While much of the college calendar this summer was about exams and results, a few hundred Jammu-division students spent theirs learning how to build something of their own. The Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) has wrapped up a major run of its Summer Internship Programme 2026, putting undergraduates through a hands-on introduction to startups and self-employment.
In the concluding phase, 221 students completed the programme across seven batches — 181 of them at the JKEDI Regional Office, Bari Brahmana, and 40 at the District Centre, Jammu. An earlier round had trained around 229 students across eight batches, including a batch at the Udhampur district centre, drawing participants from colleges such as GCW Gandhi Nagar, SPMR College of Commerce, MAM College, GCW Parade and GDC Akhnoor.
What the internship actually covers
This isn't a certificate-for-attendance exercise. The programme runs as a 10-day, 60-hour module, designed in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020's push for experiential, skills-first learning. Over those hours, students get exposure to:
entrepreneurship and startup development;
innovation and business planning;
problem-solving, leadership and self-employment pathways; and
the government support mechanisms that back first-time founders.
It mixes interactive sessions, practical assignments and interactions with experts — the kind of thing that turns a vague "maybe I'll start something someday" into an actual first plan. For many participants, drawn largely from ordinary degree colleges rather than elite institutes, it is their first structured look at what running a venture involves.
Why it matters for Jammu's youth
For a generation staring at a tight job market, the message here is useful: employment doesn't have to mean waiting for a recruitment notification. JKEDI's broader mandate is to seed entrepreneurial skills among thousands of J&K youth and connect a good share of them to finance and support services — and short, structured internships like this are the on-ramp. Held under the guidance of Director JKEDI Mohammad Younis Malik and Joint Director Chand Kishore Sharma, the programme gives students a low-risk first look at whether the founder path is for them, and a foot in the door of the institute's mentoring and funding ecosystem.
If you missed this cycle, it's worth keeping an eye on JKEDI's announcements — these internships and its longer entrepreneurship and seed-funding schemes run through the year, and they're among the most practical youth-skilling opportunities going in the Jammu region right now.
Sources: The Global Kashmir; Kashmir Reader; JK Monitor.
