Need for introspection
For any society to progress on all fronts, proper education to its children is the key. It is the education that helps a child to become a responsible, creative, innovative and productive citizen who can lead her/his society and nation to a better future. The schools are a perfect medium to ignite the engine of development and the economic growth that is why in developed countries, the government’s focus more on this sector. In Jammu and Kashmir too, the UT administration has been taking the sector seriously and is trying to ensure that all the schools are maintaining academic standards, empowering young students to develop experimental skills, exposing them to exciting innovations. Gone are the days when focus of education was about reading, writing and arithmetic. With modern times have emerged modern educational policies and methods. The education is for overall development of a child besides skill development so that after schooling they don’t face difficulties in adjusting in the society and contributing to it. National Education Policy (NEP) has already been set in motion and its implementation in letter and spirit is going to revolutionise the education sector all over.
However, the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2020-21 by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, has thrown open some disturbing data concerning the situation of Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir in higher education. The recently released survey shows that enrolment of Muslim students in the higher education in J&K has dropped by 47,334 since 2019-2020. This “level of absolute decline has never happened in the recent past for any group” in the region.
The data shows that Jammu and Kashmir has an estimated enrolment of 3, 98,854 in the higher education institutes, including Universities, Management Institutes, Engineering Institutes, Medical, Law, Architecture, Planning, Agriculture and other professional and general line Colleges and Research Institutes. Given the point that within Hindu dominated Indian State, Jammu and Kashmir has still a Muslim majority demographic value at 68.31 %, a disturbing fact is that the percentage in enrolment of this community in institutes of higher learning is contrarily 32.92 percent.
In 2019-20, out of a total enrolment of 3,95, 416 the number of Muslim boys and girls registered for different academic and professional courses of higher education was 1,78,676, which is slightly above 45%. AISHE statistics reveal that the number of Muslim youth has steeply declined to 1, 31,342, to be exact it is 32.92 % of the total enrolment estimated for 2020-21.
Though the survey has broken some stereotypical imaging of Kashmiri Muslims as being misogynic. The number of Muslim girls in the higher education is almost same as that of the boys of their religion. It was 89,608 for both the genders in 2019-20, fact of the matter is that the decline in the number of enrolments in higher education comes as a call for introspection for the majority community.
At the pan India level the fall of Muslim students in higher education has been experienced highest in Uttar Pradesh at 36 %. Jammu and Kashmir accounts for 26 % which followed by Maharashtra. At the state/Union Territory level, the largest Muslim populated geographical unit, J&K, has lost 36 percent of Muslim students over the previous year of 2019-20.
Education in the public sector is free from primary to university level. The budgetary allocations for this sector is on a steady rise over the years. The government under its National Education Policy 2020 is trying to build on traditional and emerging strengths, leveraging the digital initiatives and optimising the opportunities to address the skill deficiencies. Admissions are strictly based on the competitive examinations where only the merit matters. It is therefore responsibility of the society as a whole to see the reasons behind this fall and take corrective measures.
