Jammu and Kashmir is slowly returning to a state of normalcy; there were riots and clashes between the armed forces and citizens for more than 4 months now. The state was under complete shutdown after the death of Burhan Wani. All schools and colleges remained shut during this period. Students who were supposed to begin various courses also had to stay at home. Over the last few days, the state is slowly starting to function normally. Board exams were also held for classes 10 and 12.
What and How
NIT (National Institute of Technology) is one of the prestigious engineering institutes in the country. The classes for first-year students at NITs usually commence in the month of July. This year NIT Srinagar couldn’t follow this norm. The trouble at NIT Srinagar started on 31st March 2016 when India had lost the World T20 semi-final against West Indies. After India’s loss in the tournament, many Kashmiris celebrated the loss. This lead to strong objections from non-Kashmiri students. There was a clash amongst the students and police forces had to be deployed. The classes had to be stopped at the institute due to this.
After about 7 months, the classes will continue at NIT Srinagar on 28th November. Students almost lost 2 semesters in this period. New students who were supposed to start their course in July couldn’t do so due to these issues. A source from the Centre said that the incidents of violence had reduced and that they were planning to commence classes for the both University of Kashmir and NIT Srinagar at the earliest. NIT Srinagar had planned to reopen the institute much earlier but couldn’t do so due to the prolonged protests in the valley.
Since most of the students lost two semesters due to the clashes and protests, they had written to the HRD Ministry. Their request was to be provided with accommodation at another NIT campus outside Srinagar or shift the campus to a safer location so that they could complete their course properly.
According to an official at the Centre, the institute plans to conduct extra classes on holidays and also in the winter vacations in order to make up for the lost time. They plan to complete the entire syllabus as soon as possible.
A final year student at NIT Srinagar said that they usually had to attempt two minor exams before the finals in November. Since classes were not conducted, the exams couldn’t be conducted and they are at a complete loss due to the unfortunate turn of events.