Attack on Kashmiri students: PSAJ&K steps in, says will accommodate students who came back
Srinagar: The students who faced expulsion or rustication from the colleges and universities in outside J&K state will be facilitated by the Private Schools Association Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJ&K) in collaboration with the coaching centres association Kashmir (CCAK).
This was stated by the president PSAJ&K G N Var in a press conference held at Srinagar. Var is also heading CCAK as chairman in Kashmir.
Both the associations called for joint efforts to cope up with the prevailing situations in outside J&K state wherein Kashmiri students are facing ‘wrath’ of mobs as well their institutions.
The Association asked the political parties to keep education apolitical and urged them to shun away from doing politics at the cost of the future of thousands of students.
“Around 3000 students have arrived and more are coming. It is becoming one of the biggest challenges for us. Majority of these students including girls have been humiliated, intimidated and threatened,” said Var. He asked the government to think out of box solutions to accommodate the students running away from colleges in outside states.
“There are cases of beatings too. At places, colleges have been forced to rusticate the students and police has been pressurized to register cases against them on frivolous charges,” G N Var said.
He said in such a situation, the students were not willing to go back while as parents are apprehensive about their wards re-joining the colleges in such hostile atmosphere.
“Maybe the situation cools down in some days but nobody is sure about the future. What if a similar situation arises again? Assembly and Parliamentary elections are approaching in the coming months and the atmosphere will be charged and even polarized,” Var said, adding that in such sensitive atmosphere of manipulative politics, there are chances that Kashmiri students will become hostage to the situation again.
“We have been time and again pleading that education should remain politics neutral,” he said.
The association said that local political parties and leaders should limit their words and actions to facilitate the progress and development of education sectors and not do politics on education.
“Had our political leaders who are currently raising a hue and cry over the expulsion of Kashmiri students, paid heed to the development of educational infrastructure in Kashmir, this situation would have been largely avoided,” said Var.
He lambasted the successive regimes saying that they never encouraged the emergence of colleges and universities of excellence in the private sector and the result is that Kashmir is an educationally backward region.
“Every state encouraged the establishment of private college and universities except ours. Even today more than 100 files for the establishment of colleges are pending for want of clearance,” Var said.
The association said that the government lacks education policy for education in private sector.
“In 1996 the then government allowed establishment of B.Ed. colleges by relaxing rules. Scores of colleges sprung up and they gradually built their infrastructure,” he said.
Var said the government should come to the rescue and relax the rules for establishment of colleges and universities, as a one-time immediate measure.
“Colleges and private universities should be allowed to operate from rented accommodations with assurance of development of infrastructure in five or 10 years. Similarly other rules be relaxed too,” said Var. “We assure you that we will be self-sufficient in most of the courses within few years.”
The association said that outside investors were also ready to invest in education sector here in Kashmir.
“Even foreign universities are also eager to collaborate to establish institutes of excellence in Kashmir, if only government gives a nod,” he said.
He said both the associations have been working with Professors of KU, IUST, NIT and other institutes to tackle the present situation. “In addition to it, educationists and academicians have also been roped in.”
He said CCAK has offered free admission to students in various courses as according to our analysis most of the courses like BTech, BBA, MBA and BCA can be taught here by the faculty.
“The students who were in the midst of coaching for competitive examinations like NEET, JET and IAS will also be provided free admission in coaching centres, as the arrangements have been made to accommodate them,” he said.
The associations have asked all experts and professors to voluntarily register with them so that an assessment of Human Resource can be made.
“We will come to know how much Human Resource we have and what are we lacking. They can be used to teach the students at suitable accommodations,” said Var.
“We have trained persons in specialised courses like Nano Technology too, we need to identify and utilise their services at this hour.”
The Associations warned that if the immediate measures are not taken, the situation can go from bad to worse. Coming down heavily on the implementation of Prime Minister Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) in the State, which is biased towards the educational institutes of the state, the association demanded their rules be amended.
“They give Rs 1200 crore scholarship for colleges outside J&K. Had they included local colleges in the scholarship, the students would have been safe and the local infrastructure would have also got developed,” said Var.
The association threatened to boycott PMSSS from the coming session if the colleges of the State are not included in the scheme.
KV Correspondent
