Kashmir Campuses Face a Crisis of Character |
By Mohammad Arfat Wani
A disturbing design has settled into educational life in Kashmir and far beyond it.
Hardly a week passes without reports of harassment inside campuses, leaked chats between students and teachers, emotional manipulation through social media, drug abuse inside colleges, or public scandals that leave institutions scrambling to protect their image.
These controversies spark outrage for a few days, then disappear into the noise of the next one. The deeper crisis keeps growing.
Educational institutions once stood as places where young people learned discipline, restraint, character, and intellectual seriousness. Teachers occupied a position that commanded respect because society viewed them as custodians of judgment and moral clarity. Classrooms cultivated habits that prepared students for public life and personal responsibility.
That foundation has weakened under the pressure of a culture driven by digital exposure and emotional excess.
Smartphones and social media transformed the emotional world of young people within a single generation. Students now grow up inside a system built around instant attention, constant comparison, and algorithm-driven validation.
Every emotion seeks expression, and each interaction demands visibility.
Private experiences turn public within seconds. Digital life rewards impulsive behaviour and emotional display far more than patience, maturity, or restraint.
Many students spend hours online every day while experiencing profound emotional isolation in their real lives. Endless digital interaction created a strange form of loneliness where people remain permanently connected and emotionally detached at the same time. Educational institutions still operate as if this psychological transformation never happened.
Schools, colleges, universities, and coaching centers continue focusing........