Saimah Bashir and Tabzeer Yaseen, International Journal of Research In

Saimah Bashir and Tabzeer Yaseen, International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences, ISSN 2250-0588, Impact Factor: 6.565, Volume 08 Issue 08, August 2018, Page 123-126 Impact of Conflict on Higher Education in Kashmir: A Qualitative Analysis

Saimah Bashir1 and Tabzeer Yaseen2 1(ICSSR Doctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India) 2(Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Higher Education Department, Jammu and Kashmir, India) Abstract: Jammu and Kashmir is the only state in India to have made education free for all its citizens from higher secondary upto university level. However, the literacy rate stands at 67.16% as per 2011 census which is far behind other states like Kerala and Mizoram. Apart from socio-economic factors responsible for the lower literacy rates, the outbreak of militancy has had a drastic impact on the educational sector. The aim of this paper is to analyze the institutional and qualitative impact of conflict on higher education in the state particularly after 1990’s and also provide solution to these problems. The methodology adopted will be textual and comparative.

I. INTRODUCTION The Valley of Kashmir, also known as Raeshwaer (the land of saints) has been a centre of Sanskrit learning since ancient times. Owing to the works of authors like Rudrata (c.9th century), Somananda (900- 950), Ksemendra (c. 11th century), Ksemraja (1000-1050), Kalhana (c.12th century), Ksemraja (1000-1050), Lalleshwari (c. 14th century), the valley was flocked by scholars and students from the sub-continent and around. However, for majority of the populace, the mode of learning was through their respective indigenous institutions. The Brahmans had their own Pathshalas (traditional schools) where Sanskrit was taught for the sake of reading the traditional Hindu scriptures. One such Pathshala was established in Fateh Kadal area of Srinagar. (Zutshi, 2004:xv) In case of the Muslim population, madrassas and maktabs attached with mosques were used to teach Arabic so that they could read the Qur’an (the Holy Book of Muslims). There were no regular schools and pathshalas. (Biscoe,1998:23). Moreover, education was only imparted to boys. With the passage of time, owing to political instability on account of invasions by foreign rulers like Afghans and Sikhs, the education sector was affected drastically. Majority of the population was illiterate. The colonization of the Indian subcontinent under the Britisher’s changed the course of Kashmir’s history as when the infamous sale deed, the Treaty of Amritsar, was signed between Maharaja Gulab Singh and the British government in March 1846. Thereafter, Kashmir continued to be under the Dogra rule till it’s independence in 1947. Shift from Traditional to Modern Education The Dogra rule was marked by exploitation, heavy taxation, educational backwardness and the absence of prominent centers of learning. However with the opening up of the first school on modern lines in 1880 by the Christian Missionary Society of London, attaining formal education was no longer a distant dream. Modern education turned out men gifted with an entirely new outlook on life. This led to opening up of new opportunities and broadening of the way in to the coveted government services (Lawrence, 2005). However, for higher education the students were still required to go to Punjab but only a few families could afford to send their wards outside the state. It was during Maharaja Hari Singh’s reign that S.P. College (Shri Pratap College) became the first college affiliated to Banaras Hindu University to be established in Kashmir in 1905 which was followed by Amar Singh College in 1913. During this period there was not only quantitative expansion of education but also qualitative (Om, 1986: 48). The subsequent years saw a spurt in the number of students opting for higher education in Kashmir, however the lack of educational facilities was seen as a hindrance towards the same. It was the beginning of the era of independence movement spearheaded by the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference that opened new opportunities for education in Kashmir. The party published its ‘Naya Kashmir Manifesto’, which was a draft of the future constitution of Jammu and Kashmir after the abolition of monarchy. (Hassnain, 1988:122) The document promised to all citizens the right to education and mentioned education up to university level (Khan, 2005:158-159). After independence the overall scenario of the state changed significantly. The establishment of the democratic setup with a written constitution of its own, the state of Jammu and Kashmir saw a resurgence in various domains. Although it was a beginning of a new era of conflict as Kashmir to this day remains the legacy of the partition. Kashmir became the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan. (Bose, 2009:210) This opened a new phase in the history of the state with development and devolution going side by side. With the inception of the interim government in the state headed by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah as the first Prime Minister, a need for new educational policy and reforms was felt, also the realization became http://indusedu.org Page 123

