Thinking differently
The Covid pandemic has turned the world upside down for us. Every sector has been badly hit and the advent of the deadly disease has meant that we have to think of moving ahead with a totally different mindset.
Take for an example the education sector. The sector has been one of the most affected by the worldwide pandemic. Schools and colleges have been shut and for the time being we see no prospects of them opening up.
Though we may be able to reach a point in the coming months when opening of schools and colleges can be considered maybe with different guidelines and SOPs. Whatever may be the decision taken, only time will tell.
But one thing is for sure that students in Kashmir who opt to study outside the region need to have other options available with them. The situation has changed so much that people have to stay closer to their families and homes so that they can cope up with the new guidelines that may be issued while colleges or schools are allowed to function.
In this scenario we need to have good institutions of higher learning in the UT as the need for the same is felt very badly. This is evident from the fact that every year almost 12,000 students from Kashmir valley end up joining various professional colleges outside the state to seek education in those streams which are not available here.
The movement of such a large number of students every year is also affecting the economy of the region as rough surveys suggest that crores of Rupees moves out of the region because of this phenomenon.
Under these circumstances various questions are raised as to why Kashmir valley is lacking to establish institutions of higher learning. And secondly, why isn’t the local breed of investors coming out with a solution to this problem.
The question also remains as to why the government is not allowing the local entrepreneurs to invest in education sector so that they could establish colleges, universities in Kashmir which could boost employment opportunities in the investment starved Valley.
The education sector has seen negligence is evident from the fact that very few colleges have come up in the private sector in Kashmir valley. For this the onus lies on the government as well as no effort has been put in into this crucial sector and set things straight.
The government should have promoted investment even from private sector in higher education and professional streams. For this a clear cut policy such as a single window clearance system should have been put in place so that more and more private players could have entered the sector.
Under ease of doing business, there has to be a mechanism in Kashmir that anybody having requisite infrastructure and capital in place should be allowed to establish quality educational institutions which could hold the students back.
KV Network
