Jammu, Feb 05: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made a strong pitch for merit-based admissions in professional institutions and cautioned against attempts to link education with religious or communal considerations.
The Chief Minister said there was no rationale in questioning or seeking the closure of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence on religious grounds, adding that professional education must remain inclusive and guided solely by merit. Medical Colleges are not meant to be run on religious lines. If minority status was the concern, then SMVDU should have been declared a minority institution at the very beginning.
The Chief Minister underlined that admissions to Medical Colleges are governed strictly by merit and national norms. Attempts to communalize the issue would be counterproductive, he added.
By raising such arguments, you end up cutting your nose to spite your face,” the Chief Minister said
On Legal Education, the Chief Minister referred to the National Law University in Jammu and pointed out that admissions there too are entirely merit-based. If students from any community, including Muslims, secure admission to NLU on merit, will there then be a demand to shut down the university in Jammu?
He said and cautioned against the slippery slope of politicising educational institutions. He said that merit-driven institutions are designed to serve students from all backgrounds and regions, and any attempt to inject communal considerations into admission processes undermines both academic integrity and social harmony.
Chief Minister said education should act as a unifying force rather than a divisive tool. Focus must remain on merit, access and excellence, not on creating artificial fault lines among students.
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