A group of 18 male students from Jammu Kashmir, who had recently enrolled at a branch of Navodaya Vidyalaya (NV) in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, as part of a national integration program, were sent back to their home region after a local student protest, as reported by The Indian Express.
These Kashmiri students had been residing in the NV hostel in Jhansi.
Under the same program, 20 students from NV Jhansi had been sent to Kashmir in August and had been accommodated in the NV hostel in Rajouri. However, tensions arose when the Jhansi students claimed that their schoolmates in Rajouri had faced physical altercations following a dispute.
According to school authorities, local students surrounded the hostel where the Kashmiri students were staying and demanded their relocation. School staff intervened to ensure the safety of the Kashmiri students, transferring them to the staff room. The police were also called, and they escorted the students back to their hostel.
On the following morning, NV Jhansi students protested, alleging that the police had used force against them during their previous night’s protest. They demanded action against the officers involved. Nevertheless, Circle Officer (Jhansi) Sneha Tiwari denied the use of force by the police.
R P Tiwari, the principal of NV Jhansi, stated, “Given the gravity of the situation, we decided to send the Kashmiri students back to their home region early on Friday. We have also requested NV Rajouri to return our students.”
The Kashmiri students were transported back to Rajouri under the supervision of NV Jhansi staff. A police officer remarked, “The principals of the Jhansi and Rajouri schools are in contact with them and coordinating the safe return of the children.”
Tiwari added, “The integration scheme typically involves students spending a year in another region. However, due to the current situation, we have terminated the program prematurely. The principal of NV Rajouri has also repatriated our students.”
A senior school official mentioned that they had received information about a Navodaya Vidyalaya student getting injured in the Rajouri incident. He added, “The complete picture will only become clear after all 20 students, all of them in Class 9, return to Jhansi.”
“We are also making efforts to persuade the protesting students to end their protest,” the principal concluded.
The Kashmiri students, also in Class 9, had arrived in Jhansi in early August as part of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti’s Migration of Students for National Integration scheme. This initiative facilitates student migration from one Navodaya Vidyalaya (NV) to another located in a different linguistic region, promoting a better understanding of India’s diverse cultures.