Poet & Policy

As NEP 2020 reshapes classrooms, Iqbal's ideas on learning, purpose and character offer lessons Kashmir should not ignore.

- Muntashir Kifayat Hussain

Education in Kashmir is changing. New policies bring new terms, structures, and expectations. Teachers sit through training sessions, and schools revise formats.

But amid this constant adjustment, a deeper question remains unanswered: what is education meant to do for a young Kashmiri mind?

In the rush to modernise, our education system has begun to overlook the thinkers who once shaped our moral and intellectual compass. Their ideas are treated as history lessons, rather than living guides. Allama Iqbal is one of them.

The Poet of East is often remembered as a versatile versifier to be quoted instead of a thinker to be engaged with.

But his ideas speak directly to the very questions our classrooms are struggling to answer today.

Most of us grew up hearing his verses from parents and grandparents. His poetry lived in our homes, prayers and public life.

Today, he rarely appears in serious discussions on education.

We are not short on modern ideas. What we lack is the habit of connecting them to our own intellectual tradition.

The National Education Policy 2020 talks about holistic learning, critical thinking, creativity, skill development and moral grounding.

These ideas are presented as new. They are not. Iqbal spoke about them long before policy documents existed.

If teacher training programs in Kashmir created space to discuss thinkers like Iqbal, education would gain depth and direction.