Root Causes:

Private School Preference: Nearly half (46%) of all students in J&K now attend private institutions due to widening learning gaps and infrastructure issues in public schools. As our state, despite decades having rolled by, could not develop her basic infrastructure so that it could compete with private sector. Although we can visibly see that Higher Education Department has a feasible infrastructure. And even then an enrollment crisis is seen higher education department. Yet the primary and middle education suffers a lot on account of lack of basic facilities.

Demographics

A noticeable drop in the youth population and declining fertility rates has naturally reduced the pool of prospective students. The concluding Para of an article by Nawaz Manzoor on May 22, 2026 reads; J&K’s fall from TFR 2.4 in 2005-06 to 1.4 in 2019-21 is one of India’s steepest. Govt data from NFHS & SRS confirms the region is well below replacement level. The declining fertility rate in Kashmir is a bewildering phenomenon shaped by an intricate blend of socioeconomic, cultural, political & health-related factors. Understanding this demographic transition is essential not only for policymakers but also for the people of Kashmir, as it holds the key to shaping the region’s future trajectory. Through informed dialogue, targeted interventions & inclusive development, Kashmir can navigate this demographic shift to secure a prosperous & harmonious future.
Trust & Accessibility: Students increasingly favor private institutions, distance learning (like IGNOU), or professional courses in other states.

Infrastructure & Dropouts

Rising dropout rates at the higher secondary levels and a general lack of basic amenities or adequate teachers in ‘government-run facilities continue to hamper retention.
Impact of unemployment scenario: perhaps, as a state, we have failed to create employment and ensure sustainable development. Just a routine recruitment that too after a gap of 5 or 6 years is done and on it the paper leak and other discrepancies. All this systematic failure has impacted the mindset of our youth in adverse way. Hence creating an apathy /antipathy towards higher education. Because it is a common perception that if one has to find work after completing education like a beggar then why not to find it before investing time and money on education. A student spends 25-30 years of his life on education and training and thereafter has to spend another 10 years in search of a job that amounts to 40 years and what remains there left for him to progress and develop. So a boy or girl, just after qualifying 10th or intermediate shifts his/her mined towards work, starts earning hence leaving further education which obviously has a correlative effect on the enrolment of schools and colleges of our state.

In Adequate Steps Taken by Govt

Rationalization: Confronted by the diminishing student pool, the government has been forced to reduce the total number of government schools across the Union Territory. That in no way is justified. Yes that can help us maintaining the budget, but not the problem of enrolment. Closing schools or colleges is not a solution to the problem, but it simply shows the failure of govt in its worst version.
Institutional Restructuring: To combat unviable faculty and resource utilization, the government has placed empty colleges under the administrative control of nearby functioning institutions. If a state closes the colleges after enrolment shortfall then why not think over opening the college or school. At the time of opening only vote bank is kept in consideration, but not the social and economic analysis is done.
Government Intervention: A specialized 6-member task force has been formed by the Higher Education Department to investigate the root causes and boost the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER). In past we have seen that committees are framed and task force is deployed, but the results are always despondence and despair.

Conclusion

For a sensitive nation such sort of crisis is really a matter of concern. So it becomes the duty of our state to prepare a comprehensive policy with regard to reformation of education sector. In addition, civil society, intellectual community and bureaucracy must come forward with a resolution to combat this problem which otherwise take us back to the dark age of chaos and disorder. And we as nation will be lost in a deep dark forest and find no way to come out. ( Continued)

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