After going to Delhi University, I have clarity on what I would want to pursue after Class 12. Earlier, I did not know what I would be doing after completing my school,” said Nizma Bhat, a Class 11 student from Nawakadal Higher Secondary School, Srinagar.
Bhat now hopes to get to Delhi and study Psychology in DU. There are 500 students including her from Kashmir who are inthe national capital as part of the Jammu and Kashmir Student Exchange Programme. Most of them are visiting Delhi for the first time. .
The students from Delhi and J&K have been paired together and this pairing will continue till June when the students from the capital visit the Valley.
“The labs here are better, so we want similar labs to be set up in our schools too in Kashmir, said Ajmal Imtiyaz, a class 11 student from Pulwama. Delhi is a stunning place, he said.
Anantnag, Pulwama, Baramulla, Kupwara are among the districts from where the student of class IX and XI are taken to be part of the programme.
In the days to come, a total of 10,000 students from the Valley would be visiting other parts too.
The objective of the initiative, taken by the Department of School Education and Literacy (MHRD), in collaboration with the J&K government, is to provide a platform for the students so that they can exchange their ideas and thoughts with students from other parts of the country. As part of the agenda, the students were taken for a movie, a music show, a ride in the Metro and they also visited Delhi University.
“This is an exposure visit as the students have come from the border areas of J&K. They have seen the facilities which are available to the students here and how different it is from the ones that are there.
“As part of the programme, the students were given career counselling which not only cleared the doubts of the students but also widened their horizons,” said AH Rafiqi, Nodal Officer, Student Exchange programme.
He added that this is the first time the students watched a movie in a cinema hall.