In every society, education is celebrated as the path to dignity, progress and nation-building. Governments repeatedly urge young people to pursue higher studies, qualify competitive examinations and contribute intellectually to society. Yet, in Jammu & Kashmir, a painful contradiction continues to haunt thousands of highly qualified youth serving in colleges under the Higher Education Department on an academic arrangement basis.
For more than a decade, these lecturers have carried the burden of higher education in colleges across the region. They teach undergraduate students, manage academic responsibilities, conduct examinations, assist in administrative work and sustain the functioning of institutions that would otherwise collapse under faculty shortages. Many among them possess M.Phil and Ph.D degrees, and have cleared prestigious national-level examinations such as NET, SET and JRF. Yet despite their qualifications, experience and years of service, they continue to exist in a state of uncertainty, receiving meagre salaries without job security, social protection or a roadmap for regularization. The tragedy lies not merely in their contractual status, but in the selective manner in which justice is being interpreted.
For years, discussions within government circles have revolved around regularising only those academic arrangement candidates who were engaged before the Jammu & Kashmir Civil Services Special Provisions Act, 2010. Various reports and communications reportedly seek details only of those candidates who served prior to 2010, while overlooking a far larger section of lecturers who joined after the enactment of the law and who today constitute the overwhelming majority of long-serving faculty in colleges. This raises a fundamental constitutional and moral question: if long years of service justify regularisation for one category, why should the same principle not apply to those who entered service after 2010 and have now devoted seven, ten or even more years to the department?
The principle of fairness cannot operate selectively. Equality before law is not a matter of convenience; it is the cornerstone of democratic governance. Interestingly, even judicial observations in the past have emphasised that long-serving employees deserve consideration on humanitarian and equitable grounds, irrespective of arbitrary cut-off dates. Ignoring those who have spent the prime years of their lives serving educational institutions simply because they entered after 2010 creates an artificial distinction that fails the test of justice.
What makes the situation even more painful is the larger social message being conveyed to society. Successive governments have, rightly, considered welfare and regularisation measures for various categories of workers including daily wagers and other temporary employees. Such steps deserve appreciation because every worker deserves dignity. However, the silence surrounding highly qualified contractual lecturers sends a disturbing signal to the younger generation: that years spent pursuing higher education may ultimately lead only to exploitation and uncertainty.
A student observing this reality may naturally ask: what is the reward for earning a Ph.D, clearing NET and SET or dedicating years to academic excellence by serving in Higher education department for a decade one remains without security, dignity or adequate salary?
This is not merely an employment issue; it is a civilisational question about how society values knowledge. A labourer with basic schooling may still possess alternative avenues for livelihood through physical work or trade. But a person who spends years specialising in academics, research and teaching often becomes professionally confined to the educational sector. When that sector itself offers neither stability nor respect, highly educated youth become victims of systemic neglect. Their intellectual investment turns into a burden rather than an asset.
The crisis deepened further after large-scale regularisation measures in other sectors drastically reduced future employment opportunities. In Jammu & Kashmir, the regularization of thousands of Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers under previous administrations significantly narrowed the space for fresh teacher recruitment. Since then, recruitment in the education sector has remained painfully limited. Lecturer-level appointments have also failed to match the growing number of qualified candidates emerging from universities each year.
The result is devastating: an entire generation of educated youth remains trapped between overqualification and unemployment. Even those fortunate enough to secure academic arrangement positions face glaring disparities in service conditions. Across India, contractual lecturers in higher education institutions often receive salaries far closer to dignified academic pay structures. Yet in Jammu & Kashmir, many academic arrangement lecturers reportedly survive on approximately ₹28,000 per month — an amount grossly inadequate considering their qualifications, workload and years of experience. The contrast becomes sharper when compared to neighbouring Ladakh, which once formed part of the same administrative structure and where contractual academic staff have, in several instances, received comparatively better pay protections. Such disparities naturally create feelings of alienation among highly qualified youth who increasingly believe that intellectual labour in Jammu & Kashmir receives neither recognition nor institutional respect.
The issue, therefore, is not merely about salaries or regularisation. It concerns the future of higher education itself.
How can colleges maintain academic excellence when their teachers live under constant psychological stress, financial insecurity and social uncertainty? How can research culture flourish when scholars spend their most productive years waiting for administrative recognition? And how can society encourage future generations toward higher learning when existing scholars are struggling for survival?
The government and civil society must recognise that academic arrangement lecturers are not demanding charity. They are demanding acknowledgement of years already spent in public service. They are asking for a humane policy rooted in equality, fairness and educational vision.
A progressive society cannot afford to neglect its intellectual class. Nations rise not merely through infrastructure or administration, but through teachers, researchers and scholars who shape human capital. Ignoring long-serving highly educated youth ultimately weakens the very foundation of social development.
The need of the hour is a comprehensive and transparent policy for all long-serving academic arrangement lecturers, irrespective of whether they entered service before or after 2010. Any policy that excludes the overwhelming majority of current faculty would deepen frustration and institutional distrust. Justice delayed for educated youth eventually becomes a threat to the moral legitimacy of governance itself.
Jammu & Kashmir stands at a critical moment. It can either continue a system where highly educated youth remain disposable contractual labour, or it can build a future where scholarship, merit and long public service are treated with dignity.
The choice will define not only the future of thousands of lecturers, but also the future character of education in the region.
The author is working in School Education Department and can be mailed at darsaimahamid@gmail.com
