved text books but to him presentation is problematic.

“The presentation is more hectic, more time consuming and less beneficial to students. It appears that while framing these text books experts have given a damn to local teaching-learning environment existing in valley’s government schools,” he said.  “The books present more abstract knowledge to puerile minds of young children which becomes very difficult for them to understand. The prescribed activities become impractical in a teaching –learning environment we work in.”

Take the instance of A textbook of Environmental Studies for students of class third in government schools. It refers to the names of Madho, Sonal, Gurleen, Nagarajan, Ramulu, Chinamma, Jaggu Bhai, Sitamma, Gitamma, Sarama, Shankar, Kalyani, Chandu, Malini, Avantika , Anwari, Krishna and Sajida.

Out of 65 characters mentioned in 20 chapters of the textbook, 60 names are not spoken in Kashmir.

“When your book has 92 percent names which appear strange to students it is abstract knowledge,” said Umar Rashid, a government teacher. He said that in every teacher training programmed they are being instructed to lead a student from concrete to abstract knowledge. The teacher was dismayed with experts who do its reverse in text books. Better teachers always like to teach children names of persons, places and things which are available to them in their vicinity.

 A child always finds it hard to understand abstract knowledge. “When you learn about names, dresses and festivities of other sections of people rather than your own it will debase you from your cultural moorings,” he said.

Let us look around and learn, Environmental Studies, a textbook for class fourth contains a lesson, “A visit to Jammu and Kashmir”.

Sketches of racial biases get manifested in the depiction of characters for two regional communities as all people from one region were said to be brave while all people from other region were generalized as shepherds.

Just consider this: (sic) “We start our journey from the Jammu region of this state by small buses. The people of Jammu are called Dogras. They speak the Dogri language. These people are known for their bravery.” For the people of Kashmir, the book teaches:, (sic) “People of Kashmir valley rear sheep. They earn a lot from sheep wool.”

Moving ahead Kangri has been described like this; (sic) “It is a small earthen pot. They put burning coal inside this pot and keep it in a cane basket. Sometimes they keep the Kangri inside their clothes very carefully.”

“These factual errors were brought into the notice of concerned authorities a number of times but to no avail,” said Riyaz Ahmad, another government teacher. “The fact is that Kangri is always used like this and Kashmir has historically never survived on sheep wool.”

Majaz Maisar Wani, a writer and teacher of sociology said that it is wrong to name all people living in Jammu as Dogras.“No doubt Dogras are a predominant ethnic group living in Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua and Samba but there are other ethnic groups also living in Jammu. The projection is objectionable.”

Subject specialized teachers believe prejudices and biases are deliberately put into textbooks at primary level to corrupt puerile minds of young children.

“On surface reading there appears nothing wrong with this generalization that ‘people living in Jammu are called as Dogras’ but when deciphered in perspective and context, the underlying   political motives and biases get exposed,” the teacher said.

To Ghulam Nabi, a senior teacher at government primary school (GPS), Wahibugh, who teaches English to students of first standard, the textbook is a bad tool with which he has to fight every day.

The textbook published under Tulip Series lacks continuity. It starts with introduction to alphabets and then suddenly jumps over to rhymes and prose in subsequent six chapters. “The English textbook has no chapter on formation of sentences,” he said.

Hafsa Shameem and Irtiza Mushtaq, first standard students at GPS Wahibugh, struggle with simple words like ‘King’ or ‘Quilt’. They spelled individual letters in these words correctly but failed to read them as one word.

Naila Nelofar, Academic officer for English in JKBOSE said that students of first standard are presupposed to be acquainted with basics but the fact is that they are not.

“Government schools lack kindergarten classes, introduction of kindergarten classes must be taken seriously by the government for acquainting children with basics of language,” she said.

She also said that the textbook could have been made better and that they are seeking a revision by next summer season.

Merry Math, a textbook of Mathematics for fifth class students contains twelve chapters on topics ranging from shapes and angles to multiplication and division. Innovatively framed, this textbook uses a story way methodology of teaching, which many traditional teachers find difficult to use.

King Akbar and his court poet Birbal are main characters in a two page story, Greedy Gate Keepers, aimed at acquainting students with ‘parts and whole.’

“Story takes precedence over underlying concept. When you tell a story it induces passivity among students. Mathematics is a subject which demands attention,” said Farooz Ahmad, a teacher who took the challenge to teach mathematics to lower primary classes when all other teachers in his school put their hands down. “Lets us suppose that children pick up underlying concepts very well, there must be sufficient exercises to check their knowledge with. The number of exercises is near to nil,” Ahmad said.

For a traditional teacher under traditional class room set up with constraints of time and space, the textbook becomes more of a headache than a guide.

Authorities in JKBOSE said they run short of finances to improve paper quality of textbooks. “The department is on the verge of bankruptcy, a huge amount of around Rs 1,04,62,65,012 is outstanding with state project director Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Srinagar,” they said. “Despite repeated remainders the amount is yet to be released.”

Director Academics, JKBOSE, Srinagar, Dr Farooq Ahmad Peer said that the department is open to suggestions. “We appeal all stake holders to come forward with their suggestions, the suggestions will be put before review committee and if they carry weight they will be incorporated,” he said. “We have proposed to the government to frame a community of experts for reviewing JKBOSE approved textbooks. The recommendations of the committee will be taken on priority basis. If they find any errors they will be corrected.”

The textbooks, JKBOSE officials said, are framed in accordance with guidelines of National Curriculum Framework 2005. They give 15 percent space to local content and 85 percent material is taken from textbooks published by National Council of Education Research and Trainings (NCERT), New Delhi. However, in a recent review, held in August 2017 at Delhi, NCERT published books were found riddled with 1,300 factual errors. Around 900 teachers had sent over 2,500 suggestions for correction in NCERT textbooks.

Khursheed Wani

October 17 evening was unique at picturesque Pahalgam. The fading hoardings with greeting messages for Amarnath pilgrims were out of sync with the deserted streets and empty hotels. The Lidder rivulet flowed with a relative calm and the slanting evening rays painted a yellowish hue on the Valley preparing to enter into a long winter phase.

