Conflict in Kashmir has taken a heavy toll on its people by exposing them to large scale violence and state repression. As a result, people have experienced the multi-dimensional impact of such large-scale violence in Kashmir. However, most serious effects of the conflict are seen on children. Caught in the crosshairs of conflict, the Kashmiri children have been bearing the brunt of systematic violence, abuse and maltreatment at the hands of Indian troops. It has engrossed their whole life and hampers their overall development, be it physical or psychological.
They have mostly been direct targets
of state-sponsored violence. They have been murdered, maimed and brutalized;
imprisoned under the black laws and subjected to sexual abuse and third-degree
torture in jails and interrogation centers. The abuse and torture in jails has
ruined their life to the extent that they did not recover from the psychic
trauma. Minors have also been detained under the Public Safety Act, termed as
the lawless law by Amnesty International, which allows a detention of
up to two years without trial.
Beyond deaths the deadly conflict has affected the Kashmiri
children in many different ways. It has wreaked havoc on the physical, mental
and behavioral health of Kashmiri children. Above all the morbidity and
mortality associated with the conflict have disproportionately impacted the
lives of children in the troubled region that has been reeling under the storms
of vicious violence for over several decades.
A report by the Amnesty International has shown that
children in Kashmir have been subjected to torture, inhuman and cruel treatment
and long periods of detention by the security forces. A report created by
Indian economists and activists, boys have been abducted during midnight raids
by the security forces, and girls have been molested during nighttime raids by
the Indian army officer. The vulnerability of children to conflict has come
very visible during the present cycle of unrest in Kashmir (2016). Almost 14
percent of the people (440) who were hit by pellets in their eyes in the
months’ long continuous unrest were children below 15 years. Many of them may
suffer partial or complete visual disability. Children as young as 3 years old
have been hit by pellets. The widespread killings have naturally resulted in
many children being orphaned and many women widowed. The orphanhood has led to
socio-economic deprivation.
The terrible impacts of the conflict on health could be
gauged by an eye-opening survey which suggested that there has been a
phenomenal increase in psychiatric morbidity and psychic trauma in Kashmir. The
results reveal that the prevalence of depression is 55.72%. The prevalence is
highest (66.67%) in the 15 to 25 years age group, followed by 65.33% in the 26
to 35 years age group. The difference in the prevalence of depression among
males and females is significant. Depression is much higher in rural areas
(84.73%) as compared to urban areas (15.26%). In rural areas the prevalence of
depression among females is higher (93.10 %) as compared to males (6.8%).
Nearly one
in five people in Kashmir show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder,
according to a 2015
study by Médecins Sans Frontières and the Srinagar-based Institute of
Mental Health and Neurosciences, or IMHANS.
2016
research published
by IMHANS and ActionAid estimated that 11.3 percent of the population had a
mental health disorder – higher than the national prevalence of around seven percent. But few were able to get treatment. Another study released in 2006 studied 100 children between the ages of three and 16
who had symptoms of PTSD.
Dr. Arshad
Hussain, a Kashmir based psychiatrist who co-authored the ActionAid study,
calls Kashmir one of the “saddest places in the world”.
IMPACT OF CONFLICT ON
CHILDREN’S EDUCATION
Education, considered as one of the important aspects
of children’s development, is another casualty in Kashmir that has seen a
tremendous impact of the conflict. The continued violence and bloodshed
in the region has rendered the education system completely paralyzed. Frequent
shutdowns, Curfews, Killings and Crackdowns have led to the closure of schools.
The data collected by different governmental and non-governmental organizations
show a severe decline in enrollment numbers during the recent years. According
to a survey over 3,000 adult and non-formal education centres were
closed in the region since 1990 due to financial constraints and staff
shortages. It has been
observed that the children who were born after 1990 have spent less time in
schools and more time in homes owing to the persistent violence and
uncertainty.
On the other hand a very large number of schools have
been occupied by the Indian security forces as their base camps. In most cases
security forces have constructed their base camps nearer to schools which had
further deepened the sense of fear and insecurity. These kinds of situations
gave birth to mental problems like fear, Trauma, depression among school going
children.
The heightened fear and insecurity is seen as one of
the dominant factors behind the rising dropout ratio.
