A student’s dilemma

Kashmir students who goes to pursue his career in outside states faces barrage of questions about his beliefs & the place he comes from
Farooq Ahmad Bakloo
Education is the only tool by which a community can move from widespread ignorance towards enlightenment or from poverty to prosperity. The communities which have educated their generation are listed among progressive and developed communities in the world today. If we take the example of Jews they are less in population in the world, but due to their focus on education are among top rated communities. As of 2017, Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 892 individuals, of whom 201 or 22.5% are Jews, although total Jewish population comprises less than 0.2% of the world’s population. Because of their focus on education, these few are controlling the policies of the world through their different designed institutions.
On the other hand there are many communities in the world whose population is very high (excluded Christians) but as compared to Jews are still backward regarding education. And in this list, the Muslim community (who are 1.8 billion in the world after Christianity but have only take only 30 Noble prizes from 1901-2015) is on the first page. If we speak of India, the circumstances are much worse as there are only 4.9% Muslim students enrolled in the higher education and same is the state of primary and secondary education. Jammu and Kashmir is the state which is among the lowest literacy rated states in the country. The literacy rate of the state is 67.16% as compared to the national literacy rate of 74.04. However the present generation and their parents are more focusing on the education and the parents are seen very attentive about their children’s career and some parents are sending their children outside the state for education and other career-related courses. If we talk about the valley there are number of students who are pursuing their education in different states of the country. When these students come out of the valley, they face a lot of challenges and verbal abuses from those who don’t know the ground reality of the valley and who are blind followers of the embodied media.
While staying outside the valley and through interactions with different people, I have observed there are three types of people: one type is who have constructed their opinions on the basis of national media about the Kashmir; second type is which has visited the valley once or twice or has remained there for any other purpose. The third category is scared one but wants to visit the Valley. However they are afraid because of media has shown them such environment. As far as the primary category is concerned, it is the section full of negativity about the people of the valley. The principal reason which I found in this section of the people is they blindly believe on the information whatever they get from media which has portrayed a negative picture of the valley and its people. It is terrible because of this partial nature of media the alienation among the new generation in the valley is escalating day by day, and the media is in the race of T.R.P.  This section of people are blind followers of the media, which sees Kashmiri with a different eye and whenever we met the people belonging to this section they often make these kind of remarks: What you want India or Pakistan? You all Kashmiri are traitors. How many times have you pelted stones? You are getting an education here, and in the Valley, you throw stones on our security forces. How much money do you get for stone pelting? In addition to this heap of impolite torment, faced by students from this category of people we know numerous students were beaten in different states because he/she belongs to the valley.
The students who are coming from the valley are facing horror and fear because of the situation which they have met at every corner in the valley.  These students of the valley come out to forget the pains and want to do well for which they move out from the state. However outside the valley when they meet with students and other sections of the society, some motivates them towards career, some care for them at the same time while some verbally abuses them.
The second category of the people is aware about the real situation of the valley because they have visited the valley or have remained there for some time. This section of people always shows concern and motivates and help the students from the Valley to achieve career goals. The main reason behind this is that they know the local hospitality and are well aware of the local Kashmiri people as they have felt that during the visits. These people narrate the beautiful stories and narrates memorable tales which they have come across while visiting different parts of the valley. The third category is the people who are not conscious of the situation, and most of them are eager to visit, but they are scared about their lives while visiting the valley as I already mentioned above the media which has endorsed the wrong notion in their minds about the Kashmir and its people. When this kind of people meet Kashmiris they always pose a question about the present condition, and they often speak wh5tehr it is safe for them to visit the valley, they always say that we want to visit valley once, but feel afraid as they have come across different Kashmir in the in the news. How you people live there?
In conclusion, the media should play a constructive role as it is the fourth pillar of the democracy. The way some media are portraying the image of Kashmir and the people who are living there is not in the interest of the national development. Because of this image created by the media about the Kashmir a significant number of students are facing humiliation and verbal abuses, and it is the responsibility of the Government of the State and the centre to address these paths because of which an ordinary Kashmiri youth are face troubles.
Tag: Education
Blurb: While staying outside the valley and through interactions with different people, I have observed there are three types of people: one type is who have constructed their opinions on the basis of national media about the Kashmir; second type is which has visited the valley once or twice or has remained there for any other purpose. The third category is scared one but wants to visit the Valley
The media should play a constructive role as it is the fourth pillar of the democracy. The way some media are portraying the image of Kashmir and the people who are living there is not in the interest of the national development
. Because of this image created by the media about the Kashmir a significant number of students are facing humiliation and verbal abuses, and it is the responsibility of the Government of the State and the centre to address these paths because of which an ordinary Kashmiri youth are face troubles