Students Protest for Restoration of Pre-2019 Admission Policy in IIOJK

Frustrated by shrinking educational access after the 2019 bifurcation of IIOJK, students are raising their voices, demanding a return to the policies that once secured their academic futures.

Hundreds of students from the Ladakh region of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) staged a powerful protest in Jammu, urging authorities to reinstate the pre-2019 college admission policy.

The demonstration was led by the All Ladakh Students Joint Action Committee and saw both male and female students marching with placards that read, “Education is Our Right” and “Don’t Divide Our Educational Opportunities.”

The students voiced their frustration over the fallout from the August 2019 bifurcation of the Jammu and the Kashmir regions. They said the move, while administrative, has had a deep and damaging impact on their access to higher education in Jammu.

“Earlier, we could easily get into Jammu colleges under the Scheduled Tribe (ST) quota,” said Tsewang Dolma, a student protester. “Now we are being denied those same opportunities.”

Many protesters pointed out that Ladakh’s limited educational infrastructure leaves them with little choice but to apply to colleges in Jammu. “We still don’t have proper medical or engineering colleges,” noted Rigzin Namgyal, another student. “Even the university in Ladakh doesn’t offer most mainstream subjects.”

Students preparing for professional courses like medicine and engineering expressed deep disappointment at the sudden change in eligibility criteria. “We’ve spent years preparing for competitive exams in Jammu, only to see the rules shift without warning,” said a group of affected students.

Education experts and community leaders joined the protest, backing the students’ demands. Dr. Tsering Angmo, a prominent Ladakhi academic, criticized the lack of a transitional education policy. “The administrative separation of Ladakh doesn’t mean educational access should be redefined overnight,” she said. “The government must develop temporary provisions to bridge the gap.”

The students have formally submitted a memorandum to the office of the Lieutenant Governor of IIOJK, seeking immediate government attention. Their key demands include either restoring the old admission system or rapidly building better higher education facilities within Ladakh itself.

As the protest came to a close, the student leaders warned that this was just the beginning of their movement. “If our voices are ignored, we will escalate this protest to Delhi,” declared the organizers. They estimate that around 5,000 Ladakhi students are impacted by these changes each year.