I was directed by the hoardings of a different theme to my destination, a group of hotels in actual Pahel-gham village, away from its commercial exterior. The hoardings flashed the picture of legendary Muslim reformist Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, whose 200th birth anniversary was being celebrated. I was going to be part of the wonderful event for my deep association with Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), the alma mater founded by Sir Syed at a time when Muslims of the sub-continent were facing existential crisis.

Kashmir Aligs—a loose group created by a battery of AMU alumni, had decided to celebrate the bicentenary in a befitting way. Some enthusiastic Aligs from south Kashmir took the responsibility to host the event. They created a WhatsApp group to spread the word and online contributions followed. Every participant contributed for the overnight stay and food. Some deeply-attached alumni arrived with their families. The sight of chirping, sporty kids turned out to be another stress-buster.

The present day AMU may not form a role model. It is struggling with challenges within and without and being christened as a ‘decaying institution’ may not be altogether misplaced. But that does not blur its contribution to the uplift of Muslims in the sub-continent.

The hosts were meticulous in recreating an Aligarh ambience. They got matris (a unique bread taken with omelet at any time on AMU dhabas, especially in breakfast) couriered from Aligarh and the hotel chefs had tough time to prepare the traditional treat for every guest on arrival.

As it grew darker, the temperature steadily plummeted thanks to the cold breeze emanating from Lidder and overlooking conifer-filled mountains. Some of the participants began listening to the music of their vibrating teeth. The hosts ordered firewood and lit the camp fire in the lawns of the spacious hotel. The guests continued arriving till late in the night.

When the arrivals stopped, the guests were guided to a bedecked canopy adorned with Sir Syed’s pictures. Then came the movement when everyone got emotionally surcharged as the hosts played the AMU tarana – yeh mera chaman hai mera chaman mein apnay chaman ka bulbul hun. The Aligs have a spiritual connection with the song penned by legendary Asrarul Haq Majaz. Everyone was on his feet, clapping, when the last lines of the anthem were being played.

Kashmir is one of the places that boast thousands of AMU alumni who have contributed in shaping up the place and its uplift in diverse fields. If there was any renaissance in Kashmir, especially in the Muslim community, after 1947, the AMU played a vital role in shaping it. From Sheikh Abdullah who post-graduated in Chemistry in 1920s, to the hundreds of scholars presently pursuing their education in the expansive university, every individual who has returned from Aligarh has laid some footprint in the society. The Kashmir University and the High Court have a predominant majority of AMU alumni. The fields of medicine, engineering and fine arts are no exception. It requires a detailed and exhaustive research to assess the contribution of the AMU in bringing about a substantive change in the status of Muslims in J&K.

The Sir Syed Day celebration is symbolic. A refrain to get together and remember the good olden days spent in the lap of the alma mater. I don’t know whether the alumni of other universities have the same bonding, but for Aligs, the association is unique. During the introduction phase, everyone recalled his enrolment number, a unique possession that gives a hint of the era one has been on the rolls of the varsity.

There were no speeches or discussions, of course, in the wake of political sensitivities linked to Kashmir and its thinking natives. The sleuths of the intelligence wing of police, nevertheless, made some rounds to know if anyone spoke anything, notwithstanding the state’s intelligence chief, himself a diehard Alig, was among the first to enroll for the event but eventually couldn’t make it due to some preoccupation.

The organizers beamed a half-an-hour documentary on the life and contribution of Sir Syed. I couldn’t resist drawing parallels between the time Sir Syed found himself in and the Muslims of Kashmir find themselves now. There is a looming threat to their existence, leave alone the Aligs’ hangout future, progress and development. All intellectuals and people of nerve and grit, have a responsibility to rise to the occasion and find ways and means to guide the society. The Aligs are no exception. They have an added responsibility because they have been nourished at the alma mater founded by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

The present day AMU may not form a role model. It is struggling with challenges within and without and being christened as a ‘decaying institution’ may not be altogether misplaced. But that does not blur its contribution to the uplift of Muslims in the sub-continent. The Sir Syed’s story encourages for institution building. We in Kashmir have lacked this trait and during the past few decades we have spent our energies to destroy the existing institutions. Encouragingly, I found everyone in the gathering, aware of the ground realities and ready to contribute for the purpose, in individual or collective ways. Let the ideas float and concretize.

(The author is a senior journalist)

by Tasavur Mushtaq

The university of Kashmir, the highest seat of learning, is the abode of thousands of knowledge seekers. Since its inception, albeit as Jammu and Kashmir University, it has been generating hope in the hopeless situation, especially for the youth who can ill-afford admissions outside Kashmir. Holding hands and managing minds, it helps in building a social set up for ages to come.

photograph of University of Jammu and Kashmir convocation on September 24, 1949. The rare photograph shows the arrival of Pandit Nehru, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad and the VC of the University Justice Masood Hussain

In civilized societies, universities are little universes of knowledge. Right now, this institution in Kashmir is grappling with the issues linked to its leadership, the position of Vice Chancellor.

The incumbent VC has come to the office through a proper process and has been pretty non-controversial. The developments that took place in last few months have created a situation that led to the intervention of the High Court installing the process of appointment of a new VC till November 20, the next date of hearing?

The petitioner in the court is none other than incumbent VC, Prof (Dr) Khurshid Iqbal Andrabi. His plea is that he is entitled to continue for two more years. He has reason to say so.

On October 17, 2014, Prof Andrabi was appointed as VC for a three-year term. By virtue of that order, his term expired on October 17, 2017. But few months after cobbling a coalition, BJPDP government in 2015 brought amendments in the Jammu and Kashmir Universities Act, 1969 in the legislative assembly wherein the sub-section (5) of section (12) of the Act, the words “three years” shall be substituted by the words “five years”.

The government had its own reason which they justified in the “Statement of Objects and Reasons’ by saying “it is difficult or rather improbable to make an impact, administratively or academically, in this (three year) short period. A five-year-term will definitely help VC to fully experiment with the ideas they conceive and fine-tune them. It is therefore imperative to increase the tenure of the VC for state Universities from three years to five years.”

The law governing the conduct and functioning of the highest seat of learning was amended. The gazette notification was issued in the same year after concurrence from the governor, Chancellor of the universities operating in J&K, (read the governor).

