Education Under Occupation: The Challenges Facing Kashmiri Students & Academics

The educational structure of Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir has been contested for a long time as it is at the center of the entwinement of cultural, political, and militaristic discourse. From censorship to military-occupied restrictions for education, the educational system has symbolized the plight of the people in the region of Kashmir.

There have been a host of challenges facing students and academics from Kashmir, with uncertainty resulting from the military occupation of India. The most conspicuous barrier is the prevailing conditions of military violence, insecurity, and curfews, which often lead to the closure of schools, colleges, and universities for weeks. During intensified fighting, schools are frequently attacked, and consequently, buildings are razed down or destroyed. The perpetual state of insecurity leads to schools that end up closed for months, resulting in disruptions of the academic calendar and negatively impacting children’s development. This fear is very evident among college-aged boys in the region, where education is often overlooked because personal safety becomes a more urgent and essential priority. As a result, children are deprived of their fundamental right to a safe and healthy learning environment, hindering their physical, intellectual, social, and psychological development.

In addition to the direct impact of physical occupation, systematic injustice compounds the undesirable features in the education of the students of Kashmir. Availability of education is not equal; rural areas do not receive the same resources as urban schools. Due to the unfair distribution of resources, teaching and learning institutions lack adequate human resources, and most of the time, they lack adequate facilities for teaching too. The lack of sufficient resources for establishing ‘advanced level’ schools to meet international standards is another concerning issue for the Kashmiri people. Classroom structures in urban centers do not have common facilities such as electricity, heat, or internet. Of even more significant concern is a curriculum that is tightly controlled by the Indian central government while failing to address the systemic marginalization of the Muslim majority in Indian-occupied Kashmir and the cultural and political erasure that has accompanied this marginalization.

All the aspects of education in Kashmir are under threat of censorship. Course content is closely controlled, and free speech is limited in a manner that makes it nearly impossible for students to learn about the history of Kashmir in a locally sourced context. This manipulation of the curriculum subverts the critical thinking and academic freedom that education is supposed to promote. Teachers, as well as other educators, are under pressure to uphold the existing dominant discourses or avoid consequences of guaranteed repression for telling unwanted narratives. As a result, the education system in the occupied valley becomes increasingly monotonous, devoid of diversity, any sort of opposition, and regionalism, and simply provides state-controlled historical and political propaganda.

A recent and particularly disputed issue is the introduction of extracts from the Vedas, the holy book of Hinduism, into the curriculum, including schools where the majority of students are Muslims. This is a very deliberate show of power as the Indian authorities aim to project their Hindutva agenda of cultural dominance and cement their control over all aspects of Kashmiri culture and religion. Such practices, where and when they are done at the cost of the Islamic culture of the region, have been criticized by the Kashmiri Muslims as it seems to be a blatant effort to demoralize the Kashmiris and their struggle for freedom. This imposition tends to mainly show the broader assimilation processes that are threatening to eliminate Kashmiri culture and tradition in the name of education. Religion is a very personal choice and forcing a religion upon someone who doesn’t subscribe to those teachings and has no ability to decline it is extremely problematic. While all religious texts can present some valuable lessons, making a particular religious text compulsory in the area where the majority of the population is Muslim is a violation of the cultural and spiritual identity of the people of Kashmir.

Students and teachers in Kashmir also face restrictions on communications and access to online information. Since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, when the Indian government removed the “special status” of Jammu and Kashmir, internet closures and an indefinite social media shutdown have become a routine activity of Indian authorities. Due to these limitations, a whole generation of students and academics have been stripped of their rights to personal learning, communication, and information acquisition outside of the classroom.

The existing political situation in Kashmir has made the people, particularly the students and other intellectuals, suppressed and afraid to express their views. Any person that writes, questions, or even comments on the actions that the government is taking is subject to threats, imprisonment, and more. Kashmiri scholars have been arrested or investigated on allegations of being “anti-national” due to their topics of research or by participation in protests. Such hostile conditions eliminate any chance of critical thinking and innovation among teachers and students alike.

In addition to these oppressive policies, military invasion in schools undermines the conventional education processes. Several schools in Indian-occupied Kashmir have been used and turned into military posts, leaving the students in fear and panic. The environment in schools becomes vulnerable and intimidating as soldiers walk around and enter the premises carrying weapons.

The students in occupied Jammu and Kashmir are discriminated against and stereotyped when they opt to get an education from other Indian states. Some of the women who managed to get scholarships to study in universities in India disclosed that they have been harassed and discriminated against. Kashmiri students in India are treated as sub-human, they are seen not as beings full of hopes, fears, and dreams but as potential threats. This discrimination is carried forward to job markets where graduates from the region stay locked out of the labor market due to negative perceptions about their origins. Similarly, such social exclusion isolates the students from mainstream society. It takes away the strength of the Kashmiri students as they feel rejected from the society that claims them as theirs yet refuses to treat them as an equal.

It is inconceivable to underestimate the psychological implications of the experience for individuals living under such circumstances, especially students. Children and youth in a militarized zone, fearing surveillance, censorship, and violence, may face turbulence and traumatic mental health disorders. School aged children in Kashmir are highly prone to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD compared to students in other regions. Lack of freedom of speech and minimal provisions of mental health facilities means young people in Kashmir live impaired, not only in terms of their studies but as human beings. Such psychological vices are transferred to the next generations; denying children and students opportunities in education makes the process more challenging.

Unless dramatic changes are made to rectify these problems, the future of education in Indian-occupied Kashmir is in serious peril. Re-establishing control in the academic process, applying equal opportunity in providing learning materials, and developing a curriculum that will take the culture and history of the area into account is necessary. Otherwise, it will remain a system of oppressive political and cultural assimilation rather than becoming a system of empowering people’s minds.