The transitional program of JKNSF sets out a political framework that connects the everyday struggles of students to the broader fight for self-determination, democratic rights, and socialist transformation in Jammu Kashmir.
You can download the complete program as PDF or read it here:
Preamble
This document is a transitional program and not a list of reforms we believe the occupying states or their local collaborators will willingly grant. It is not an appeal to the conscience of our oppressors but a program of demands that bridge our daily struggles to the larger fight for “Azadi” against imperialist occupation and the capitalist system.
We name it “transitional” in the tradition of revolutionary politics. Reforms under capitalism are a “labor of Sisyphus”, endless, exhausting, and ultimately incapable of delivering anything meaningful and permanent, especially without sovereignty, without democratic autonomy, and without control over our own resources. For nearly six decades, JKNSF has advanced this perspective, linking immediate student struggles to the broader fight for self-determination and socialist transformation.
The crisis we face as students, dilapidated schools, militarized campuses, a curriculum soaked in state propaganda, an economy that offers students nothing but the compulsion to flee, is inseparable from the national question (addressed at length in our manifesto). This system treats us as a surplus population, useful only for the remittances we send back. Thousands of our classmates, and countless more who could have been our classmates, are forced to leave. Students who must flee to sell their labour power are not students but refugees of an economic war waged by this system.
Our struggle, therefore, cannot be confined to the campus. To fight for free education is to fight for the right to live with dignity among our own people. To fight for democratic governance on campus is to fight for the right to self-determination. To fight against privatization is to fight against a system that sees our bodies as disposable and our land as a resource to be plundered.
This transitional program is not an end in itself but a weapon in our struggle. As we mobilize for free meals, we learn who starves us. As we demand the removal of security forces from campuses, we see who occupies us. As we fight for a curriculum free from propaganda, we understand who seeks to erase our history.
We do not limit our struggle to the campus because the occupation does not limit itself. We fight for those who stayed and those who were forced to leave. We fight for a socialist transformation of the entire region.
The JKNSF calls upon all students, all workers, all who have been forced to migrate, and all who refuse to accept occupation and the global capitalist system that sustains it as our destiny: to Knowledge, Struggle, Victory!
Immediate and Transitional Demands:
1. Universal Public Education
• Full state funding from primary through graduation.
• Abolition of “informal fees,” “development funds,” and “examination charges” in public institutions.
• Complete ban on privatization, outsourcing, and commercialization of public education.
2. Strict Regulation of Private Schools and Colleges
• Compulsory registration and annual renewal based on transparent criteria.
• Mandatory publication of accounts, audited annually by an independent body of students, parents, and state auditors.
• Regulation of fees with ceilings set by publicly accountable education boards and progressive taxation on profits.
• Complete ban on advertisement by private educational institutions.
3. Subsidy Structure Built on Progressive Taxation
• Revenue from progressive taxation of private institutions to be ring-fenced for public education, prioritizing rural and underserved areas.
• Free, nutritious midday meals in all public schools up to higher secondary level.
4. Democratic Governance of Educational Institutions
• Mandatory elections for student unions in every college and university.
• Mandate that all administrative and budgetary decisions must be approved by councils consisting of elected students, faculty, and non-teaching staff.
• Removal of all state and security apparatuses from involvement in academic and administrative decision-making.
• Prohibition on the presence of private security guards on campus, except in verified emergencies.
• Mandate that all campus security SOPs be managed by a committee chaired by the elected representative of students, with faculty and administration representatives.
• Total ban on all forms of moral policing of students by faculty, staff, or administration, including any discriminatory regulations targeting interactions between students.
• Mechanisms for students, parents, and teachers to lodge complaints without fear of retaliation.
5. Student Employment and Staff Protections
• Creation of publicly funded work-study and apprenticeship programs linked to public sector industries, hospitals, research centers, and technical institutes.
• Immediate regularization of all contractual, ad hoc, and outsourced teaching and non-teaching staff in public institutions.
• Full protection of collective bargaining rights for teachers and campus workers, including the right to unionize and strike without retaliation.
6. Abolition of Gender Discrimination and Committees against Sexual Harassment
• Immediate abolition of all gender-based discriminatory rules and regulations in all educational institutions.
• Mandatory mechanisms to ensure equal elected representation of female students in all student bodies, academic committees, and administrative forums.
• Mandatory formation of independent committees against sexual harassment which include trained psychologists, student representation, and faculty.
• Clear procedures for reporting, with full confidentiality and protection from retaliation.
• Uniform standards for investigation and redress developed at the national level.
7. Expansion of Scientific and Technical Education
• Investment in laboratories, computing facilities, engineering programs, and research opportunities in partnerships with public industries.
• Establish divisional vocational training institutes with internationally recognized certification, prioritizing skills relevant to global and local economic needs.
• Research output evaluated through review structures that include academic bodies alongside public sector institutions.
8. Sports Infrastructure and Physical Education
• Mandatory investment in sports infrastructure across all public institutions, including playgrounds, indoor facilities, and equipment.
• Integration of structured physical education into the curriculum at all levels, with trained instructors and medically informed standards.
• Equal funding and institutional support for women’s sports teams, eliminating discriminatory restrictions on access to facilities and training.
• Prohibition on commercialization of campus sports facilities.
9. Grading and Homework Policies
• Replace rote memorization exams with continuous, formative assessment.
• Ban punitive grading and homework used as a tool of discipline rather than learning.
• Mandate reasonable limits for homework, set by elected parent-teacher committees.
10. For a Scientific, Critical, and Democratic Curriculum
• Curriculum development led by independent academic bodies, prioritizing scientific inquiry and critical thinking.
• Purging of all nationalist distortions and “occupier narratives” from history and social science texts.
• Promotion and protection of local languages alongside languages that facilitate global academic and technical collaboration.
• Prohibition on compulsory attendance at events organized by government or security institutions.
• Immediate removal of all formal and informal restrictions on festivals, music, and cultural activities.
• Establish a department of music and performing arts in public universities as a first step toward building a public institution for the arts.
11. Transport and Hostel Reforms
• Subsidised student transport across districts.
• Public hostels and regulation of private hostel fee structures, ending exploitation by private landlords near campuses.
• Grievance mechanisms established for students in transport and hostel services.
12. Solidarity and Educational Links with Gilgit-Baltistan
• Establish formal institutional linkages, including research cooperation and summer exchange programs, between universities in Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
• Advocate for the right of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan to self-governance as a prerequisite for a just and democratic educational future for their students.
• Ensure equitable access and quotas for students from GB in all professional colleges and universities across the region.
13. Disability Rights in Education
• Mandatory architectural retrofitting of all campuses and free provision of assistive technologies.
• Scholarships for students with diverse mobility and neuro-cognitive profiles.
• Provision of trained educators and psychosocial support staff in every district to assist students with unique learning needs.
14. Digital Access
• Free internet access for students in public institutions and the creation of public computer labs in every district.
• Regulation of telecom companies to ensure affordable rates.
• Digital literacy programs incorporated into public education.
15. Environmental and Green Campus Policy
• Require all campuses to adopt comprehensive sustainability plans, including clean energy, water conservation, and recycling.
• Conduct periodic environmental audits jointly by independent public agencies and campus-based environmental committees with student representation.