While Kashmir in undergoing nearly five month uprising with over 95 deaths on the streets of the valley, all the major sectors here have been rendered defunct. The chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti led PDP-BJP government has mishandled the situation as the government forces were involved in blinding of many students and leaving many of the youth handicapped. At a time when the under pressure chief minister announced the youth specific schemes like “scooty scheme”, many youth were battling for their lives in the city hospitals. Education became one of the biggest casualties.
The schools have been burnt in large number which has created a sense of insecurity and chaos among the student and teacher’s community. While some of the students were undergoing heavy treatments in the hospitals and many other young boys and girls were expressing their concern over the deteriorating Kashmir situation, the government once again came forward with shocking statements by announcing holding of examinations for class 10 and 12th. With increasing number of schools being burned in the restive Kashmir Valley triggering an outrage, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court too had to step in, asking the civil society members to act as guardians of the State. The court directed the police and civil administration to ensure protection of schools besides unmasking the “mysterious enemies of education” and deal with them with an “iron hand”. As various sections condemned such incidents, the state government pointed accusing fingers at separatists while the central government termed these as acts driven by the “combination of madness and perversion” and asked people of the Valley to realise that those responsible are acting at the behest of the enemy “across the border”. A division bench of the J&K High Court took suo motu cognizance of the reports about schools being burned in Kashmir Valley over during the unrest which started following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Waniin early July. Isn’t this time to delink education from the politics? If you want leaders to be groomed who have a deeper understating of political happenings across the restive Kashmir valley, a step has to be taken from both the government as well as the real stakeholders, including resistance leadership. Education is the main factor for intellectual excellence and prosperity. Imparting education in the centres of learning has no other viable substitute. Some time back Minister for Education, Naeem Akhtar had boldly gone on the front foot, insisting that exams will be held, which he later did. Earlier, he wrote a moving and erudite open letter to Hurriyat Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani, citing Islamic traditions and the example of the Prophet. Geelani responded by first saying that education had ‘blossomed’ during the shutdown (presumably education on ‘occupation’ and ‘oppression’), and then arguing that barbarity and education could not go hand in hand — an allusion to the horrific cruelty with which some of the youth who have been locked up are said to have been treated. While Education seems t have become a biggest casualty across the region, The Legitimate brings out the stakeholders to share their opinion n the subject weather education should be delinked from the series of protest calendars or it should be left to blossom on its own amid the wide ranging of the conflict situations in the valley.
The editorial is from the print edition of 30 Nov to 6 Dec 2016.
