Education: The way of life

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, this was stated by Nelson Mandela, a prominent South African politician and philanthropist. Education is not only a weapon, but it is also a path that puts an end to the era of darkness and shows the right way to the people.
In this regard, the government in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the Army has taken a number of initiatives to ensure imparting quality education to the students in the Union Territory.
To begin, the Mission Youth, J&K, a special youth-centric initiative of the Jammu and Kashmir Government has invited proposals under Universities Collaboration Initiative for supporting students and researchers in various fields.
The government signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the universities of other States with an aim to help the youth back in Jammu and Kashmir to shine and compete with the students of other States and Union Territories.
Moreover, the Army too has been assisting the students from the downtrodden section of the society to get education and famous and top universities. In one such instance, the Army gave a warm send-off to 300 students from Jammu and Kashmir, who were selected to attend various higher education courses at the Mewar University in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. The students were felicitated at a ceremony held at Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar.
This way, both—Government as well as the Army have been trying their best to keep the candle of education illuminating in the houses of J&K students.
Other than the education in top universities across India, the Jammu and Kashmir students have got numerous platforms to shine as the polytechnics and ITIs across the Union Territory have helped them in every aspect to find the way to earn a livelihood for their families.
Many of the youth, who were rendered jobless from several years, are now able to earn bread and butter for their families. Shahid Ahmad from Central Kashmir’s Budgam district, is one among the youth, who was waiting for employment for a long time. However, the schemes launched by the government have helped him to get trained and skilled to become competent enough to open up a small business outlet close to his home, where he is earning his livelihood.
Furthermore, the government has come up with Parvaaz like schemes, through which the students aspiring to appear in the competitive examinations are being trained and educated.
Under Parvaaz’ scheme, the youth of J&K is being provided coaching for Civil Services and other examinations while the government has time and again stated that its endeavour is to provide the best coaching facilities to the children as the field of education is progressing continuously.
In another similar endeavour, the government is soon coming up with the two state-of-the-art coaching centres in Jammu and Srinagar to impart coaching for Civil Services, other competitive exams.
Education is not only helping in getting livelihood, but also helps a person to differentiate between the right and the wrong. In Jammu and Kashmir, where the youth is being radicalized, an educated person would easily understand the motive and plans of a person while he or she would be asked anything with regard to the issue.
Besides, education also gives good sense to the youth. According to the research done so far, education has helped in curbing the number of crimes, especially against women. The dowry cases and other related cases have also decreased to a large extent in the educated society. It doesn’t only change the mindset of a man, but women empowerment with education has also brought visible change on the ground, which has changed the old narratives within the family as well as the society.
Education during the Covid times has proven a goldmine for the children having an educated family. During the ongoing Covid pandemic, the children who are getting education through online mode are being taught by the family members, thus simultaneously, their education didn’t get hampered like the children belonging to uneducated families. Some of these advantages are enough to allow our society to groom at par with the rest of the States and Union Territories.
In Kashmir Valley, education is a must for one and all. Although the government has been taking every possible step to upgrade the infrastructure in the education sector and come up with new initiatives, the youth at the same time, too has defeated the ill designs, which prevented them from taking the education in the past several years.
As unemployment has taken a huge toll on the educated youth, the education is showing many ways to the youth here to change the ground situation and keep themselves intact with the motives and goals in their lives, thus putting an end to the ill designs as well as the volatile situation here.
Many of the youth outshined the students from other states and UTs in the competitive examinations, which depict the great potential of the education system here. Moreover, amid the spurt in the developmental activities, the youth of Jammu and Kashmir especially from the Valley, has and is the only solution to improve the ground situation and ensure that the pace of the development continues unhindered and to create a holistic situation for the better and peaceful future for the next generations.
Besides, the inter school, college activities have helped a number of students from J&K to achieve the milestone. The frequent competitions being organized under various programmes launched by the government has helped the youth to flourish their talent be it painting, sports activity or anything else.
However, the education system in the Valley as compared to the other States and the Union Territories is not up to the mark, thus compelling the students here to stay at the back foot during the competitive examinations.
The better education sector is not only helping to build the base of a student, but also helps in making the students competent enough to crack any examinations and come on the front foot.
These reasons are amongst the others that force the students from the Valley to get enrolled in the outside colleges and universities. It has been observed that those who study outside Colleges and varsities are now living a happy life by making themselves competent enough to earn a handsome amount to earn the bread and butter for their children.
Operation Sadhbhavna, an initiative by the Army has helped the J&K youth to a large extent. Under the initiative, the Army has been sponsoring the education tours, undergraduate courses and school education to the children to ensure a sensible society on the ground.
Moreover, the government too has been trying its best to change the future of the youth here by coming up with different schemes and initiatives. Recently, the government came up with the New Education Policy (NEP), which is set to change decades old traditional education and will help students of different caliber to boost their morale and find their ways to choose the best for them.
Prime Ministers Special Scholarship Scheme to J&K Students, JK Super 75 Scholarship Scheme are among the schemes, which has proven a goldmine for the students especially to those belonging to the downtrodden section of the society.
No doubt that the place of imparting education doesn’t matter, but the facilities and different activities make a child more competent in the end, thus, the place for the education does matter a lot. Some people, who want their kids to get educated in the institutions called Madrasas, for some reasons, too have observed that the schools unlike madrasas have been changing the behavior and attitude as well as the caliber of their wards.
With the changing situation on the ground and the assistance being provided by the government and Army through different schemes, has helped many of the parents to enroll their wards in the Schools, which is helping in ensuring a fully educated society.
(The writer is executive editor Lake City Times and can be reached at [email protected])