Emerging from the Indian Army’s “Operation Sadbhavana”, this wider programme of outreach through education and technical skills, has become an important area of engagement across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Guarding the nation’s borders along Line of Control (LoC), the International Border (IB) and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are difficult tasks at the best of times for our armed forces. The Indian Army, in particular, has to remain in a constant state of alert and preparedness to counter terrorism, militancy, insurgencies, civil strife, etc., in these challenging and hostile environments.
Much has been said and written about the army’s sacrifices in protecting the country, some of them, are of legendary status. Yet, away from the bunkers and patrol routes, another contribution has been unfolding quietly for years.
The focus is on the upskilling of the youth and rural folk through books, classrooms, teachers, laboratories and sports. The Army Goodwill Schools (AGS) are perhaps among the finest examples of what the Indian Army’s engagement with the local community, especially in remote and often unreachable areas of Jammu and Kashmir, most notably in habitations along the LoC. Here, human development and the safety of the public go hand-in-hand.
Emerging from the Indian Army’s “Operation Sadbhavana”, this wider programme of outreach through education and technical skills, has become an important area of engagement across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The over 40 AGSs have been set up in areas keeping in mind the geography, economic circumstances and atmosphere of instability, which made access to education quite difficult.
In that context, one has to look beyond schools or students to visualise how a deeply personal engagement with local communities has transformed lives and living along the Line of Control, be it in Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Rajouri, or other difficult parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The objective is clear – replace violence, strife and instability with knowledge, self-confidence, aspiration and ambition. Education and lifestyle changes cannot merely succeed through buildings and provisions of equipment. Establishing all round trust, promoting realistic and positive engagement between adults and children of all age groups to facilitate all round improvement is the overarching goal.
It is only by creating role models that actual social transformation occurs. Individual success leads to community development. Goodwill is, therefore, best demonstrated through this medium, and thus, becomes a way of life rather than an exception.
Narrowing this gap between aspiration and access through structured learning, tech upskilling, career guidance and higher education opportunities is the mission of these 43 army-run schools, which have about 17,000 students, of which about 43 percent are girls.
The goodwill effect can be measured by the opportunities an army school provides and how those opportunities help a community to develop and prosper as part of the overall quest of nation building. In April this year, 19 Army Goodwill Schools jointly organised an interactive session with the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine in Srinagar.
Faculty and students engaged with scientists and visited laboratories. They saw research being undertaken up close and were made aware of career opportunities in science. The hands-on experience was most beneficial; it opened minds and inspired wonder. Earlier, 67 students and 17 principals and teachers from 20 AGSs took part in a residential program in IIT Jammu.
There is some truth to the saying, “Change is incremental and often hard to measure.” Education and community engagement are, therefore, important instruments.
The AGS framework’s declared focus for remote areas of J&K and Ladakh is on ensuring equal opportunities for the socially and economically disadvantaged, women and disabled.
Lifestyle changes and development in the border areas should not only be dependent on physical interaction or infrastructure. Pathways to different types of education and higher learning have to be introduced and nurtured. Efforts have to be made to make the immediate learning environment technology-enabled, NEP-20 aligned education and career oriented. The AGS network provides this specialised coaching to ensure equal opportunities to all that come within its ambit. The network accepts that people it gets in touch with require community development and individual skills that are sustainable in the wider socio-economic periphery.
Creating ability, capability, learning, healthy competition, work and innovation and to make informed choices about the future, is perhaps the most significant change seen today along the LoC.
Gateways of opportunity provide new possibilities for the present and next generation and a better tomorrow. These havens of hope and creativity are going a long way in honing community participation, leadership skills and a deep sense of social responsibility.
Email:-------------farooqwani61@yahoo.co.in
Emerging from the Indian Army’s “Operation Sadbhavana”, this wider programme of outreach through education and technical skills, has become an important area of engagement across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Guarding the nation’s borders along Line of Control (LoC), the International Border (IB) and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are difficult tasks at the best of times for our armed forces. The Indian Army, in particular, has to remain in a constant state of alert and preparedness to counter terrorism, militancy, insurgencies, civil strife, etc., in these challenging and hostile environments.
Much has been said and written about the army’s sacrifices in protecting the country, some of them, are of legendary status. Yet, away from the bunkers and patrol routes, another contribution has been unfolding quietly for years.
The focus is on the upskilling of the youth and rural folk through books, classrooms, teachers, laboratories and sports. The Army Goodwill Schools (AGS) are perhaps among the finest examples of what the Indian Army’s engagement with the local community, especially in remote and often unreachable areas of Jammu and Kashmir, most notably in habitations along the LoC. Here, human development and the safety of the public go hand-in-hand.
Emerging from the Indian Army’s “Operation Sadbhavana”, this wider programme of outreach through education and technical skills, has become an important area of engagement across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The over 40 AGSs have been set up in areas keeping in mind the geography, economic circumstances and atmosphere of instability, which made access to education quite difficult.
In that context, one has to look beyond schools or students to visualise how a deeply personal engagement with local communities has transformed lives and living along the Line of Control, be it in Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Rajouri, or other difficult parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The objective is clear – replace violence, strife and instability with knowledge, self-confidence, aspiration and ambition. Education and lifestyle changes cannot merely succeed through buildings and provisions of equipment. Establishing all round trust, promoting realistic and positive engagement between adults and children of all age groups to facilitate all round improvement is the overarching goal.
It is only by creating role models that actual social transformation occurs. Individual success leads to community development. Goodwill is, therefore, best demonstrated through this medium, and thus, becomes a way of life rather than an exception.
Narrowing this gap between aspiration and access through structured learning, tech upskilling, career guidance and higher education opportunities is the mission of these 43 army-run schools, which have about 17,000 students, of which about 43 percent are girls.
The goodwill effect can be measured by the opportunities an army school provides and how those opportunities help a community to develop and prosper as part of the overall quest of nation building. In April this year, 19 Army Goodwill Schools jointly organised an interactive session with the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine in Srinagar.
Faculty and students engaged with scientists and visited laboratories. They saw research being undertaken up close and were made aware of career opportunities in science. The hands-on experience was most beneficial; it opened minds and inspired wonder. Earlier, 67 students and 17 principals and teachers from 20 AGSs took part in a residential program in IIT Jammu.
There is some truth to the saying, “Change is incremental and often hard to measure.” Education and community engagement are, therefore, important instruments.
The AGS framework’s declared focus for remote areas of J&K and Ladakh is on ensuring equal opportunities for the socially and economically disadvantaged, women and disabled.
Lifestyle changes and development in the border areas should not only be dependent on physical interaction or infrastructure. Pathways to different types of education and higher learning have to be introduced and nurtured. Efforts have to be made to make the immediate learning environment technology-enabled, NEP-20 aligned education and career oriented. The AGS network provides this specialised coaching to ensure equal opportunities to all that come within its ambit. The network accepts that people it gets in touch with require community development and individual skills that are sustainable in the wider socio-economic periphery.
Creating ability, capability, learning, healthy competition, work and innovation and to make informed choices about the future, is perhaps the most significant change seen today along the LoC.
Gateways of opportunity provide new possibilities for the present and next generation and a better tomorrow. These havens of hope and creativity are going a long way in honing community participation, leadership skills and a deep sense of social responsibility.
Email:-------------farooqwani61@yahoo.co.in
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