The Future of Jammu and Kashmir Begins in Our Classrooms
By Rayees Jamil
The future of Jammu and Kashmir is sitting in our classrooms today.
Every student carrying a schoolbag represents a future teacher, doctor, engineer, entrepreneur, journalist, farmer, civil servant or skilled professional. Yet the quality of that future depends on more than textbooks and examination results.
Education is a shared responsibility.
A student has the responsibility to learn, remain disciplined and develop curiosity. Parents have the responsibility to create a supportive environment at home and remain connected with their child’s education. Teachers have the responsibility to teach with commitment, understand different learning needs and help students develop confidence beyond the classroom.
But the responsibility does not end there.
The government has the responsibility to provide adequate infrastructure, trained manpower, learning resources and an effective system in which schools can function properly. The education administration also has an important role in supporting schools, facilitating the implementation of educational initiatives and helping ensure that the needs of students and teachers are reflected in planning and decision-making.
At the same time, accountability should not mean blaming one group for every problem.
When a student struggles, the answer should not immediately be to blame the teacher. When a school faces difficulties, the entire responsibility should not automatically be placed on the administration. And when a child performs poorly, parents should not measure the child's worth only through marks.
Instead, we need to ask a more useful question:
What is preventing this child from learning, and how can all stakeholders work together to remove that barrier?
Our education system must gradually move beyond the narrow idea that success means simply passing examinations. Students also need communication skills, reading habits, critical thinking, creativity, digital awareness, practical knowledge and the confidence to face an uncertain future.
This requires cooperation.
Parents must listen to teachers. Teachers must understand parents. School leaders must listen to their institutions. Education administrators can continue to strengthen their connection with schools and support them in responding to changing educational needs. Government policies can make the greatest difference when they are translated effectively into meaningful opportunities for students.
A well-designed policy can make a real difference when it is implemented with care, coordination and a clear understanding of ground realities.
Likewise, a well-equipped classroom cannot produce meaningful learning without committed teaching and parental support.
The education sector therefore needs less blame and more coordination, less paperwork and more implementation, less pressure and more guidance.
The question before us is not simply whether our children are attending school.
It is whether they are actually learning, growing and preparing for life.
Because the true success of an education system is not found in a government report or examination result alone.
It is found years later—in the character, knowledge, skills and contribution of the student who once sat in that classroom.
If we genuinely want a stronger Jammu and Kashmir, we must start where its future begins: with the child, the classroom and the collective responsibility of everyone entrusted with education.
So let every student choose curiosity, every parent choose encouragement, every teacher choose commitment, every administrator choose action and every government leader choose accountability. Let us not wait for someone else to build the future. Let us build it together—one child, one classroom and one courageous decision at a time.
