An Open Letter to Omar Abdullah on the Future of J&K Students

Honourable Chief Minister, I write with a simple concern that many of us in Jammu and Kashmir talk about in private. Our education system is slipping into a cycle of ceremonies while students struggle with real learning and teachers feel increasingly sidelined.

- Aufaq Zargar

Your warning about the mushrooming of colleges struck a chord. The rush to approve 50 degree colleges in 2019 happened without planning or accountability. Many of those institutions still run with low enrollment, weak facilities, and almost no permanent staff. Students and teachers carry the burden of decisions made in haste.

The transfer system tells a similar story. The ATD Portal, introduced in 2023 as a step toward transparency, has been pushed aside for manual transfers. Teachers feel tossed around from one posting to another without fairness or clarity. This goes against the spirit of a digital India.