By Sheikh Imran Bashir, Agence India Press,
Srinagar: As valley is witnessing improvement politically, the same has delivered an effect on the education sector-“Improvement in academic results”
The Jammu & Kashmir Bose officials believe that the improvement in the situation come over years as a boon to the state’s Board of School Education, which has struggled in recent years to provide quality schooling.
Mehboob Hussain, the Joint Secretary for Examinations told Agence India Press that, in 2010, the situation in the state was so worrisome that it was impossible for people to even step out of their houses. But the Board of School Education carried out examinations in this scenario as well and I must add that one of the officials of the Board of School Education lost his life. So, the credit for the results goes entirely to the Board of School Education.
In 2010 and 2011, unrest and massive protests across the province forced hundreds of schools to close down while insecurity continued to plague the few that remained open.
Students like Adil Ahmad elaborated on this, saying the political turmoil had made a daily activity such as going to school extremely challenging.
He added that street protests, curfews and shutdowns had also forced a large number of students to leave the state in pursuit of a higher quality of education.
“Last year’s dismal performance was because of the turmoil in 2010 and because of that the students were depressed, boys were being forcefully thrown out of their houses and getting arrested. There was an atmosphere of fear everywhere. They were scared that anything could happen if they stepped out of their houses. So going to school and tuition was difficult for a lot of us. The schools also could not complete the syllabus, which is why the results were very poor, about 47 percent. But in 2012, the results were good because there weren’t many strikes and in 2011, several students also left the state to get a better education,” he said.
According to the 2011 census, 68.7 percent of Jammu and Kashmir’s population is literate. This however is on the lower end of the spectrum when compared to states like Kerala and Mizoram, which boast rates of 93.9 percent and 91.6 percent respectively.
Although militant violence has fallen dramatically in recent years, popular protests have continued. In 2008, the region witnessed the biggest protests against Indian rule in two decades. (AIP News)