Onlykashmir.in News Desk
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday made the case for an education system that prepares young people for life beyond the examination hall, saying schools must build critical thinking, digital literacy and adaptability alongside academic results. He was addressing the School Leader of the Year 2026 Summit and Awards in New Delhi, a gathering of leading educators and school leaders convened to celebrate excellence, innovation and institutional leadership in K-12 education.
For a Union Territory where board examinations and competitive entrance tests loom large in family life, the message carries local weight. Students in the Valley and in Jammu often measure their schooling by marks and ranks, and parents and teachers alike feel the pressure that comes with it. Omar Abdullah said a future-ready system must equip students for challenges and opportunities that no question paper can test, including the ability to think independently, to use technology responsibly and to adjust to a rapidly changing world.
He highlighted four qualities in particular: critical thinking, digital literacy, adaptability and a strong sense of shared responsibility among young learners. Taken together, he suggested, they describe a student who is not only knowledgeable but also confident, capable and ready to act as a responsible citizen.
The Chief Minister also stressed that such a transformation cannot be delivered by any single institution. Meaningful change in education, he said, requires collective effort by governments, educators, educational institutions and communities. Governments set policy and provide resources, teachers carry it into classrooms, and families and communities shape the attitudes children bring to school. Unless all of them pull in the same direction, reform risks remaining on paper.
His remarks echo a wider national conversation about moving school education away from rote learning towards skills and competencies, a direction that the National Education Policy 2020 also emphasises. The summit itself offered education leaders a platform to deliberate on excellence, innovation and leadership in school education, with a clear focus on preparing students for the future.
Observers in the education sector will now watch whether these priorities find expression in classroom practice across Jammu and Kashmir, where the quality of schooling and the readiness of young people for a fast-changing economy remain matters of public concern.