But on September 8, 2017, the Chancellor directed constitution of a search committee for appointment of the new VC, for the University of Kashmir. However, the petitioner pleads that without appreciating the legal position, the concerned authorities have constituted a search committee to get his replacement.

There is a tiff on. Managing the affairs of the university on the directions of High Court may be a win for an individual but not an institution.

The sources in the varsity told Kashmir Life that “Chancellor is not happy with Prof Andrabi, with no apparent fault of the latter.”

Prof Andrabi belongs to a different class of academics. He is not protocol conscious but is keen to work. A casual man with flowing salt-pepper beard, Andrabi comes from research background with many years of stay in USA. Doing away with his security, not living in official accommodation, and a regular visitor to his laboratory in biotechnology department, his colleagues say his “style of functioning” may have had an impact on termination of his tenure.

Governor N N Vohra, sources say, had few issues with the VC. Many allege, he was accused of giving liberty to the spread of “radicalism” in the campus. Last time when Vohra visited the campus, there were protests and, many think, he is being taken to task for that.

The “fight” may be personal or professional, but the university is at stake. Working under the directions of judiciary may not benefit academics.

File photo

The argument that Act was amended after the appointment of Prof Andrabi falls flat, as legal experts suggest that “all the laws are retrospective in character and an amendment made in an Act—except for a penal law (criminal law)—is retrospective in nature.”

Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi (retd) was recently quoted saying that “the benefits under the amended law will be automatically applicable to the incumbent (VCs) even if he/she was appointed before the amendments were made.”

“If today government decides that retirement age is enhanced from 60 to 62, does that mean employees who were employed yesterday won’t get benefit,” quipped one teacher, apparently in support of Andrabi.

The “surprising silence” of the government makes the story all the more enigmatic. Does the government intend to intervene between the head of the state and the head of the University and get the judiciary out of the mess? If there are grave concerns in hand, the government can and should come out and take the people on board. After all, democracy is not all about elections. The real democracy is in follow up.

While the smart classrooms and the Skype teaching are two parallel forms of digital education, teachers caught between unrest and examinations tagged the two to help the smart kids, reports Umar Khurshid

The classrooms that our grandparents went to were exactly the same that our generation was taught in: Chalk and blackboard, a packed classroom, text books, regimented curriculum, a teacher painstakingly explaining abstract concepts with the limited tools at their disposal.

But now it is the era of smart classes. These have transformed the classroom, albeit a few. Now the science teacher while explaining how a DNA replicates is able to show his students a 3D animation of the entire process on a large screen. She can explain the fine points of the process, zoom in to show the relevant visuals freeze and annotate when and where they need to emphasize.

Digital classrooms have emerged the most effectively used learning solutions in certain Kashmir schools in a short span of time. Due to the innovative approach, layered structure and pedagogy, the trend has been appreciated.

Barring a few exceptions, the trend is essentially a post-2016 entry. The unrest locked the schools for almost half of the year. After the normalcy returned to the streets, and schools reopened, the smart classroom trend took off.

Smart Classes were introduced which are gradually transforming the conventional classrooms to an advanced student-centric online learning environment. The learning solutions are created by highly experienced teachers with a better teaching background.

A numbers of schools in Islamabad have come up with the smart classes teaching style which includes Skype an android application also. By the fag end of  2016 unrest, the trend of smart classes or digital classes was adopted by various schools.

Skype online teaching is a service with a webcam and handset, through which students can have person to person or person to group chats, conferences with instant messages. Students during the video call/chat can ask any question regarding their subjects to the concerned users of an application which is directly linked to the live teachers present, with the help of a projector or a screen placed on the wall in the real classroom. Credit goes to the internet for the entire technology that classrooms are adopting fast.

What makes the smart classes different is that the technology brought an exhaustive repository of world-class digital modules or lessons, (consisting of 2D and 3D animations, graphics, audio, and video) to the students, some of whom may not have even dreamt about.

The only difference between Skype teaching and smart class teaching is that the Skype connects with internet and smart class has pre-installed apps. “I usually use symbols and animated series of figures on smart board to make it easy for students to understand the equations, gene and plant processing etc,” says Mushtaq Ahmed lecturer Botany from Girls school Islamabad.

Insha Abbas is the head-girl of twelfth class in state-run Girls School in Islamabad. Initially, she said, it was a bit harder to sit in a smart classroom. “After a couple of trials and examples given by the teachers, it is the easiest way to study and understand the complex things,” she said.

Mushtaq Ahmed Rather is a lecturer teaching Botany in the same school. “With the help of an android app called Skype and smart classes, we are reaching to the roots of the students to test their knowledge and make them focus more on their studies,” he said. “It has become very easy for our students to run with the least time and cover the syllabus portions.”

Sakhi, a student, said they used this technology in late 2016 and managed part of the deficit.

Rabia 18, a twelfth class student of Girls School, Islamabad said while computer and internet service was already available in her school, the addition of android app has helped her a lot to cover part of the syllabus. “Earlier students used to get bored during the class, but through an app and smart classes they have started video presentations which are interlinked with YouTube as well,” she said.  The new generation obsessed with technology is readily accepting the new teaching fad.

An app teacher, Ferrijan from Ranibagh School in Islamabad said that the students have got a good hold on the language after they started attending smart classes. There is less staged fear observed among them.

Ferrijan said they have hundreds of students from ninth standard who take Skype classes and twelfth standard students who study through smart classes. “Smart classes helped us during tight times when there was less teaching staff available in the school,” he said.

Rizwan, a class 12 student of Islamabad’s Boys Higher Secondary School said, the app helped them cover syllabus quickly. “It gives us a new freedom,” he said. “We can watch educational videos and make calls.”

Some private schools and colleges have embraced the technology. A few state-run schools followed the suit quite recently.

 “Being in a conflicting zone we go through problems every another day, but I usually guide my student to come to class and use this android app and explore the smart classes,” Ferrijan, said. “Administrations always prefer students from ninth standard to use this app because it helps students to get used to the new trend and keep their hold on the language and digitalisation. “It is emerging as the new effective tool for teaching students using the best teaching material in the world,” she added.

