Bags packed with books & dreams, 780 girls board train from Jammu for nationwide study tour

College on Wheels is an initiative of the J&K Higher Education Council, and is being spearheaded by Jammu University, said JU Vice-Chancellor Umesh Rai. The students will do projects related to different subjects while on their travels. This, Rai said, would “dissolve the boundaries” of their subject of study, and also dissolve the four walls of classrooms that keep students constrained inside.

Flagging off the train at Katra on Sunday, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said the initiative would open a new chapter in the education sector of the Union Territory.

The College on Wheels arrived at Delhi’s Safdarjung railway station on Monday. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)

Among hundreds of excited students thronging the platform to board the College on Wheels at Katra railway station was Sofia Hafeez, an undergraduate student from the Government Degree College in Kashmir’s Beerwah.

“It is my first time travelling outside J&K, and also my first train journey,” she said, adding that she was excited at the opportunity to meet and interact with people from other states.

Like Sofia, Sumaira Zubeen also expressed her excitement at the prospect of visiting places outside the UT. A postgraduate student of Islamic Studies at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University in Rajouri, she said she was looking forward to “observing the lives, culture, food habits and attire” of people from different parts of the country.

The students on the train were chosen on the basis of their project proposals, said the JU V-C. In July, students were asked to submit project proposals in their colleges, out of which the shortlisted ones were chosen to be a part of the College of Wheels.

Travelling on a special train named JK Gyanodaya Express, they reached their first stop – Delhi – on Monday. Over the next two weeks, the train will further take them to various other parts of the country, including Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)

A group of seven-eight students from multiple disciplines of study work together on one project, Rai said. Each student group will be headed by a mentor.

The projects the student groups are working on include those titled ‘From Bharat, Beyond Earth’, ‘A New Thought On An Old Subject’, ‘A Friend Who Taught Me A Language On The Train’, and even ‘Shopping On Wheels’.

Teams of doctors and paramedical staff of the IRTC, the UT administration and JU, as well as personnel of the J&K Police and the RPF will accompany the students.

There is a library on the train, and the students are encouraged to read at least one book during the journey. They will have access to laptops to work on their projects, and will also give presentations during the journey, Rai said.

When the train arrived at the Safdarjung railway station in Delhi on Monday, 22-year-old Shivani Sharma stepped out onto the platform feeling both nervous and excited. She had never travelled outside of J&K before.

Students arrive outside Katra railway station on Sunday ahead of their journey aboard the College on Wheels. (Express Photo: Arun Sharma)

“This is only the second time I have sat inside a train in my whole life. I was very young the first time around, so I don’t remember much of that experience. This project is the first time I got an opportunity to get out of J&K,” said Shivani, who is doing a postgraduate course in JU.

Her team is working on a project on the ‘Food Culture’ in different parts of India.

“We have prepared questionnaires for people… In each state we visit, we will interact with people in those states and find out about what they like to eat the most, where they like to eat, and so on,” she said.

Like Shivani, 22-year-old Pawandeep Kaur is also visiting the national capital for the first time. “This is going to be a new learning experience, and I am excited to visit the Rashtrapathi Bhawan and the Parliament House,” she said.

Explaining her project on PCOS and breast cancer awareness, the JU student said: “We have prepared questionnaires regarding PCOS and breast cancer issues amongst women, and we will approach local girls in each state that we are going to visit. By the end of this journey, we aim to educate women on how they can take care of their lifestyle and health. We are hoping to put together a report that we aim to publish.”

In Delhi, the students will visit both the old and new buildings of Parliament, as well as the Rashtrapati Bhawan. They will then proceed to Ahmedabad, where they will visit the Sabarmati Ashram. In Mumbai, they will visit the Naval Dockyard, IIT-Mumbai and the Gateway of India. Then in Goa, they will visit the Hansa Naval Air Station, and in Bengaluru, they will visit the Indian Institute of Science and Technology, and ISRO. They will also go to Wadhra, where they will visit the Paunar Ashram and other sightseeing spots. They will then return to Delhi and finally to Jammu on December 2.

The J&K administration is spending around 4.75 crore on the initiative.

Vice-chairman of the J&K Higher Education Council and former V-C of Delhi University, Dinesh Singh, said train journeys had inspired Mahatma Gandhi, and hoped that this journey would do the same for these students.

“This entire journey is for these young women to inspire themselves with Gandhi’s philosophy, and to discover themselves on this train like Gandhi did. Education is not just bound to a classroom with a blackboard. It is so much more than that,” he said.

“There will be two charkhas on board and there will be a competition, the girls who spin the charkhas the fastest will be rewarded with a book,” he said.