Twice in two days, J&K's Minister for School and Higher Education, Sakina Itoo, used the same line. At the J&K Science Congress at IUST on 1 October she said youth must be prepared "not only to seek jobs but also to become creators of employment". The next day, at a Gandhi Jayanti function of the School Education and Culture departments, Greater Kashmir reported her saying "our young people should not only be job seekers but should become job creators", and that education should not be limited "to examinations and marks".
It is an easy sentence to agree with. This piece asks a different question: what would have to exist for a 20-year-old in Jammu to actually act on it?
What was said, and what was not
According to the reports, the minister called for practical subjects, "particularly in fields such as agriculture, health and technology", for technology to be used to build practical abilities and not just as a teaching tool, and for teachers to be better trained, because "no reform could succeed without empowered and well-trained teachers". She also said talent is everywhere but opportunity must be made available everywhere, and urged access to quality education for children in remote areas.
The reports do not announce a scheme, a budget, a curriculum change or a date. These were speeches at events, and should be read as a statement of direction, not a decision.
The distance between a slogan and a startup
"Job creator" is a short word for a long chain. A student has to learn a skill that is worth paying for, get hands-on practice, find a first customer or a first small loan, understand basic accounts and legal rules, and have somewhere to turn when it fails. Each link sits with a different body: schools, colleges, skilling and entrepreneurship agencies, banks, and local government. A minister's speech can name the goal; it cannot supply the links.
The same Science Congress offers one small proof that the earlier links can be built. Its organisers reported about 700 researchers and 4,000 participants across 26 technical sessions, and a school programme in which more than 80 students from 20 schools presented projects and models. Those numbers show appetite and a platform. They do not show how many of those projects become anything beyond a poster, and the reports do not say.
Three things a reader can check
Practical subjects in the timetable. If agriculture, health or technology skills are to be taught, they have to appear as periods, labs and trained teachers in actual schools. Ask a school or college what has changed this year.
Teacher training. The minister placed teachers at the centre, and called for modern training methods while saying teachers' experience should not be ignored. A training calendar with dates would turn that into something verifiable.
Reach beyond the cities. "Opportunity everywhere" is tested in remote blocks, not in the capital. The reports give no district-level plan.
A fair counterpoint
There is a reasonable case for the opposite caution. Not every student wants, or should be pushed, to start a business, and most new ventures struggle. A system that tells young people to be "creators" without a safety net can leave them worse off than a steady job. The minister herself said education should not be restricted to securing employment and should build confidence, responsibility and citizenship, which is a broader aim than entrepreneurship. Both messages can be true; the policy question is how to give students both skills and choices.
What to do with it
- Students: treat the call as a prompt to build one practical skill and one small project this year, whatever you plan to do afterwards.
- Parents: ask schools how practical learning is assessed, since marks are still what the system counts today.
- Colleges: publish what incubation, mentoring or small-grant support exists, in plain language and with named contacts.
The test
The statement will matter if, a year from now, a student in Jammu can point to a new practical course, a trained teacher, or a first small enterprise that came out of it. Until then it is a direction, and a reasonable one. Readers are well placed to hold it to that test.
This is an opinion piece by JammuBeat; the reporting it rests on is linked below.
Sources: Greater Kashmir, "Education must prepare children for life, not just examinations: Sakina Itoo", 3 October 2026; Greater Kashmir, "J&K Science Congress concludes at IUST", 2 October 2026.
Photo: file photo of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Abhinavmw / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0); not related to the events described.