DECLINE IN ENROLLMENT
FIGURES
Analyzing the enrollment data a research conducted by
two young Kashmiri scholars shows how the access of children was limited and
how many children have been pulled from schools after the 1990s in the state of
Jammu and Kashmir. The enrolment in schools reduced between 1989
and 1990 by almost 2.9 % (from 1.69 to 1.64 lacs). Similarly, the survey
reaveled that in a single year during 1995-96, the enrolment figures at middle
school level had declined by 16.29 % (4.85 to 4.06 lacs) and at high and higher
school level by 43.67 % (4.03 to 2.27 lacs)”.
Further, during 2001 and
2002, the enrolment figures at primary, secondary, high and higher secondary
schools showed a steep decline by 31%. In recent years the enrolment figures
hadn’t only declined in school education, but also across technical and at
university level.
Importantly, the
researchers observed that such a decline has never happened between 1960 and
1989, before the onset of conflict in the state. This was also corroborated by
the macro-figures that showed a high dropout ratio of about 53.75 percent up to
10th standard in the state in 2004-05.
THE YEAR OF MASS BLINDING
2016 is remembered in
Kashmir as the year of mass blinding, in which over
352 civilians mostly school going boys and girls were partially or completely
blinded by pellet-firing shotguns. The worst
example of the pellet victims is 10th class student Insha Jan
from Shopian who received a burst of pellets while she was studying at her
home. The pellet shotguns have proved lethal as many students have lost their
vision completely or partially as they became victims to pellet firing from Indian
security forces. The
pellets have perished the youthful ambitions and shuttered dreams of many
aspiring students forcing many of them to leave their studies halfway.
In the same year Kashmiri witnessed dozens of schools
being razed to ashes by unknown and unidentified arsonists, depriving thousands
of children of schooling facilities.
According to a survey a total of almost 17
% of school buildings were lost in the state of J&K due to either being
targeted/burnt or occupied by security forces. The destruction of educational
infrastructure represents one of the greatest developmental setbacks for the
students affected by conflict.
THE DARKEST YEAR FOR KASHMIRI STUDENTS
2019 proved as the darkest year for Kashmiri students
as education sector suffered the most due to endless and indefinite military
lockdown that was put in place soon after the Indian government stripped the
region of its autonomous status guaranteed to it under the article 370 of the
Indian constitution.
The clampdown led to valley wide closure. Educational
institutions remained shut for nearly a year raising warnings from educators about the mental health toll on students whose
lives have been repeatedly disrupted. The closure
had hit the academic
session to the extent that it caused irreversible loss of study and tuitions to
the students.
IMPACT OF
DIGITAL SIEGE ON STUDENTS
The
military clampdown coupled with digital siege made education complex for aspiring students. Students, researchers and
teachers alike bore the brunt of nearly a year and half-long disruption in
internet services, one of the longest internet shutdowns in the world. The
complete shutdown on all internet services remained for more than six months.
The ban was partially lifted later but the restoration of internet was however
limited only to the obsolete and sluggish 2G services. Similarly, in the
universities in the Valley, the class work at Master level remained badly
affected. The class work in medical colleges and NIT was also affected
badly, resulting in stress to students and their parents.
While the world moved to online classes, in the wake
of the pandemic, schools, colleges and universities in Kashmir were struggling
to find means to set up remote classes due to slow-speed 2G’s limitations. These issues have
led to many students disengaging from online classes. Students, who had got themselves
enrolled in different colleges and institutes located outside the Valley, could
not continue their classes like the rest of their fellow classmates due to the
non-availability of internet.
RESTRICTIONS ON
ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE & INFORMAITON
The hapless children in Kashmir have
been deprived of the right access to knowledge and information. The ban on
internet has caused enormous loss to school going children as schools could not
initiate online classes in the absence of the internet. There are around 30,000
private schools in Kashmir with around 6, 50,000 students enrolled in them. These schools could not initiate smaller programs
to further the education of children, let alone conducting the online classes. According
to health experts the frequent disruptions in formal schooling, limited
opportunities to socialize, and erratic schedules have led to a rise in
depression and behavioural issues among children.
The
situation in Kashmir is still far from normalcy. A year later situation in the
region remains same as nothing has changed. The continued conflict, uncertainty
and chaos continue to threaten the future of millions of Kashmiri children.
The
United Nation’s Global Goal aimed at having everyone access to inclusive,
equitable quality education would remain elusive unless the children in
conflict-hit Kashmir like other parts of world are given a safe and secure
learning environment.
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