With more than half of the 150 thousand fresh admissions, every autumn, opting for private sector schools, the costs of educating the new generation are spiralling up as the processes revolve round the money. The season fetches more than Rs 500 crore to the private sector, reports Umar Mukhtar

With parents willing to spend on the education of their wards, the sector is getting increasingly commercialised. The biggest ‘harvest’ is taking place perennially with new admissions happening in autumn (October-November) when a new generation moves to kindergarten in formal schools. Some of them have already spent one to two years in crutches, preparatory schools and the Anganwadi Centres.

“This is the key season when most of the bulk funds come to the private education sector,” an insider said. “It all depends on how you package the facility that you own.” It has started with thousands, and then moved to tens of thousands and now it is already in lakhs, at least in a few cases. And people are paying.

Irshad Ahmad is admitted his son in the G D Goenka School Srinagar. He paid Rs 1.5 lakh rupees as the admission fee for the nursery class of his son. In the first year, he will be spending around Rs 75,000, at Rs 6000 per month as the tuition and bus fee.

To provide his son good quality education, Irshad withdrew some money from his GP Fund to admit his dearest son in the private school. After all, it is the future of his son. But the tragedy is that Irshad is himself a school teacher in a state run school.

Firdous Ahmad is a banker. His daughter got an admission in Delhi Public School, Srinagar. The cost: Rs 1.10 lakh as admission fee and Rs 4000 for monthly tuitions.

The funny part of the exercise is that people are not complaining over the hefty amounts, they are being asked to deposit for the good education of their wards. They have no tensions with fee structure either. The parents, some of them pushed to temporary bankruptcy by the ‘dream education’, says the procedure of the private schools have gone “very difficult”!

Ask Firdous, for instance. He had to make a serious effort in understanding the importance of the “interview” to his for year old. School managers rarely admit they “interview” the kids. A general belief is that they basically see whether the “right” parent has emerged their client or not.

When Firdous and his daughter reached the school early morning to appear for the “interview” by the school management, they both were nervous. Right from leaving from home, Firdous made her learn some dos and don’ts: how to talk, how to sit and how not to react… The idea of getting rejected was the real fear factor for father-daughter.

“I was seeing my daughter getting nervous, because the pressure at such a tender age is pathetic,” Firdous, now relieved, said. “But unfortunately we have to go through this mil because this is the system we have.”

Ideally, the system of education should open arms for the newcomers because this is the first step that is formal in their lives. Tragically, this starts with an “interview”, sort of an examination. Some pre-primary centres are packing their capacity that the kids enrolled with them will essentially make it to the “best schools”.

This is education sector’s new normal. All schools follow the same procedure. Presentation Covent School charges Rs 68000 as admission fee for the new entrants in nursery class. Its sister concern seeks an upfront Rs 88,000 after the kids manages his passage in the gruelling process.

“Is there any system that will ensure us that the costs parents pay are almost equivalent to the education, they provide,” Mohammad Yaseen, an employee of the State Board of School Education, said. “Is there a way-out?”

Almost all privately run schools have this practice now. The demand is top-down. The so called “best schools” are in huge demand and once they fill their seats, the B-category is the priority and then the remaining getting disbursed in all other schools. The apparently C-category schools are usually catering to the low economic groups.

But the trend that started from Srinagar has impacted the rest of Kashmir. Now there are A and B category private schools in town as well.

But how huge is the sector sucking in the admission season. It is slightly difficult but not impossible. Even officials find it difficult to offer an idea.

“Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is an area that is fragmented in the existing set-up,” a senior IAS officer told Kashmir Life. “While it is OK in private sector, in public sector, the 3-5 age group is usually taken care of by the Social Welfare Department through its Anganwadi centres. This system makes formal schooling accessible to the student at around 6 in the class I.”

In the last few years, the policy intervention helped certain schools change at two levels: first, some schools added a nursery class, and second, some schools, mostly under community pressure started teaching English at basic primary level. This, they did to off-set the onslaught by the private sector that had led to the closure of some of the government schools.

By and large the figure of around three lakh kids who are in ECCE systems in Kashmir region remains constant. A 2008 figure suggested that around 106233 new admission including 58003 boys and 48230 girls joined the formal education system in schools. That means no less than 100 thousand kids need admission in a school, in nursy or in the first primary, every autumn. Officials surveys suggest 75-80% of them prefer the private sector, especially in the urban areas “Most of the admissions at elementary level happen in private sector and we must admit it,” the officer said. “This also is a fact that as they grow up, part of them shift to government schools and it is complete reversal in plus two level.”

Kashmir has 2610 private schools which are quite a few if compared to 11766 schools that government owns and runs. The overall enrolment in private schools is 589734 which is more than half of 933025 students enrolled in government schools.

A senior education ministry official said that first primary is a better parameter to locate the exact number of new entrants to the formal education set p. “In 2015-16, 300528 students were enrolled in the first primary across the state in both private and public sector schools across J&K, “ the official speaking off the record said. “Of this 155 thousands were in Kashmir division.”

The officer said that across state 59.4 percent of the new entrants chose the state government run schools, in Kashmir only 57.6 percent were enrolled in the government schools. That means private sector got 65720 candidates in class first. But private sector opens at nursery level.

If every parent spends Rs 50,000 for admission of his ward in a year, how much makes for the 80,000 students? A whopping Rs 400 crore. Insiders in the sector said, it can well go up to Rs 600 crore, if hidden costs, and other “funds” are to be accounted for.

But that is not the only money the private sector stakes, every autumn. For new admissions, they supply books, stationary, and uniform. Unlike government schools, entire private sector has winter and summer uniforms and in most of the cases, two sets are “suggested”, if not “recommended”.

Recently Pulwama’s Dolphin International School started “providing” 17 books for nursery kids. All these books, part of curriculum, had essentially to be purchased from the school stationary shop. It cost whopping Rs 5000, a candidate.

Parents were not unhappy over the costs because “You Know, English Schools are different!” It was eventually, the weight of the 17 books, which triggered some concern among parents. Reports suggest the school management was ‘gracious’ in reducing the number, eventually!

