Imagine a laborer, working during the da, studying in the hours of night and mornings, has cracked highly competitive NEET examination to the joy of his parents and home people. He is Umer from Pulwama, working as a painter. He cracked (NEET), Medical Entrance Test, national examination, in silence with glory. It is not ordinary achievement for a laborer of proletariat family that too of a remote area of south Kashmir. It is a piece of news that one cherishes to hear. Ask those parents who have worked day and night with their children, spent time and money in coaching centres, carrying the ward to it and ensuring his /her food and other requirements; yet their children have not been able to score mandatory marks to get admission in any medical college, so are these razor edged competitive examinations of modern times. Umer’s parents are not resourceful, but he had grace of God and support of the state, in a sense. God saved him from social media distractions and state assured him peace and atmosphere to enable him to defeat poverty and distractions. We do not value peace, until we have upheavals. Human memory is short. We forget the memory of dreaded times.
Kashmiris, by and large are victims of their tradition of scholarship and studying. It is only matter of sustained peace that would transform the class nobilities. Kashmiri Pandits and some Muslim urban families, earlier in first quarter of twentieth century benefited from colonial education system, became pace setters. Subsequently large masses benefited from the state sponsored measures after 1940s, in a span of two decades, to witness the mobility and transformation of classes. Gradually, after independence in a period of two decades, we have new educated middle class along with a new rich uneducated class as well, well spread in the valley. While new rich class sought its identity in a referent outside the borders, the educated middle class suffered its humiliation by disowning their spiritual cultural capital. Pandits lost its share due inverse proportionality of their population and Muslim educated middle class, deficient in native leadership, suffered humiliation from non natives, as new mores were forced on them. They were unable to differentiate between political religion and real moral faith. Their humiliation was double edged, one caused by the disempowerment of own cultural capital and then its mimesis of looked down by the imagined referent class, of which it wanted to be a part and parcel without any institutional means to derivative goals. It was mixed era of political mystification and development with delusions and disillusionments. The clouds have thinned down for sun-rays to come out.
Politics apart, if we explore the history of last five years, history’s strides can easily be explained in taking new directions along with globalism. We may not be able to erase the ills of paradigm shift of 1990s. It was mystification for different referent and disempowerment of nativity; its ramifications have not completely been lessened. The Pandits remain displaced. The educated middle class is demystified. Their families are disintegrating in nuclear town families, and nuclear families are unable to discipline their children. And families hardly have more than two children in their nuclear families.
They are passing through disenchantment phase, their silence is meaningful for a particular generation and age; but peace, they value most. While, the neo rich class, chunk of society well spread across the valley, as usual, is busy in their constructions of big houses, buying lands, swell properties and in expanding business.
They are in terms with the tide of time, in any direction. It makes the social representation of Kashmir complicated at micro and macro level. The adjustments with frozen mind of the past generation and flexible notion of future of the present generation have made families houses not homes. Youth on mobile sets and parents anxiously concerned with fragility of events. It is a question of adjustment with new realities.
There is some semblance in the valley that process of demystification is near to complete. Gradually, but willfully, the new educated middle class is coming to terms with the hard realities that it is all about economics in the world. Right and wrong, ideologies and faiths have one rationale to justify that globalism is governed by multiplicity of information and digital worldview.
The literary education and digital knowledge, while remain thrust of the present government, but by and large universities with traditional curriculum, apart from political scoring, is perceived not of much functionality. Most of the universities face this quandary, whether resource generation is the only purpose of the faculty and the administrator.
The institutional merit in the university should lead towards this goal, while a section put emphasis to invoke the tradition and come up with missing links in historical existence of classical notion of merit. In any case, it is primordial plunge or at best rationalizing mythology for economic purposes, as if, the Universities are companies headed by CEOs. It is not a happy scenario.
However, a silver ling comes from ‘NEP 2020: HIGHER EDUCATION’. Its soul has been captured by JKHC, headed by LG Manoj Sinha himself with a functionary head, visionary Vice Chairperson Professor Dinesh Kumar Singh to make the programme functional. His vision is very clear: humanist, creative and career inventive to bring out the hidden unnoticed potential from each student by his own effort.
This experimentation with human potential, through the recognized notion of human nature is remarkable endeavor that he has taken upon himself along with the Vice chancellor of Jammu University.
He has brain storming sessions in continuous long sittings with young teachers in free and fair atmosphere, discussing each point with focus on undergraduate student. The Jammu University has become its nodal centre.
It is a treat to be in such participatory experimental workshop, where you are witness to how ideas take birth. These interactive sessions bring smiles on young teachers, who presume that their work will initiate an academic revolution to take off pessimism from an undergraduate student, who is spun over by career conundrums in this global world of manufactured uncertainties.
It seems to be a genuine concern, a fructifying exercise for long overdue transformation in our education system. It sounds well, for Professor Dinesh Singh has brilliant academic credentials, honest intellectual acumen and stainless career with huge administrative capabilities and an image to be a referent for his team members to draw the model for long overdue academic curriculum for our undergraduate students.
The young minds treat him as a role model and a genuine referent. No wonder, this participatory ideas generating enterprise, when comes in black and white, would be students’ cherished choice to study, free from academic phobia.
Since it is self generative, it would have an eye on digital know how, career opportunities, capacity building and then self empowerment. A transformation expected, that would be intrinsic with moral and material in pursuit for functionality, in this competitive world of market rationale.
The recent success of global meet, convocations as festivals have brought out smiles in our youth, with a sense of well being. Nevertheless, the middle class feels the brunt of expensive consumer items, expenditure on health and education and overriding tax system.
They appreciate and value the humility, efficiency and meaningful connect of Sh.Manoj Sinha ji, Honorable LT Governor. But middle rung ruthless bureaucracy, with some exceptions, is being perceived to be hurdling and not responsive to public sentiments and welfare delivery system.
Politicians can be taken to task and confronted with, but administrators cannot be, only slighted through mimicries in private conversations that people do. Peace is a prerequisite for generating corruption less and responsive efficient governance system.
We have witnessed its dividends in tourism and find smiles of youth in the campuses. We remain to feel it around with employability of youth, accountability of officers and transparency in administration that could be possible, if peace becomes a reality.
There is a need to take similar experimentation in other realms of public institutions, as taken by Professor D.K.Singh in making relevant curriculum for better future of our students, so that when the mandate goes to public representation, there is light in the tunnel, after years of stagnation and wait.
The author is an emeritus professor in sociology at Banaras Hindu University
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK