Qualified outside, unemployable at home — J&K youth face odd dilemma

Hundreds of J&K residents who have passed out from top universities in India and abroad are unable to find jobs in their state because the names of their degrees are not 'acceptable’.

A flea market in Kashmir | Photo: Anindito Mukherjee | Bloomberg

Srinagar: Ladakh resident Muzaffar Hussain had left home 17 years ago to pursue a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delhi. Hussain then took admission at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for a master’s degree in politics with a specialisation in international relations, one of the most sought after courses. But when he applied for the post of assistant professor at a Jammu and Kashmir institute, Hussain was in for a shock.

His application was rejected. The reason: the post was for those with an MA in ‘political science’, not ‘politics’.

Hussain isn’t the only one to have gone through this. There are hundreds of J&K residents who have passed out from top universities of India and abroad but were left in a lurch because the names or nomenclatures of their academic qualifications are different from the “acceptable” academic degrees in the state.

“I have approached the concerned authorities with this issue but nothing concrete has come out of it. Opinions from both Jammu and Kashmir universities were also sought but they were contradictory and no consensus was reached,” Hussain said.

He also showed a ‘Letter of Equivalence’ issued by the JNU which clearly states that his MA in politics degree should be held equivalent to an MA in political science.

ThePrint spoke to multiple candidates who have been facing the same issue. Some of them explained: if there is a vacancy for the post of an assistant professor in biochemistry, it is imperative for candidates to have an MA in biochemistry and not applied biochemistry or biochemistry sciences.

Similarly, those who have postgraduate degrees in applied psychology or social anthropology will not be qualified for a job that demands an MA in psychology or anthropology.

Cases filed

The Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) is responsible for selecting candidates for gazetted posts in the state higher education department.

Today, there are more than two dozen degrees from over 70 disciplines that have been listed by the higher education department as ‘incompatible’ due to their nomenclature.

Many candidates, including Hussain, have filed cases against the government following which the authorities issued a list of candidates whose degrees were ‘considered similar’ to those listed as eligible ones.

There are 32 postgraduate degrees in this list, including masters in ancient Indian history, finance and control, environmental botany and acharya sanskrit which were made identical to masters in history, commerce, botany and sanskrit respectively.

Rajesh Sharma, secretary of JKPSC, said, “A standing committee has been established to solve this issue. As of 28 May, 2019 many degrees having different nomenclatures have been cleared”.

Talat Parvez Rohella, secretary of the state higher education department, however said that this issue has to be taken up by the University Grants Commission (UGC) or the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

“Our department carries forward directions that are issued by the UGC and upholds the rules and regulations that govern educational institutions across the country. This issue is extremely important and serious thought is being given by concerned authorities to solve it,” Rohella said.

Long wait for candidates

For some like Hussain, however, it has been a long wait to return home.

“There has been massive advancement in academics in the past decade. A committee is needed to study these changes and update the list of degrees with traditional names vis-a-vis degrees that are same but have different nomenclatures,” he said.

Like Hussain, there is Malik Altaf who did his masters in developmental economics from the South Asian University – an International institution sponsored by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation – but was rejected when he applied to teach in a college in his state.

Altaf, 29, says instead of encouraging students to come back to J&K, the current system is forcing them to settle outside, leading to a “massive brain drain”.

Another student, who did not want to be named, said his form was rejected because officials in JKPSC “had not even heard about the discipline he had earned his masters degree in”.

“The officials and domain experts are not efficient enough to understand academics. Recently, they arbitrarily decreased the number of points required to be eligible for a job in a few subjects. There are hundreds like me who are forced to stay out of Kashmir. Do we have a chance to return home ever?” the student asked.