Last year a survey conducted by the department of social and preventive medicine of state run Medical College revealed that in Kashmir schools, 83.7 percent of children carry bags are heavier than 10 percent of body weight. Children, under law, should have school carry bags weighing lesser than ten percent of their body-weight.

While a Fee Fixation Committee (FFC) is in place on the orders of the High Court (interestingly, not in Jammu), it is yet to make an impact. Even if it does, who will regulate the other profit-making processes from books to uniform? If parents pay so much for their education, why is private tuition still a requirement?

Once the home to Sharda Peath, the medieval university in subcontinent, Kashmir with a millennium of recorded history is still struggling to get into professional education economy at a time when the sweet-makers in Punjab own universities, reports Muhammad Raafi

In 2014, Kashmir’s private coaching centres conducted a survey to determine the amount of money Kashmiris annually spend on their children who pursue higher education outside Kashmir. The results were astonishing: 1400 crore. Under Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme, Delhi directly funded professional education of thousands of  students.

The lack of private sector in Kashmir’s higher education  is a perpetual concern. Barring a few private colleges, predominantly B Ed institutes, Kashmir lacks quality private institutes.

For decades the University of Kashmir maintained a complete hegemony over the education system. It now has two ground campuses in northern and southern Kashmir and a satellite campus in Leh.

Even though supply is far behind the demand, private sector is yet to get up. “The private sector has never been recognized by the successive governments in Kashmir,” said noted educationist, Prof AG Madhosh. “The future of higher education in India, including Jammu and Kashmir is totally private.”

Madhosh argues that the private universities and colleges offer tailor-made courses according to the market demand and are connected to the system on ground. “The private sector offers courses after vivid research. The competitive education has been the hallmark of the private system, which unfortunately, the government sector lacks.”

Kashmir till date has a handful of private institute in higher education, most of whom, offer BEd courses. Established in 1988, Srinagar School of Management (SSM) college was the first step towards privatization of technical education in J&K state. The college pursues a vision in professional engineering and management education and is the only institute in J&K accredited by National Board of Accreditation (NBA), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Dr GN War, the chairperson of Private Schools Association had applied to register his college with the state government in 2012.

The hurdles created by the government have saddened him and the proposal is almost binned now. “The blanket policy of the government will boomerang one day,” he anticipates.

War believes that the government of India through its representatives in Kashmir wants a controlled mechanism to prevail here. “Delhi believes if the private sector mushrooms in this conflict-torn state, it will lose its grip on the situation.”

“Haryana has more than 1000 private colleges and all the other states in mainland India have 100-150 colleges,” War said. “It is astonishing that Kashmir does not have more than two or three colleges in private sector providing market oriented courses.”

He said that the private higher education institutes in Jammu have mushroomed. “Kashmir is being deliberately left out due to the political reasons.”

Although the state government has been laying emphasis on the government institutes, but, academics believe that it will not serve the purpose that private institutes could.

“Strengthening the government sector cannot cater to the needs and will not change the academic scene in Kashmir,” a professor in University of Kashmir said.” The government sector has its own limitations and cannot move beyond, he said. “Privatization of education at all the levels is very important for the future of Kashmir.”

He said the Higher Education in government institutes is restricted to technical, professional and humanities only. “The world has moved beyond and so do we need.”

Madhosh believes that since 1947 the government has laid emphasis only at elementary level to improve the literacy rate. Programs like SSA were launched but were restricted to primary levels only.

SSA or Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been operational since 2000-2001 to provide for a variety of interventions for universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in elementary education and improving the quality of learning.

More recently, the government launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). However, Madhosh said that the scheme caters to the needs of secondary and higher secondary levels only.

Initiated in 2009, RMSA, demonstrates the government’s ambition for a secondary education system only. It aims to increase the enrolment rate to 90% at secondary and 75% at higher secondary stage, by providing a secondary school within reasonable distance of every home. It also aims to improve the quality of secondary education by making all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, removing gender, socio-economic and disability barriers, and providing universal access to secondary level education by 2017.

“The role of private players in education sector is a reality now. Let us face it without prejudice or bitterness. The problem with our policymakers is that they live in a denial mode; they don’t want to acknowledge the contribution of private players in education sector viz-a-viz improving the state of education in J&K. We have quality private schools since last 150 years in Kashmir. How can anybody forget contribution of Dr Novels, Tyndale Biscoe and Maulana Ghulam Rasool (Nusrat-ul-Islam),” asks Madhosh.

 Since 2001, Madhosh has been part of eight committees formed to frame a policy on education in Kashmir.

Education sector, Madhosh said, is directly connected with the vote-bank politics. “Every MLA, or a minister wants a school, college, and even a university established in his constituency to appease his voters. This only degrades the quality of education. These schools, once established to appease a politician and his followers, are then forgotten by the very system that created them due to lack of resources. In most of the cases these institutions don’t have even a single specialised teacher!” he said.

Madhosh believes that if the budgeting of the higher education is done judiciously, Kashmir will not need private sector. “The government should put a break on its expansion policy.” Off late, colleges have gone to bigger villages, restricting the new generation to even know Kashmir.

In 2009, the then chairperson of Jamiat-e-Ahli Hadees, Moulana Showkat proposed to the state government establishing a private university in Kashmir: Trans-World Muslim University.

The proposal was approved and was discussed in the state legislature. It was later sent to a select committee, which was directed to submit its report in three months. Dr Abdul Latief Alkindi, the Secretary General of the Jamiat said that since then the select committee has failed to submit its report. “It is being deliberately done to stop the establishment of the university.”

“Government is incorporating different requirements, in reality unnecessary hurdles, so that the private sector does not take off,” War said. He said that almost all the handful of private institutes in Kashmir had a political backing. “SSM College permission was granted only because the owners were close to a senior politician of the state,” War said.

On the other hand a very senior medic and professor, Dr Azad Lone had proposed to establish a medical institute Prime Medical College around the same time when SSM came to the scene. “Numerous hurdles were created for Dr Azad. He was literally frustrated and later gave up,” War added.

War, however, credits the incumbent Education Minister Altaf Bukhari and Commissioner Higher Education, Dr Asgar Samoon for adopting a reasonable policy towards the private players and encouraging their efforts at all levels.

