Education in Kashmir [Arshad].pdf - KashmirCorps

Hiba Arshad
kashmircorps
2008
Education in Kashmir
Historical Overview and Current Analysis

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The residents of Kashmir have often been called ‘prisoners in heaven’ (Ganai, 2008). They are
prisoners of one of the world’s longest interstate conflicts, juxtaposed to an exquisite
environmental setting. The ongoing strife has cost over 70,000 Kashmiri lives and played a
major role in the underdevelopment of Kashmir (Schofield, 1997). In light of this conflict
between Pakistan and India, especially as compounded by the 2008 summer riots, it is now
more important than ever that the turmoil surrounding Kashmir be addressed. Social services
from the State, including education, have been greatly affected by this conflict (Jammu &
Kashmir Development Report, 2003). It can be argued that until these issues are resolved, the
politically precarious situation of Kashmir will be prolonged even further. History has shown
that conflict arises when the majority in Kashmir is ignored and deprived of equal access,
opportunities, or a political voice (Rai, 2004). Therefore, it is in the best interest of policy
makers to ensure equal and adequate educational, political, and economic opportunities for
Kashmiris.
This paper provides an overview of educational development in Kashmir, both historically and
currently, in the context of the political conflict. The scope of this paper has been narrowed
down to the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, and not the Dogra Kingdom of Jammu and
Kashmir, due to access to reliable data. A comprehensive examination of the entire State of
Jammu and Kashmir, or the Dogra Kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir, disregarding the Line of
Control between Indian and Pakistan administered Jammu and Kashmir, would be ideal.
However, circumstances did not allow this research to manifest. By highlighting educational
development in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir within a historical framework, the
patterns of conflict are contextualized. This paper seeks to address the lack of comprehensive
and unbiased information regarding educational development in Kashmir, in hopes to begin a
dialogue that centers on the people of Kashmir, rather than the political interests of the two
nuclear nations of Pakistan and India.
In order to address the issue of educational development in Jammu and Kashmir, it is
important to define the vocabulary used in this analysis. Jammu and Kashmir (“JK”) is the
Indian administered State of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir is defined as the Muslim-majority
Northern valley of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (Habibullah, 2008). Educational
development is defined as the systematic efforts to improve the education system in Kashmir in
order to support broader socio-economic development. The term ‘Kashmiri Pandit’ is
interchangeable for ‘Hindu’, as most Hindus in Kashmir belong to Hinduisms Pandit caste
(Mir, 2003). A clarification of all of these terms is necessary, especially to aid those who are
not familiar with the region.

INTRODUCTION
The beautiful landscape of this disputed
State bestows an ironic backdrop on one of
the longest running, unresolved, interstatearmed
conflicts in the world. Kashmir’s rich
ethnic and religious diversity is a microcosm
of India. Jammu and Kashmir is a very
ethno-linguistically complex and culturally
unique State, the origins of which can be
traced back to its dense history (Burki,
2007). The diversity of the region has had
major effects on the development of
education, often determining which group
receives better educational opportunities
than others, a pattern which will be
discussed concurrently with the conflict.
History has shown
that the rulers of the
State have long
ignored the needs of
a majority of its
residents (Rai, 2004).
The majority of
Kashmiri people
have historically
longed for selfdetermination,
a
right that has yet to
be granted to them
from any of its rulers
in the past three
centuries, including the Government of
India.
Currently, the State of Jammu and Kashmir
in India includes three regions – Jammu,
Kashmir, and Ladakh (see Maps). Ladakh
comprises of mountainous landscapes and
forms the Eastern part of the State that shares
a border with Tibet; it is also home to the
Buddhist minority in JK. Jammu, which hosts
the winter capital of JK, is located in the
Southern part of the State that contains the
Hindu minority in JK. A majority of
Muslims live in the Northern valley of the
State, Kashmir, which is also the location of
JK’s summer capital city, Srinagar.
Currently, JK is the only Muslim majority
State in India with over 80% of the
population being Muslim. The residents of
JK mostly reside in rural areas; only 20%
live in urban areas (Jammu & Kashmir
Development Report, 2003). The scenic
State is home to the world’s largest military
occupation from the world’s largest
democracy, comprising an estimated
500,000 to 700,000 Indian troops
(Crossette, 1997).
Exploring the religious demographics of a
region is also helpful
in establishing a
thorough overview of
a region. Prior to
Mughal conquest of
the Kashmiri valley,
most inhabitants
were Kashmiri
Pandits, who are
classified in the
highest caste of
Hinduism, the
Brahmin class of
educators, scholars
and preachers in
Hinduism (Schofield, 1997). Historians
dispute whether the conversion of Muslims
in the valley was forced or initiated by the
followers themselves (Mir, 2003). However,
it is universally agreed that Muslims quickly
became the majority, and belonged to a
lower socioeconomic class than the
Kashmiri Pandits. This division and
polarization due to religion began a pattern
of domination by the religious minority
wealthy class, a pattern that has historically
infiltrated the education systems of Kashmir
(Rai, 2004).

HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN KASHMIR
In order to systematically assemble the
current picture of education in a particular
area in conflict, it is important to study the
history of the region. Given the lingering
history of the conflict, there are many issues
affecting educational development in the
State. In the case of Kashmir as well as other
societies, the beginnings of a modern
education system can almost always be
traced back to religion and colonialism
(Raza, 1984). However, in Kashmir,
religion and colonialism are also a part of
the deep-rooted conflict, which has had
severely detrimental effects on educational
opportunities in the State. A closer look at
historical educational development in the
state displays a link between politics and
education, as many of the policies of
education in Kashmir were developed by
political leaders with their own agenda (Mir,
2003). These political leaders did not
develop these policies with the majority of
Kashmiri people in mind, causing conflict
and an entrenched distrust between the
people of Kashmir and the political
representation in Kashmir (Habibullah,
2008). These issues can be seen through
the following exploration of the historical
development of education in Kashmir.
The First Anglo-Sikh war transpired for a
year in 1845, between the British and the
Sikh army. The Sikhs lost due to the British
Armies access to Gulab Singh, who
provided the British with intelligence from
the Sikh court (Pal, 2006). In order to
reward Singh for treachery against his own
people, he was made the Maharaja
(“Prince”) of Jammu and Kashmir under the
Treaty of Amritsar on March 16, 1846. In
this treaty, British unified Jammu, Kashmir,
Gilgit, and Ladakh into the ‘Princely State of
Jammu and Kashmir’ and sold it to Maharaja
Gulab Singh, for a fee of seven million
rupees according to some historians (Rai,
2004). Jammu and Kashmir at that time was
stretched over an area of 84,471 square
miles and had about a million inhabitants
(Government of Jammu and Kashmir, 2006).
Some historians state that Singh paid seven
rupees for each resident (Habibullah, 2008).
Singh, a Hindu, became the first Dogra ruler
of Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir, but
the British Empire still ruled him. Through
‘subordinate isolation’, the British made
allies out of local rulers who would secure
British interests, not the interests of the
Kashmiri people (Rai, 2004). This
institutionalized disregard for the Kashmiri
people’s needs has caused a disjuncture
between the Kashmiri people and their
historical rulers. The Kashmiri people have
been systematically left out of their own
dialogue, and this can be seen through the
historical interpretation of educational
development in the State (Mir, 2003).
Education development in Kashmir began in
1857 by the son of Maharaja Gulab Singh
and the second Dogra ruler of Jammu and
Kashmir, Maharaja Ranbir Singh (Chohan,
1998). He led an eminent court that
consisted of mostly elite Hindus, with some
Muslims, all who received land, titles, and
privileges to keep them loyal. The elitist
court took away the rights of the peasants to
buy land, thereby effectively reducing
Kashmiri Muslims to landless tenants (Rai,
2004). Singh established Vidya Vilas Press,
the first press in JK, to translate books into
Sanksrit for Hindu male scholars to study in
the first two schools built in Jammu. A third
school was opened in Kashmir in 1874,
displaying the Hindu leader’s priorities in
educating the elite Brahmin Hindus
(Chohan, 1998). Yet with the majority of the

HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN KASHMIR
population being Muslim, Maharaja Ranbir
Singh and his Hindu majority, Muslim
minority court slowly began to include
Islamic education. Soon, all three schools
expanded their curriculum to include the
study of Persian, English, Sanskrit, Tibetan,
and Law (Mir, 2003). During this period of
time, a majority of learning institutes were
dedicated and affiliated with religious
studies for males only (Biscoe, 1925).
Education in JK was modeled after the
British education system due to the effects of
colonization (Raza, 1984). A movement
towards the Western definition of
‘education’ marginalized the traditional
religious study schools, and had a
modernizing effect on the population
educated by the Western standards, the
Hindu Brahmins (Mir, 2003). The first
Western and modern boy’s school in
Kashmir was founded in 1880, by Reverend
J. Hinton Knowles in the premises of
Missionary Hospital in Srinagar (Tyndale-
Biscoe, 1930). Founded as the Church
Mission Society Boys School, it is now
called the Tyndale Biscoe School, named
after Cecil Earle Tyndale Biscoe, a British
missionary who became the schools
principal in 1891. Biscoe is often attributed
with founding the modern education system
in Kashmir, through western modernization
and rejection of local traditions (Mir, 2003).
He set out to ‘raise up this hapless people’,
and founded the schools egalitarian and
anti-caste system motto, “In All Things Be
Men” (Tyndale-Biscoe, 1930). The 250
students in the ten-year-old school were all
Brahmin Hindus who initially refused to
partake in many of the schools activities,
including soccer, for touching leather would
render them unholy. The Muslim majority
was again ignored by the leaders (Rai,
2004). However, Biscoe introduced social
parity and individualism to those select
students, who believed in the caste system
and collectivism. He introduced soccer,
modernization, and western individualistic
beliefs to the Brahmins despite a stiff
resistance from the locals (Mir, 2003). In
few years, the original primary school rose
to become a high school that local families
fought to send their children to, and
discernable opposition melted away due to
the desirability of learning the English
language and the idea of modernity (Weil,
1985). Biscoe served the Church Mission
Society Boys School for many decades; he
also undertook many social service program
academics and extra curricular activities.
By 1890, there were ten schools functioning
in the State on these modern lines (Tyndale-
Biscoe, 1930). There was also a regular
school inspector, JK schools were affiliated
with Punjab University’s syllabus and
curriculum, and examinations were given
every six months. The Mission School in
Kashmir was educating and modernizing a
select group of the already elite Brahmin
Hindu class, the highest caste in the caste
system (Chohan, 1998).
There were two groups of students that were
not served by the new visionary school,
Muslims and girls. However, leaders would
emerge that desired a promotion in the
education of both groups in Kashmir. In
1899, the Mirwaiz (“Muslim head priest of
Kashmir”), Moulvi Rasool Shah, founded an
organization called Anjuman-i-Nusrat-ul-
Islam (ANI) to promote religious education
among the almost illiterate majority of
Kashmiri Muslims (Rai, 2004). ANI had its
“humble beginnings in a cottage in central
Srinagar” (Peer, 2004). Eventually with the

HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN KASHMIR
help of small grants from the Dogra
Maharaja, the Mirwaiz transformed the
seminary into a school offering both secular
and religious education (Zutshi, 1986). ANI
spread its networks of schools throughout
Kashmir, and enabled thousands to receive
education through their Islamia Schools.
Eventually, Muslims began to partake in
modern education.
Girl’s education in Kashmir faced a more
problematic situation. In the 1890s, a girl’s
school was started in Kashmir by one of the
women from the British Church Mission,
only to close due to an incident where girls
flung themselves out of a window when
people on the street
shouted that Europeans
only want to kidnap girls
(Tyndale-Biscoe, 1930).
The effort to educate
Kashmiri girls regained
momentum in 1912, when
a Church Mission Society
Girls School opened with
17 students. The principal
of this school noticed in
1914 that “not a trained
Kashmiri woman teacher is to be found in
Srinagar” (Biscoe, 1925). These historical
problems with girls education and the
education of the Hindu minority versus the
Muslim majority show up again and again
in the years to come, indicating that the
policies and programs the State is
implementing are not and have not been
historically egalitarian (Rai, 2004).
By 1925 the education system had made an
incredible amount of progress for the Hindu
Kashmiri Pandit population that it served.
There was one technical institute, two
colleges, two teacher training institutes, 11
high schools, 42 middle schools, and 583
primary schools (Chohan, 1998). Two thirds
The effort to educate Kashmiri
girls regained momentum in
1912, when a Church Mission
Society girls school opened with
17 students. The principal of this
school noted in 1914 that, “not
a single trained Kashmiri woman
teacher is to be found in
Srinagar”
Biscoe, C. E. T. (1925). Kashmir in Sunlight
and Shade. London: Seeley, Service.
of the government schools were free, and
followed a set curriculum and standards for
enrollment into Punjab University, so that
the best students could eventually be
employed in prestigious government
positions (Tyndale-Biscoe, 1930). Entrance
examinations were competitive, and if a
student did not receive high marks they
would resort to unemployment. The student
would remain unemployed due to the
Kashmiri Pandit society’s discernment with
manual labor, the only other form of
employment besides State service (Rai,
2004). The educated yet unemployed group
is a recurring phenomenon in Kashmir,
where educational
development has preceded
economic development
(Burki, 2007).
Sheikh Mohammad
Abdullah, also known as
the ‘Lion of Kashmir’, was
part of the very small
educated yet marginalized
Muslim Kashmiri
community. In the late
1920s, the Dogra rulers
practiced discrimination against Kashmiri
Muslim students (Rai, 2004). This
discriminatory policy caused the State to
reject Abdullah, and only Hindus gained
admission. At the same time people spoke
of the right to education for the Muslim
community, students were turned away
from educational institutions due to their
religion (Mir, 2003). Abdullah finally
managed to obtain admission in Islamiya
College, a Muslim college in Lahore. After
completing this part of his education, he
applied to the JK State Government again for
admission into medical school, but was
again rejected (Taseer, 2005).

HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN KASHMIR
After he attended a plethora of Muslim
Universities, Abdullah eventually became
the first Kashmiri Muslim to have obtained
Masters Degree in Chemistry. Full of hope,
Abdullah then applied to the JK State
Government to pursue a Doctoral course in
Chemistry in England, only to be rejected
again for the third time (Taseer, 2005).
However, by this time Abdullah was
influenced by liberal and progressive ideas
and became convinced that the feudal
system was responsible for the disparity of
the Kashmiri people. These early
experiences convinced him that Kashmiri
Muslims had as much hope of obtaining
justice from the feudal Dogra Hindu ruler as
“obtaining milk by squeezing a stone,”
(Taseer, 2005).
In 1931, there was a Kashmiri uprising led
by Sheikh Abdullah and his colleagues
against the Dogra Maharaja (Zutshi, 1986).
Although this uprising was swiftly
controlled, it eventually led to the
introduction of a limited form of democracy
through the creation of a legislative
assembly in 1934 (Habibullah, 2008). What
began as a curious student seeking
education opportunities quickly spun into
the first indigenous uprising in Kashmir
(Taseer, 2005). If the Kashmiri Muslims
were historically given equal educational
opportunities as the Hindu elite, perhaps
there would be a more peaceful Kashmir
today.
After the British Empire’s hold over the
Indian subcontinent unraveled in 1947, the
560 princely states of India had to join
either Pakistan or India (Blank, 1999). This
partition split up the State of Jammu and
Kashmir into three parts, and wreaked
havoc onto the States education system (Pal,
2006). Schools were destroyed, families
were torn apart, and random acts of
violence ensued (Ganai, 2008). One-third of
the State was made into Pakistanadministered
Azad (“Free”) Jammu and
Kashmir, and two thirds went to Indianadministered
Jammu and Kashmir (Burki,
2007). This 1947 partition of India and
Pakistan, with its enforced control over the
picturesque State of Jammu and Kashmir,
was merely a continuation of three centuries
of struggles for the control of Jammu and
Kashmir by the Mughal, Dogra, and British
Empires (Mir, 2003). As dissimilar as all of
these dynasties were, they held one truth in
common – a disregard for the regions
indigenous people.
By the time the 1947 partition of Pakistan
and India materialized, there were 2,158
educational institutes, and the education
budget was 7% of JK’s revenue (Chohan,
1998). After the partition the educational
institutes in JK dwindled down to 1,835, a
numerical display of the conflict’s
detrimental effect on the education system
(Raza, 1984). However, the Kashmiri
people persevered and continued the
expansion and development of education
despite the political uncertainty that plagued
the region at the time (Ganai, 2008). Just a
year after partition, in 1948, a Textbook
Advisory Board was established as well as
the University of Kashmir (Ganai, 2008). By
1960, State education from pre-primary to
higher education was completely free, and
there were 5,133 primary schools, 1,354
middle schools, 559 secondary schools, 19
technical institutes, and 9 colleges (Mujoo,
1990). However, conflict continued to
plague the area due to the uncertain
political boundaries drawn around Kashmir
by Pakistan and India (Habibullah, 2009).

HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN KASHMIR
The 1965 Indo-Pak war led to the creation
of the current Line of Control between
Pakistan administered Azad Jammu and
Kashmir and Indian administered Jammu
and Kashmir (Burki, 2007). The war also
uprooted many students from their homes,
and negatively affected their school routine
(Ganai, 2008).
Quickly after the end of the 1965 Indo-Pak
war, the State moved to revamp their
education system. The State government of
JK established its own education board, the
Board of School Education in the 1970s
(J&K Board of School Education, 2008). A
subsequent restructure of the education
system in JK occurred, which included a
revision of curriculum, a new calendar
school year, and a survey of the region to
determine locations of education institutes
(Ganai, 2008). A more youthful, highly
educated and politically cognizant
generation emerged in Kashmir in the 1980s
as a result of an improved education system
(Zutshi, 1986). However, economic
development and employment opportunities
did not expand correspondingly, which lead
to a rise in unemployment among the
educated (Wirsing, 1998). Frustrated and
jobless, many unemployed yet educated
youth fell into the ‘gun culture’ of the late
1980s, which eventually lead to the
insurgency and consequential military
uprising during the 1990s (Habibullah,
2008). JK officials stated that the several
hundred damaged or burnt down school
buildings in the 1990s had negative
implications to the overall education
system, all of which were related to the
ongoing conflict in Kashmir (The Tribune,
2008).
When Indian Army Chief General Deepak
Kapoor inaugurated the first army school in
Kashmir in early 2008, he stated that the
education system in Kashmir was totally
demolished by two decades of militancy
(India News, 2008). During the insurgency
period, the dropout rate increased
tremendously due to the lack of safe and
proper school buildings (The Tribune,
2008). The education system has slowly
rebuilt itself after the two decades of
continuous violence and uprisings (Gupta,
2007). In the past decade, BOSE opened
over 3,500 primary schools and renovated
over 3,300 middle and high schools with
substantial funding from India. As a result,
the dropout rate from schools in Jammu and
Kashmir decreased from 19% in 2003 to 5%
in 2008 (Government of Jammu & Kashmir,
2007). Although schools are readily being
built, education ministers have stated that
during the last few years many teacher posts
in rural areas are vacant, which has led to a
collapse of teaching activities in the rural
areas (Ganai, 2008). Rural areas, especially
on the Pakistan and India Line of Control for
Kashmir, are generally not regarded as safe
havens, a fact that has lead to fewer
teachers to seek a teaching post in rural
areas. However, rural areas are not the only
areas suffering in Kashmir (Burki, 2007).
The overall lack of development caused by
the conflict is one of the most crucial
barriers to the peace process in Kashmir.
After the militancy era of the 1980s and
1990s, the State underwent a period of
peace (Habibullah, 2008). This period of
peace began after all out war over Kashmir
between Pakistan and India, two nuclear
powers at the time, was avoided due to the
timely intervention from the US President at
the time, Bill Clinton (Burki, 2007).
Although things have remained tense since
this war, called “Kargil War”, the Indian
militart presence has increased significantly

HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN KASHMIR
in Kashmir to ‘secure’ peace in the region (Pal, 2006). The past decade has brought with it
times of relative peace, although Kashmiris are becoming increasingly frustrated with the status
quo (Habibullah, 2008). Tension has slowly increased in the region, and in light of recent
events, it is clear that Kashmir’s political and socioeconomic issues have to be addressed
before any peace is established between the two nations of Pakistan and India. Educational
development and employment opportunities for the people of Kashmir are both innocuous and
pressing issues to begin the peace process with, the success of which can have ripple effects
through out society.
CURRENT ANALYSIS
The current status of educational
development in Kashmir is important to
explore because it demonstrates how the
State manages an education system after a
significant amount of violence. The Board
of School Education (BOSE) is the central
authority regarding education in Jammu and
Kashmir (J&K Board of School Education,
2008; Ganai, 2008). Currently, BOSE runs
more than 10,609 schools across the State
and employs 22,300 teachers (Government
of Jammu & Kashmir, 2007). There are
approximately 14,938 public and private
schools in JK, including primary schools,
elementary schools, secondary schools and
senior secondary schools (J&K Board of
School Education, 2008). BOSE is in charge
of training and placing teachers in all
schools in JK through two specific programs.
In 1986, BOSE established District Institute
of Education Training (DIET) and Institutes
of Advanced study in Education (IASE) to
standardize and improve the quality of
teacher education in JK (Ganai, 2008).
BOSE largely bases their policies and
programs on exams conducted for students
in 8th, 10th, and 12th grade. Reforms and
changes are also beginning to occur for a
better, well rounded, and inclusive
education system (Ganai, 2008). For
example, the introduction of the Kashmiri
language into the secondary school
curriculum is an effort to preserve the
language and heritage of Kashmiris; it is
now given as an optional language course
up until 8th grade (J&K Board of School
Education, 2008).
In addition to the government schools run
by BOSE, there are an abundance of private
and NGO schools in Kashmir (Ganai, 2008).
Regarding religious or madrassa education,
which recently has been receiving negative
attention due to its supposed link with
terrorism, JK only has 1,729 boys and 962
girls studying in madrassas (Sachar
Committee Report, 2006). In contrast to
other states where numbers run to several
thousands, JK has one of the lowest
madrassa enrollment rates. Religious
experts attribute it to the majority of
residents in JK being Muslim, which causes
them to be secure about their religion and
identity and dismantles their need to attend
madrassa for a religious identity (Ganai,
2008). Many of the students in Kashmiri
madrassas are from rural areas and poor
families, and new admissions are mostly
orphans of violence.
In order to get a clear picture of the
education system, it is helpful to look at the
statistics normally associated with education

CURRENT ANALYSIS
The Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir has
a total population of around ten million
people, with five million in Kashmir, four
million in Jammu, and less than one million
in Ladakh, according to the 2001 Indian
Census. In 1998, the State spent 19% of its
overall budget towards education, a fact that
shows the State is moving towards
prioritizing education (Jammu & Kashmir
Educational Facts & Figures, 1999).
According to the 2001 Indian census, more
than 43% of the population was under the
age of 14, and more than one third of the
Kashmiri population lived on less than a
dollar a day. The 2001 literacy rate for the
State was 55%, with rural literacy of 48%
and urban 72% (Jammu &
Kashmir Development
Report, 2003). This sharp
contrast in comparing rural
versus urban literacy rates
illustrates the severe lack of
development in rural Kashmir, especially
the lack of education in villages closer to
the Line of Control (J&K Board of School
Education). The historical implications of
not prioritizing the education of women and
Muslims can be seen through these current
statistics. In 2001, male literacy was
estimated at 66% and female at 42%
(Jammu & Kashmir Development Report,
2003). Also according to the 2003 Report,
among the rural areas Hindu-majority
Jammu tops the rural literacy rate charts
with 72%, and Muslim-majority Kashmir is
at the bottom. According to the Report,
“this is due to the impact of the militancy;
all of the districts affected by militancy have
a low literacy rate,” (Jammu & Kashmir
Development Report, 2003).
These statistics are not surprising due to the
historic beginnings of education in Jammu
rather than Srinagar, and the education of
men as opposed to women (Mir, 2003).
Although JK has achieved 94% enrollment
43% of the population was
under 14, and more than onethird
of the Kashmiri population
lived on less than $1 per day.
2001 Census of India
of primary school aged children, the quality
of education they receive can be understood
through an assessment of their examination
performance (Seventh All India Educational
Survey, 2002). In 2006, the Annual Status
of Education Report found that 36% of 3rd
to 5th grade students cannot read, and 33%
can not do simple math like addition or
subtraction (Parvaiz, 2007). These statistics
are representative of State that is recovering
from conflict, and moving towards
developing their education system.
Although Kashmiris follow their own
constitution and take ownership of their
own education system, the Indian military
presence in Kashmir makes
it difficult for the Kashmiri
people or visitors to
experience democratic
freedom. According to
some, the world's largest
democracy is currently administering the
world's largest military occupation (Roy,
2008). On an average day, a student has
frequent sightings of soldiers, military
barracks, and checkpoints located all
around the State’s capital city of Srinagar.
Historically, development in Kashmir has
been severely limited due to this military
presence by India (Habibullah, 2008). This
occupation causes frequent harthaals
(“strikes”) led by Kashmiri separatist parties
against the Indian military presence.
Kashmiris leave their home, work, and
school regularly to protest in the streets,
march in droves, and picket for azadi
(“independence”) from the Indian
occupation of their homeland. This harthaal
is a recurring phenomenon that happens on
a monthly, sometimes weekly basis, as was
experienced by the author in the summer of
2008. Everything comes to a standstill
when these strikes take place, which in turn
perpetuates the lack of socioeconomic

