Gen Rawat seeks ‘some’ control over madrasas to check disinformation
Social media and government schools in Jammu and Kashmir are spreading “disinformation” resulting in radicalisation of youth, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat claimed today while calling for “some control” over mosques and madrasas in the state.
He said a “major revamp” of the education system was needed in the state to deal with the problem.
General Rawat said the issue of exercising some control over mosques and madrasas to check the flow of disinformation was being looked into.
Addressing a press conference on the eve of Army Day, General Rawat said each classroom in government schools in Jammu and Kashmir had a separate map of the state besides that of India. This sowed the seeds of thought of some kind of “separate identity” among the children, he said.
“The damage is also being done to us through the social media. A disinformation campaign is being carried out in Jammu and Kashmir which is radicalising the youth through the social media and through the schools,” he said.
“The other issue is the madrasas and mosques — what is being taught to the students or incorrectly told to them is through these institutions only. I think some control has to be exercised there,” General Rawat said.
He, however, did not elaborate on what kind of control he was suggesting over such institutions.
General Rawat also suggested that some stone throwers in Kashmir were youth from government schools.
He said students from the schools, like Delhi Public School, were not found involved in activities such as stone-throwing. The Army Chief added that was the reason for the Army-run ‘Goodwill Schools’ being accorded higher status. He said opening more public schools was the way forward.
‘Separate maps in classrooms’
General Bipin Rawat said each classroom in the government schools in Jammu and Kashmir had a separate map of the state besides that of India. This sowed the seeds of thought of some kind of “separate identity” among the children, he said.