When the Islamic University was established in the deserted foothills of Awantipore, the naysayers said the campus hardly suits a small highway town, home to less than 10,000 people. But the university did not churn out graduates alone. It started changing the socio-economic life of the habitation, perhaps for the first time after a Hindu king founded it almost 1200 years ago, reports Umar Khurshid

Students of IUST walking near their rented accommodation in Awantipora.

In 2004, Abdul Rashid 45, a Bilal Colony resident in Islamabad, lost his right-hand fingers while working in his band saw, his only source of income for a family of five people. A year later, Rashid started a poultry unit in his courtyard. Soon, he sold out his livestock.

“Poultry farm needs more manpower which I cannot hire Rashid said. For the first time, he felt genuinely jobless.

in 2006, when Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) was established at Awantipore, a historic town with roots in Hindu era, Rashid saw a ray of hope. He put in his savings and constructed a shop on main link road that leads to the university.

As the campus started swarming with the boys and girls, Rashid’s shop became the only address for all the stationery items. Soon he added fruits and some eatables to his inventory.

At one point in time, Rashid was hopeless about the about the future of his kids. Now his three children are studying. “I am disabled and had not this university been here, I couldn’t have sent my children even to school,” admits Rashid. “This has given direction to my family and a future.”

Now, Rashid’s middle son Abid Ahmed, 20, pursuing his commerce graduation from Government Degree College, Islamabad, assists his father after his college hours. Abid’s two sisters are also enrolled in different educational institutions and their studies are funded from the earnings from the stationary shop.

The spot that houses the Islamic University was an isolated patch of land where people normally avoided to go during evenings. Barren by nature, the foot-hill field was used for grazing cattle or playing cricket. Now it is the only posh address in the historic town that Avantivarman is believed to have built somewhere around in 870.

In the last more than a decade, the University is a major change-maker in the socio-economic profile of the town. As scores have found smaller jobs, the opportunity that the vast campus has offered is adding to the town’s earnings.

Manzoor Ahmed Badre 40, a tipper driver lives in town’s Kumar Mohalla, in a cluster of houses outside University. He is the main earner for a family of six members. Living in the 4-room, single storey house, Manzoor decided to give one of the rooms on rent to a student.

The University has more than 4000 students, 2500 of them boys, on its rolls who are being taught by almost 200 teachers. It has a mixed fleet of buses of 44 bus, some belonging to private owners, driving 1582 students, mostly females, to the campus from various locations including Srinagar, a process still going on. In the second stage, it hired certain buildings an converted them into hostels. Now it has the capacity of accommodating 500 students in its four hostels, three for 270 boys and one for 230 girl students. The university has only the girls’ hostel of its own, all others are rented spaces.

Given the demand for more accommodation, the people started offering part of their homes to the students, in certain cases to the faculty and other staffers as well. It has emerged into a small big economy for the residents, especially those surrounding the university.

A University’s Fall

Mehmooda, the tipper driver’s wife, says her family had a hand-to-mouth income. But the rent that their one-room fetches has given them a bit of relaxation. A few years later, the family has now decided to construct a second floor and the entire level will be rented to the students. This is how an additional Rs 2000, monthly income has changed a family.

Kumar Mohalla residents were the main beneficiaries of the University because they are closer to the campus. This Mohalla is an unofficial hostel as every family houses students, some as paying guest and some as owning demarcated rented space with kitchens and baths attached.

Now the talk in town is that if some item is not available in the main town, it exists on the shelves of small kiosk style shops in Kumar Mohalla. Though it takes barely a 2-minute walk from the main road to the Mohalla, locals said the residents now hire auto-rickshaws to reach home!

Abdul Gani Allie, 73, is one of the beneficiaries. In his two-storey house, three rooms are rented to students. Gani and his son Zahoor, 35, are peasants with modest income to manage seven family members. The incomes have gone down after Gani started remaining usually unwell. As the bills for his health issues appreciated, the rented rooms are the family’s saving grace.

Fatima, 35, Zahoor’s wife, says the university students are a huge support. They have rented the rooms to female students. Their rent helps manage the family better. “I used to feel insecure when my family members were out, but now these students are a huge support,” Fatima said. “Most of the times they take care of our house when we are out.”

Ghulam Ahmed 50, a resident of Tral, was suggested by his nephew, a former student of IUST, to set up a bookstall outside the University. Ahmad was a private school teacher, usually earning Rs 3500, a month. He was unable to manage his family that also included his parents. He gave up teaching in 2010 and took on rent a shop in the main market.

Now, Ahmed earns Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000, a month, and the credit goes to his University Book Shop. “It took me some time, to get recognised by the market and the clients,” Ahmad said. Now he is fighting a new crisis. “For the last two years, I am struggling to purchase some land to construct my own shop but nobody wants to sell the land. So I continue paying rent.”

Land prices in Awantipore in general and the University belt, in particular, have gone massively up. When the University was announced, it was almost Rs 10,000, a kanal, but now land has “asking price”.

The University has created opportunities in various sectors. Till 2013, Jan Mohammad, 28, a resident of Tangmarg, was a cook with a Srinagar restaurant. He was earning Rs 8000, a month. But this was too little for his family’s routine requirements.

One day, he decided to quit his job. He hired a premises Awantipora and started his own restaurant, outside the University. Now, his income is about Rs 35000 a month and his restaurant is run by five people.

Jan and his employee are happy. Impressed by the footfalls, they worked overtime to add more space. Then they added to their basket, various other foods.

“We take customer satisfaction seriously,” Mohammad Rafiq, Jan’s nephew and assistant, said.“We have to have variety now.”

Off late, the town is witnessing massive competition. Rafiq says there were a few restaurants earlier in the belt. “Now there are twelve units competing with each other,” Rafiq said. “The one that gives the best service will get the best business.”

Amjid, 55, insists he should be referred as the Purple Uncle, the second name, he is famous with. He owns a restaurant; the Purple Restaurant next to Jan’s property. He was a contractor who invested in this eatery in 2008, perhaps the first major restaurant.

“I can’t tell you exactly but I earn a lot comparing to what I used to earn earlier,” said, the Purple Uncle. His three sons study outside Kashmir and all their studies are funded by this restaurant.

