School Education in Armed Conflict Zones : A Study of Kashmir

Abstract

Education in times of conflict can be both life-saving as well as life-changing. Children are the most vulnerable cogs of a society, and in extension most vulnerable to being subjected to violence, fear and death at all times. They are more often than not, left psychologically impaired for the entirety of their lives. It is for this reason that education in the armed conflict zone of Kashmir, can be the defining factor in the life and holistic development of a child. This dissertation aims to understand the impact of an armed conflict on the educational levels of a region. The study carries out a qualitative analysis of the barriers and pathways to school education for children, in conflict ridden Kashmir. The premise of the study is set by establishing the causality between armed conflict and education. This has been done in a two-fold manner, by comparing the educational landscape of Kashmir, both pre- and post- onset of insurgency; and more specifically, carrying out district wide educational profiling between high- and low- intensity conflict areas within Kashmir, and mapping the educational levels between the two categories. With the conflict negatively impacting the different aspects of school education for children in Kashmir, there’s increasing reliance placed on informal structures of education, that have come up to fill in the void and also to restore some sense of normalcy. There’s an increasing need for the Government to make progressive long-term interventions such the educational right of a child, is no longer considered as charity, and it is through this study that we have understand some of the area that careful and calculated interventions can be made.