Technological Barriers For Kashmiri Education

The northwestern region of India, Kashmir, is a mountainous and highly disputed area between Pakistan and India. After its occupation from the Mughal Empire in 1589 AD, Kashmir has been ruled by many, but currently, Indian and Pakistani states rule over it. Kashmir has had a rough history throughout its lifetime, however, they now face another impactful and more modern issue; the implications that restrictions and technological barriers have on its students.

The Kashmiri government's censorship and restriction of its citizen's social media and the internet have become a massive problem that has yet to be resolved. These restrictions are mainly caused by India and Pakistan's quarreling as the Indian government wanted to prevent false information from being shared en masse.

As claimed by the Software Freedom Law Center, Kashmir's internet has been cut approximately 31 times in the span of 4 years from 2012 to 2016. The virus SARS-CoV-2, otherwise known as COVID-19 has only been adding fuel to the fire. In early 2020, cases of COVID-19 were being rumored and talked about across social media and were quickly shut down by authorities which inevitably prevented citizens from getting information and safety advice online.

Many countries around the world use 4G and even 5G connections which allow people to use the internet quickly and efficiently, however, Kashmir citizens usually only had access to 2G internet up until 2019 when the Jammu and Kashmir lockdown was lifted and gave access to 3G and 4G internet. Even with this upgrade, Kashmiri citizens still suffered from not knowing when their internet would shut down.

Online education has been incredibly useful and necessary in many parts of the world and easily accessible internet is high in demand, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The limitations of the internet have crippled Kashmir much more now than ever before. Students have not received adequate education because of these internet shutdowns that are just a temporary fix to the issues the government is trying to patch.

Kashmir is being entrapped by this lack of communication and lack of access to WIFI which could have dire repercussions down the line for its students. The social media ban in April 2017 shut down all internet for about 5 months straight which caused students to riot and protest by throwing rocks, chanting slogans, and marching down the streets. The mental stability of students is dropping sharply as more and more students are not able to contact their loved ones in their dorms from the internet bans.

The internet ban is not just affecting students directly, but indirectly as well. The restrictions are causing violent protests to ensue and many female students are harassed in public which causes families to be scared of sending their kids to school. Due to this, Kashmir has one of the lowest female literacy rates in India.

Kashmir's situation seems irreparable and does not look to be getting much better as high-speed, and low-cost internet is still a problem to this day. Unless action is taken now, Kashmir's education will take a big hit and its students will suffer the consequences.