Engineering students at the University of Kashmir teamed up and within three years created a prototype of a one-time diaper that signals caretaker every time the individuals wishes to urinate, reports Umar Mukhtar

Jehangir Arshad, an engineering student at the Kashmir University visited his friends in 2013, to inquire about his ailing father. He found his friend uncomfortable and restless. Reason: His bedridden father had frequent urge to urinate but was unable to seek the assistance of his son in presence of relatives and friends who are around.

The phenomenon disturbed Arshad a lot. This led him to think about the possibility of a device that could help attendants understand that the patient wishes to urinate. Back home, he began to read about the human metabolism and did a sort of research on such technologies.

After an extensive study on the idea he had, he discussed it with his teacher, Rouf Ahmad. Rouf is working as an assistant professor in the department of electronics at Kashmir University.

“Making a device that will foretell us about when a person has to urinate, is basically a novel idea and without any hesitation, I asked him to go ahead,” Rouf Ahmad said. “I assured my full support for the project.”

Finally, after detailed discussions, Arshad and two other students, Aijaz Ahmad Bhat and Mansoor Ahmad, both B Tech students in electronics and communication department decided to work on the project. “The task demanded focus, hard work and determination,” said Arshad.

It took its own time. After years of dedication and hard work, they came up with a prototype of a device in 2016. It foretells that a person has to urinate. “Now mothers don’t need to worry about their children, my device is going to spare a lot of their time,” Arshad said. “Families spend a huge amount on the diapers for their children, this device will definitely be helpful in such cases.”

This device is a belt-like gadget that needs to be worn in the lumbar region of a child or adult. The device has another watch like a gadget which will be on the wrist of the caretaker. “We have tested the prototype on an adult and on a two-and-a-half-year-old child too, we got the satisfactory results,” said Arshad.

Rouf says that there is no rocket science involved in its mechanism. They have developed it on a very simple pattern. “It is a sensor-based device that sends a wireless signal to the watch-like device which is in possession of caretaker triggering alarm,” said Rouf.

The device comprises four layers, innermost fabric, absorbent material, a cover layer and an outer layer with the embedded devices. The outer layer is embedded with sensors that can detect the electrical signals the bladder sends to the brain when it gets filled. “The sensor records these electric signals. And once it reaches the threshold, which means the urinary bladder is full, it sends a signal that the person is going to urinate,” Rouf explained.

The device was developed with the financial assistance they received from the Paediatric Rehabilitation Intelligent Systems Multidisciplinary (PRISM) lab. “We also presented the idea before Directorate of Scientific Innovation and Research (DSIR). After finding our idea interesting, DSIR gave us Rs 1.5 lakh as help,” said Arshad.

On completion of the prototype, all the four were happy and relaxed. But they were desperate how soon will their dream product get into the market. Finally, in 2017, a Japanese company, Unicharm PVT Ltd, which is famous for the ‘Mammy Poko Pants Diapers’ approached them and take a test of the prototype. We are in negotiations with them that whether they will pay us royalty or they will buy the patient from us,” said Arshad.  By early 2018, they hope to clinch the deal.

This product is mainly going to replace the diaper because this will be a one-time investment and the cost of it will not be more than Rs 500.

Talking about the safety of the product, it has been designed in such a way that if a child or an ailing person by chance urinates inside the device, there is no apprehension of any harm.  “If anytime by chance kids urinate in the diaper, we can remove it, wash it, wipe it and use it again. There is no need to buy a new one,” insists Arshad. “Its battery needs to be charged once in three months.”

Arshad says that apart from being used in one way the device has also other medical benefits. It can be used to diagnose ailment related to the bladder.

It can detect the failure of Urethral Sphincters whose function is to control the outlet of urine in the urinary bladder through the urethra and Detrusor Urine Muscle whose function is to allow the bladder to store urine. “If there is any abnormality in them we can detect it through this device,” claims Arshad.

This device is first of its kind and there has been no such device available in the market. So the four boys are very optimistic and hope that the product will have a great demand in the market. “It can help parents to prevent their babies from the side effects of daily use diapers and can give comfort to those patients who remain bedridden because of serious illness.” It will almost make an end to bed-wetting, a peculiar crisis that thousands of people live with, for most of their lives.

Though part of his routine University curriculum, Anwar Naseer explored the possibility of using speech to command a car and he succeeded. Now, he is working on a prototype for Volkswagen, reports Umar Mukhtar

Anwar Naseer Khan

In 2013, Anwar Naseer Khan, 23, a resident of Dalgate Srinagar, had to opt for a project as part of university curriculum. Khan was studying electrical and electronic engineering (EEE) at Shri Ram Memorial University (SRM), Chennai and was in the second year.

The students had to choose their projects with the consent of the concerned teacher. Most of the projects were about the ‘vehicle systems.’ Khan’s various classmates took the traditional way-out, find an easy project and get going. But Khan opted for something different: he took a project on ‘voice-based vehicle parameter control.’

Khan discussed this project with his teacher, C Jeeva who teaches electrical machines and robotics. Once discussed, Jeeva gave him a nod to go ahead. Khan had a rough design in his mind and quickly he started working on it.

The project was aimed at creating a system where voice control enabled system takes over vehicle controls.

It was not a typical laboratory work. It needed many things to be fitted. So it imposed costs on Khan. He needed a device ardunio- an open-source platform used for building electronics projects. He bought it for Rs 7000. Apart from this device, Khan needed DC relays of 5volt in his project. Relays are the electromechanical switches used for regulating the power supply. He fitted all the devices as he needed.

Apart from the hardware that needed to be fitted in the device Khan had to make it programmable too. Now it was the software part. Khan took help of a friend, a computer software engineer. He sat with him for almost a week and told him how exactly he wants to make it. Finally, they made software for the Khan’s project.

After completing the programming, Khan was all set to test his project. But to his dismay, it did not go well. He commanded left and it turned right and vice versa. Same was happening with front and back options. It was getting all reverse.

“After a very tiring hard work when the results did not match, it hurts and the person gets discouraged,” said Khan. Khan had also the time restraint as he had to submit it to the university also.