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Saimah Bashir and Tabzeer Yaseen, International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences, ISSN 2250-0588, Impact Factor: 6.565, Volume 08 Issue 08, August 2018, Page 123-126 significant for the prospective success of democracy in Jammu and Kashmir. Understanding the importance of education, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah retained the ministry of education under his own domain. This led to the establishment of an Education Re-organization Committee in 1950, with A. A Kazmi as its chairman. The committee in its report came up with certain suggestions like the introduction of free education from pre-primary to the higher levels. (Brecher, 1953: 154) Owing to its recommendations, two colleges for women, one at Srinagar and another at Jammu were also established. Meanwhile efforts were also made to introduce the university level education in the state. In 1948,when government started an institute entrusted with the work of conducting examinations in Srinagar, Justice J. N Wazir was appointed as its Honorary Vice- Chancellor. With the increasing credibility of this institution and the acknowledgement of the need to establish a full-fledged university in the state, the institution got acclaimed as the first university of the state as The University of Jammu and Kashmir. However in 1969 the University was bifurcated into two universities as the University of Kashmir and the University of Jammu for the respective regions. Both the universities since then have been playing a pioneering role in promoting higher education in the state. Affiliated to these universities various degree colleges were also established in different districts of the state. Besides the National Institute of Technology (NIT) earlier known as the Regional Engineering College was also established in 1960 (later renamed as NIT in 2003).In 1961 another college for women, Nawakadal College, was established in the downtown area of Srinagar. With the developmental policies for the mainstream education in the state, the government also initiated to establishment a research and education institute for the agricultural sciences. In view of agriculture being a main source of livelihood for almost 80% of the population efforts were made by the government that came out as the Agriculture University and Technology Act passed in 1982. Thus Sher-i- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology was established in 1982.However, in the coming years what fate had in store was certainly not something positive for educational development of the state. The political instability that emerged towards the end of 1980’s was a turning point in the history of the state. (Widmalm, 2002) Thus begins a new phase in the development of higher education in the state. Emergence of the Armed Phase of Conflict and its Impact upon Higher Education in the State Although the fact being that Kashmir as the legacy of the partition remained an unresolved conflict between India and Pakistan for more than six decades now. However the history and the nature of conflict or we can say the intensity of the conflict changed towards the beginning of 1990’s, when a new phase of the resistance by Kashmiri’s began. It was the beginning of the armed phase of the conflict. When violence and counter violence crept in, it smashed the entire edifice of the state. The following institutional lull that was evident created a breakdown of the entire state developmental projects including that in the education sector. (Letchamanan & Dhar, 2017). It was a challenging phase for the overall educational programme of the state. When education sector like other developmental ventures became susceptible to the political upheaval in the state, the challenges for a sound education policy and environment became multifold. During the armed phase generally called as militancy and the counter militancy programmes of the state, the education sector took a back turn resulting in a downward trend in the education developmental graph of the state. Many schools and colleges became the battle fields for both militants and the army men fighting each other, which would often result in the infrastructural damage or complete destruction of the educational institution. The resultant loss included also the fear psyche generated among the youth as well as the parents who would hesitate from sending their children to schools or colleges for a long time. (Montiel & Noor, 2009:74) With one decade of such gruesome turmoil in the valley an eerie calm could also be felt. This period saw some resurgence and backtrack of the developmental works including that in the higher education sector. It was during this period that the establishment of some higher educational institutes could also be seen, like Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University in Jammu region and Islamic University of Science and Technology in Kashmir. While as the tract of development and devolution in the state particularly in the valley has always been concurrent, even this period of resurgence couldn’t last for long. The period was immediately followed by the seismic shocks of the conflict as the mass uprisings that happened in 2008, 2010 and the recent one in 2016. The devastation that happened during these years was no lesser. Higher education, like other sectors, suffered the most. Besides the above mentioned dynamics the overall detriments or hindrances to the comprehensive higher education development in the state also includes: 1. Quality recession and stagnation in higher education: With the more or less institutional breakdown in the state after 1990, the internal functioning of the institutions was also affected. A big drawback of a prolonged state of conflict is that the accountability on part of the institutions and the persons who are part of these institutions is a rampant phenomenon. The vacuum created was filled by the untoward factors like nepotism, corruption that deteriorated the higher education sector to the greatest. During the period there was no growth and development resulting in the complete stagnation which in turn led to the quality recession in the higher education. While as the state for long remained cut off from the rest of the world there was no chance of any possible progress in http://indusedu.org Page 124

