Education Scenario in India: Conflict-Ridden States of Jammu and Kashmir (Pre-370 Abrogation) And the North-East

Abstract

Conflict impinges on the every-day lives of those impacted. It slowly creeps into the vital institutions of the society and withers away the system’s ability to absorb its ill-effects further and as a result, the system sometimes breaks down completely. The deep impact conflict has on the educational institutions can be gauged from the fact that in the ongoing conflicts around the world, educational institutions have deliberately been targeted. Not only this, education as a whole is also impacted by the displacements and migrations forcing many students to drop out of the system losing a lifetime opportunity of bringing positive changes in their lives. The state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has been witnessing the situations of conflict for the last few decades and as a result, border skirmishes are frequent which forces the communities to flee for safety away from their native places. A similar kind of situation, but with a different nature, exists in the North-Eastern states of India. The conflict there has been ethnic in nature and adversely impacts the education. This article is an attempt to study the interplay of conflict and education in the conflict-ridden states in India and to put forward a comparative analysis.