In Kashmir, a generation of educated youth stands at crossroads. Armed with degrees and dreams, they face a trifecta of crises: crumbling job markets, familial disillusionment, and an education system gasping for relevance. Their struggle isn’t just about unemployment—it’s a battle for dignity, purpose, and the right to redefine success.
Kashmiri youth face multidimensional challenges stemming from limited job opportunities, unskilled workforce and unsupportive environment added by familial expectations, personal aspirations and societal pressures. These factors often lead to dissatisfaction and disillusionment as they struggle to secure employment aligned with their aspirations and field of study.
Many settle for jobs that merely address their basic economic crisis fostering feelings of discontent and frustration with their achievements. The pressure includes family expectations, peer influence, self-doubt, scarce employment opportunities and underpayment which is collectively dismantling their physical and mental abilities.
When education becomes transactional, love turns conditional. Parents who sacrificed to fund degrees now voice searing accusations: “We spent so much money on your education—what do we have to show for it?”. This reduction of learning to a mere job ticket ignores education’s true purpose: nurturing critical thinking, creativity, and empathy.
Highly educated but unemployed youth face stigma in matrimonial markets. Families—especially those with less formal education—view them as “liabilities”. The unspoken calculus is brutal: degrees without income equal failure. A recent report by KNS Kashmir says that as of January 2025, there are 370,811 educated youth registered as unemployed on the employment portal in JK.
In families with low educational attainment, a qualified child can become an alien presence. Their ambitions are met not with pride, but resentment—a tragic disconnect where achievement feels like betrayal. A survey “Youth in India” by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation reports that 29.1% of youth in JK aged up to 29 years are unmarried.
Here is the story of two young men who aspired to become successful engineers and are doing something else in order to fulfill the bread and butter aim of education in order to fulfil their family’s requirements.
Burhan – A 26-year-old boy (name changed), his story echoes across countless Kashmiri homes. After scoring 82% in Class 12 and graduating in electrical engineering, he prepared for competitive exams, only to watch recruitment processes collapse under “delays, legal complications, and prolonged writ petitions”. His father’s retirement turned financial pressure into a vies grip. Today, Burhan teaches children at home and uploads lectures to YouTube a pragmatic pivot born of systemic abandonment.
Kamran Abbas Lone (name changed), 28 years old civil engineer, faced similar disillusionment. Political instability shattered his dream of working in power development. After years of unemployment, he opened a stationery shop Munawar Stationers in Kishtwar. “With unemployment widespread,” he admits, “I had no choice but to start a business”.
These stories highlight the plight of innumerable Kashmiri Youth who certainly aspire high in life but are not able to achieve what they deserve because the undeniable and unavoidable circumstances in Kashmir. A recent report by Greater Kashmir (2022) says that JK tops in unemployment rate in India. The report paints a stark picture of the unemployment rate of 32% among job seekers in the 15-29 age group in urban areas.
There are a number of factors that are responsible for the societal and economic crisis among youth in JK. Some of the issue emerge at primary level education in schools. Kashmir’s public education system, once an engine of social mobility, now mirrors its political landscape fragmented and under-resourced:
– Government schools languish with rotted infrastructure: no labs, libraries, or clean toilets. A report by Kashmir life (March 2025) says that over 8800 schools in JK lack clean drinking water, 12,600 without functional toilets.
– Teachers confess sending their own children to private schools a damning indictment of the system’s collapse because of better facilities and personality grooming avenues.
What must be done?
1.Redefine “Success”
Society must celebrate diverse paths. Kamran’s stationery shop isn’t failure it’s entrepreneurship. Burhan’s YouTube channel isn’t surrender it’s innovation. We need teachers, artists, and shopkeepers as much as doctors.
- Education’s Emotional Revolution
Hope flickers in initiatives like the Art-Based Capacity Building (ACBT) Project, training teachers in 60 schools to use art for emotional healing.
Integrating Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) equips youth to navigate trauma, not just exams. As CASEL’s research proves: emotional intelligence out predicts IQ for long-term success.
- Policy with Teeth
– Cluster Schools: Merge under-enrolled schools into well-equipped hubs.
– Teacher Accountability: End lifelong postings; implement rotation and skill upgrades.
– Vocational Bridges: The NEP 2020’s focus on “holistic education” must materialize in Kashmir via vocational training aligned with local economies.
-Kashmir’s economic revitalization hinges on attracting significant investments from large industries and companies, which can create substantial job opportunities and address the prevailing the existing uncertainties.
-Equally important is to embrace the aspirations of individuals who want to choose unconventional paths beyond traditional paths like medicine, angering, teaching or law. Allowing pursuit of passions- be it art, baking, music, acting, painting or fashion. As Confucius says that choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
The writer is Pursuing MA Political Science, School of Social Sciences, University of Kashmir. afreenmanzoor121@gmail.com