CURRENT ANALYSIS
There is currently no contingency plan for
the continuation of education and schooling
for children during these periods of strikes,
an issue that BOSE does not address in its
current policies.
The military presence and consequential
insurgency is a major factor in the lack of
economic development in Kashmir
(Habibullah, 2008). The lack of economic
development in Kashmir has a direct effect
on employment opportunities for Kashmiri
students when they finish school. Without a
solid economy, the job market cannot
adequately support the influx of educated
and qualified individuals with relevant jobs.
Kashmir’s average per capita income is
more than 100 times less than the United
States, at about $324 a year (US Department
of Commerce, 2007; India Economic
Survey, 2007). The loss of profits from
trade and tourism due to the insurgency
severely effected economic development in
Kashmir. As late as the early 1980s, these
two activities accounted for over 17% of the
GDP, and by 2001 their share declined to
less than 10% of GDP (Burki, 2007). The
conflict in Kashmir has crippled the
economy of Kashmir. Whether measured
by per capita income, aggregate growth
rates, or GDP, JK ranks among the bottom
one-third economically of the Indian states,
and has been one of the slowest growing
regional economies in South Asia (Burki,
2007). The two issues of economic and
educational underdevelopment in Kashmir
are interrelated, and must be addressed
concurrently in order for real progress to
transpire.
The violence causes the people of JK to
disregard progress or development, and
focus on the politics of the region. In
2005,human rights groups and local NGOs
put the total figure of lives lost due to the
insurgency at more than 84,000, although
most agree to 70,000 (Pal, 2006). Many of
the lost lives have been male heads of
household, who leave their family for the
Kashmiri cause only to die on the
battlefield. These men leave behind
families, who, after the fathers death are led
by illiterate mothers who cannot provide for
their families (Schofield, 1997). This
phenomenon is creating towns of widows
and their families like Dardpora (“town of
pain”). The number of orphans caused by
the conflict is estimated to be around
100,000 (McGivering, 2000). For the
countless widows of the conflict, education
of their child is their top priority;
irrespective of their economic status they
want to provide quality education to their
children (Zahoor, 2008). Yet, in order to
support their household, children must
leave school early to work, causing 85% of
JK students to drop out after secondary
school (Parvaiz, 2007).
The ongoing conflict in Kashmir has caused
a significant amount of human lives lost,
causing a collapse of the family structure
(Mir, 2003). The effects of the conflict on
family structure, economy and education
system has been devastating and the State
must address these issues in order to begin
rebuilding a stable society for generations to
flourish within. Also, equitable political
conditions are still nonexistent in the State.
As the 2006 Sachar Committee report for
the Government of India states, in Jammu
and Kashmir, with a 67% Muslim
population, the Muslim community’s share
of the State judiciary is only 48%. Without a
government that fully represents its
residents, it is difficult to implement policies
that are inclusive and representative of the
majority in the State.

CONCLUSION
The growing frustration of the unemployed educated youth, the absence of visible economic
development, and the continuing conflict are all factors to be considered when studying
educational development in JK. Viewing these issues from a historic standpoint is important to
understand where and why these issues began. In gathering this information, policy makers are
able to design and implement a more holistic strategy in developing Kashmir. By knowing the
historic information, it is easier to discover what has and has not worked, and what issues
continually transpire with education in Jammu and Kashmir. The ongoing conflict is the overall
hindrance to true educational development that promotes equality and opportunities for all of
the residents of Jammu and Kashmir in India. In the words of India’s current President, Pratibha
Patil, “Education is key to Kashmir’s peace and prosperity,” (AOL India News, 2008).

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