After the initial disappointment, Khan did not lose the hope. Instead, he showed his commitment and passion towards his project. He again started working on the project. He again took help of his computer software engineer friend and started reprogramming. Finally, he managed to develop what he wanted to. Khan fitted it to an artificial car for testing and it worked. So Khan made a prototype of his project.

“It was a hit and trial method, that I used them and finally I was successful in my project,” said Khan.

Once he completed the project, Khan was applauded for his achievement by everyone around. As the project was part of the university curriculum, he had to submit this project to the university. But Khan took his department into the confidence to review his project without actually submitting it. He wanted to take this project further. So university helped him and accepted it without actually submitting. “The university helped, they gave me every relaxation in completing my project,” said Khan.

Detailing about the features of the module that he prepared, Khan said that the device works on speech command. Apart from it the device has been programmed in such a way that when it is fitted to any vehicle, the accelerator gets jammed at a certain speed near sensitive zones like in schools or the hospitals. The honking also gets jammed in no horn zones.

Soon after completing his engineering graduation in 2016, Khan wrote a research paper about his project. After completing writing the paper, he was looking to get it published. He sent it to two-three journals for publishing. The research paper was ultimately carried by International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering (IJARCSSE) in July 2016.

A month later, in August 2016 Khan gets a call and email from Volkswagen- a German-based vehicle manufacturing company. He was asked that the company is interested in his project. Volkswagen is one of the world’s reputed car manufacturers with huge kitty for R&D.

The company has asked Khan to develop a new blueprint in A3 CAD and have given a time up to end December 2018. Khan is now working on the blueprint and had almost three-quarter work done.

“Though I had a lot of conviction about this project at the same time I was nervous about getting the positive results,” recalls Khan with a smile on his lips.

There are systems which enable cars to react to the speech command but the mechanism is not such diverse as I had made and it is first of its kind, claims Khan.

Khan is now working in Nelumbo, a manufacturing company of relay panels and auto machines at Srinagar.

After unknown gunmen left a young science graduate to survive crippled, he felt the pain of the people with serious disabilities. A few years later, he set up a school that teaches more than 100 handicapped students and is the only such facility in south Kashmir, reports Saqib Mir

KL Images: Saqib Mir

In 1997, when Javed Ahmad Tak, a Bijbehara resident, completed his bachelor’s in sciences, he had his future plans ready. But fate had chosen something different for him.

In March 1997, Tak was at his uncle’s home and during the night, some unidentified masked men barged in and wanted to kidnap his cousin. Tak pleaded for his release.

“Before I would say something more, they pumped bullets into my body, damaging my kidney, liver, intestine, spinal cord and spleen,” Tak said. After a month in the hospital, Tak miraculously survived but remained crippled.

After three years he came out from the confines of his room and pursued his post-graduation in Social Work from the University of Kashmir. In 2000, he founded a Non-Governmental Organisation Humanity Welfare Organization Helpline for the welfare of the poor and physically disabled persons.

Being physically disabled, Tak realised the crisis of this population. In 2008, Tak set up Zaiba Aapa Institute of Inclusive Education. In the beginning, it was only for visually impaired children but with the passage of time, it started taking care of children with other disabilities.

“As this school was established particularly for the visually impaired children but when the parents of those children with other disabilities started coming here and requested us to allow their children to study here, then we were left with no options,” Aadil Rashid Vaid, the school principal, said.

Located in Bijbehara, barely a few meters away from the Srinagar-Jammu highway, this middle-school (up to eighth class) is operating from a rented residential house. In the beginning, only three students were studying in this school. It was much later that the number of children swelled. Presently more than 100 students are enrolled in this school and around 15 staffers take care of them.

“As the school caters education to every type of physically disabled child so different teaching methods are used for teaching students with different disabilities,” Vaid said. “For visually impaired, we use braille method and for deaf and dumb we use the sign language.”

The institute owns a few machines meant for the orthopedically disabled students. Some students use these machines with the help of trained staff. These machines help students with minor deformities to walk properly without any support.

KL Images: Saqib Mir

The school has not any fixed fee system. “It is up to the parents of these children what they are capable to pay,” Vaid said. “Some pay normally, some meagrely and some nothing at all. It all depends on their financial condition.” Right now, most of the funding “comes mainly from the Public donation.” Off late, some off-shore charities are helping this institution. In last four years, it has received Rs 62,21,103 from different institutions which work for disabled population.

Mudasir Hussain is one of the senior teachers at the institute. “Students studying here are physically disabled but we encourage them not to live with any kind of inferiority complex,” Hussain said. “This complex impacts the psychological growth of any child.”

Zaiba Aapa Institute is the only school of its kind in entire South Kashmir. There are quite a few schools across Kashmir where education is imparted for all the differently-abled students. The roll call in the school offers the idea about the areas from which the students come and join this school. All are from South Kashmir.

But who is Zaiba Aapa, the woman in whose name such an exclusive facility is named? There is an interesting story behind it. In the 1950s a woman used to live in Bijbehara and her name was Zaiba. The woman was none other than the grandmother of Javed Ahmad Tak. People would call her by the name Zaiba Aapa out of love and respect.

“Whenever anyone in Bijbehara area would receive severe burn injuries, then Zaiba Aapa would voluntarily visit the forests and bring medicinal herbs for the injured as there were no so many medical facilities around, that time. This was totally a voluntarily work by Zaiba Aapa and she was not making any money out of this passion. “This was the only reason why the school was named after Zaiba Aapa,” Sajad Ahmad Tak said.

How do the students feel?

Almost all students have one thing to share. “Had there not been this school here,” Shugufta, whose son is studying in the school for many years said. “My son instead of studying would have been sitting idle at home.” Some parents had migrated to stay closer to Srinagar so that their specially-abled wards would get some sort of education.

The school has a very good academic record. Many students of this school have excelled in top exams. Zakia Manzoor, a girl who is 100 per cent visually impaired was the product of the Zaiba Aapa school. 2017, she shined in her matriculation exam securing 85 per cent marks.

Although the school is presently operating from a residential house a three-storied concrete building is under construction in Simthan area, not far away from Bijbehara. “This building will not be a normal building but it is being specially constructed and designed in accordance with the needs and comfort of the physically disabled children,” Vaid said.