educational curriculums and quality education as such. Conflict becomes an excuse for everyone to blame upon rather than carrying out a fact based assessment of whether quality education being imparted to students, whether the funds sanctioned by the state and central governments are being properly utilized and whether the student teacher ratio is per UGC norms. 2. Intellectual and faculty loss due to Pandit Migration from the valley: Since the ancient times the cultural essence of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly the valley, has been the peaceful secular environment among people. However a muddle in the same has been the migration of Pandit community from the valley. Their migration meant more than a cultural and social loss, given the fact that most of the Pandit’s served as teachers not only in schools but also the higher educational institutions of the valley, it became an intellectual loss as well. With Pandit migration from the valley most of the faculty positions in different colleges and universities was left vacant. Thus creating an uncertain future lingering over the higher education sector in the state. 3. Impact upon Research Culture: While as research is considered as pivotal for higher education, the possibility of such endeavors demands a great deal of efforts both at an institutional as well as individual level. However for a sound research, a healthy and supportive environment is most important. The unfortunate part being any possibility for such a healthy and supportive environment for research in the state particularly valley is still a distant dream. Over the years the conflict has had been devastatively affecting the research activities in the valley. Thus resulting in the paucity of any development of the healthy research culture in higher education. 4. Dearth of Research Institutes: Over the years of the lingering conflict in the state, the environment of uncertainty has put the credibility and existence of various institutions at stake. This unsettled nature of the complexities has made it worse for any individual or institute to invest in any form in the state. While as there has been an absolute institutional dearth in the state, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that establishment of any research institute here has only been an unsettled aspiration. This paucity of the research institutes in the state has remained as one of the factors for the unhealthy growth of research culture in the state. 5. Higher education becomes a ‘norm’ rather than a ‘choice’: The institutional breakdown on account of outbreak of armed militancy drained the resources of the state. A huge chunk of the state budget went towards spending on maintaining a strong police force. The daily occurrences of strikes, encounters and civilian killings meant that even the business sector barely managed to survive. Majority of people therefore, look towards government jobs as the safest option for earning their livelihood. Therefore, in the absence of jobs and a suitable employment option, the students coming out of colleges after finishing their graduation have no option other than to choose higher education in Universities. Comparing this statics with the rest of India where students straightaway get employed right after graduation, the state has a long road ahead. 6. Lack of Sufficient Infrastructure: The lack of sufficient infrastructure for higher education in terms of libraries, laboratories, field visits has affected the quality of higher education since 1990s. The prolonged conflict since then has had an equally dismal effect on faculty development on account of absence of high quality faculty development orientation and refresher courses, performance appraisal and teacher exchange programmes across different institutions. Another distinct feature of the higher education department in the state is the presence of large number of contractual and temporary teachers. There is also lack of planning at the governmental level though the condition has been improving from the last few years. 7. Insecure and Uncertain Future – Student Migration: A new trend that has emerged in Kashmir after the 2008 protests in the wake of transfer of land to Amarnath Shrine Board paralyzing the whole valley for nearly six months. It was followed another spiral of strikes and protests in 2009 when all the educational institutes of the Valley remained shut for months altogether. Degrees which were meant to be completed in a couple of years got delayed by nearly two semesters. The culmination point was reached with the killing of a popular militant leader in 2016 leading to closure of all the educational institutions of the state. The student community was gripped under the fear of insecure and uncertain future. The closure of schools, colleges and universities for nearly four months in the 2016 again meant that each semester got carried over to the next academic session. The simple solution to this was to finish the degrees outside the state or even for financially well off students outside the country. The situation is alarming for the status of higher education in the state as the student migration is leading to a situation of brain drain as well. 8. Academic Loss to Students: Every course is designed taking into account a particular number of working days and the duration of each course varies from place to place. As far as Kashmir is concerned, the harsh and cold winters results in a two month long winter break thereby reducing the number of working days. The volatile political situation in the state reduces the number of working days even further on account of frequent strike calls. Teachers are unable to deliver the requisite http://indusedu.org Page 125

