Internet gag puts thousands of IOK students' career at stake

ISLAMABAD: The career of thousands of Kashmiri students is at stake as they are unlikely to apply for the National Eligibility Entrance Examination (NEET), a highly competitive test through which science students secure admission in medical colleges across India in Indian occupied Kashmir.

According to Kashmir Media Service, forms were issued by the National Testing Agency for the test on Monday.

In Kashmir valley, where internet lockdown has been imposed for the past four months, the aspirants are worried about losing the opportunity“IsWe studied whatever little we could in such hard circumstances but now, in the absence of the Internet, we do not know how to fill the forms,” said 17-year-old Irtiza who has been preparing for the exam for the last one year.

The internet age

“We could not go for tuition classes and it was only at home that we tried to study but now the bigger worry is the Internet,” she said.

The NEET forms were issued on Monday and the last date for completing the application form is December 31.

The students said they were yet to apply for the exam and it took hours together to complete the formalities online.

“There is a long list of instructions that we need to read. How will thousands of students from all districts of Kashmir fill the details without the Internet? Our career is at stake,” said another student, Asif Ahmad, from Pulwama.

StormFiber services normalised after disruption due to fire at head office

The Internet services were blocked in Kashmir on the midnight of August 5 when New Delhi abrogated Article 370.

“If the government does not restore Internet services, thousands of students will lose the opportunity to apply for NEET,” the students said.