Kashmiri students find support from Mumbai colleges

Students from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) who are currently pursuing higher education in Mumbai colleges have found help pouring in from many quarters. There have been restrictions on communication and physical movement of people in the Valley since the Centre’s move to withdraw Article 370.

Mumbai colleges have been conducting counselling sessions and principals have been speaking individually with students, who have not been able to contact their families in J&K. “We interacted with all those students who have family back in Kashmir and tried to find out ways to help them. While most students were worried about their [family] safety, many were falling short of money, so we have collected funds,” said Ashok Wadia, principal of Jai Hind College, Churchgate.

HT contacted several Kashmiri students living in Mumbai, but they refused to speak, citing concern for their safety.

The management of Vile Parle’s Mithibai College recently launched an initiative ‘Home away from Home’ at their institute. The idea is to bring together students from different parts of the country currently residing in Mumbai, and help them settle down in the city. “We have around 1,200 students from 21 states and we have noticed that most of them find it difficult to adjust in Mumbai in the beginning,” said Rajpal Hande, principal of the institute.

Hande said as part of this initiative, the staff and students recently conducted a counselling session for students who belong to Kashmir. “Just talking about their problems helped some of the students ease their stress. The number of students participating in this initiative has increased in the past few weeks,” he said.

Many colleges also invited student participation and urged them to be there for their classmates from J&K.

“I personally interacted with some of the students and thankfully, most of them have their guardians by their side. We also made sure that other students are there to offer them emotional support,” said Sobhana Vasudevan, principal, RA Podar College, Matunga.