number of classes for a particular semester resulting in quality loss if somehow the syllabus is covered and in some cases the syllabus is never even completed. The end result is mass promotions and reduction in syllabus for examination which leads to a dip in quality education. 9. Lack of Private Sector Investment in Higher Education due to Prolonged Conflict: Till 1990’s, higher education in the state was under the complete control of the state. However, efforts were made to open up the sector for private investment as well. Accordingly, the first private college was set up in the state in 1995 and numerous other private colleges began to be set up in a couple of decades. However private sector investment in private colleges hasn’t reached its full potential as the uncertain political situation drives away many educational institutions from opening up their centers in Kashmir. The state currently has eight government universities, out of which two are state universities, two are central universities and six are government aided. There is no private university in the state as of now. Hence, national private educational institutes do not see Kashmir as the ideal place for their campus. Among the colleges that have opened up in the private sector are B.Ed. colleges. There is a dearth of private colleges in the field of professional studies, social science, humanities and arts. 10. Co-curricular activities: The outbreak of violent phase of Kashmir conflict since 1990’s had a direct impact people’s mobility with students preferring to study inside the four walls of their college campuses than going out into the field to carry out NCC, NSS student activities. Parents are also apprehensive to send their wards to far flung areas for fear of being caught in cross-fire or a similar situation. The end result was that NSS and NCC clubs are not active in the state in comparison to the rest of the country. This has had an impact on the overall development of a student and prevents them from getting engaged with their communities at a local level where individual priorities take precedence over community needs. We end up producing only career oriented students who are unaware of their social realities.

II. CONCLUSION So far what we have discussed it becomes explicit that education sector in the state of Jammu and Kashmir particularly higher education is lagging behind. Even though over the years there has been a considerable increase in the literacy rate of the state, however the mere increase in the number must not be satisfactory when it comes to a qualitative analysis of higher education. Also the fact that we have free education in the state, it again raises the level of dissatisfaction when both qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of the same is done. Besides other factors the political conflict and the subsequent political instability has emerged as one of the biggest factors affecting higher education in the state. While analyzing the present situation of higher education, a comprehensive reform policy for the same becomes inevitable. The policy ought to be both a top-down and bottom-up approach. The governments need to come up from the mere politics of vote bank interest and invest genuinely in the higher education sector. The institutional accountability in the sector must be made vigilant, so that any possibility of nepotism and corruption in the sector is ruled out. Also a genuine political will on part of all the stakeholders of the conflict will have a cumulative effect on improving the quality of higher education in the state.

III. REFERENCES [1] Biscoe, Cecile Earl Tyndale. Kashmir and its Inhabiatants, Shubhi Publications, New Delhi, 1998. [2] Bose, Sumantra. Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths To Peace. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003. [3] Brecher, Michael. The Struggle for Kashmir. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1953. [4] Hassnain, F.M. Freedom Struggle in Kashmir. Delhi: Rima Publihing House, 1988. [5] Lawrence, Sir Walter, R. The Valley of Kashmir. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 2005. [6] Letchamanan, Hema & Dhar, Debotri, eds. Education in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Islands. London: Bloomsbury, 2017. [7] Montiel, Christina Jayme & Noor, Noraina, M, eds. Peace Psychology in Asia. New York: Springer, 2009. [8] Om, Hari. Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir: A Study in the Spread of Education and Consciousness, 1857-1925. New Delhi: Archives Publishers: 1986. [9] Widmalm, Sten. Kashmir in Comparative Perspective: Democracy and Violent Separatism in India. USA: Routledge Curzon, 2002. [10] Zutshi, Chitralekha. Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity and the Making of Kashmir. London: Hurst & Company, 2004.

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