Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday urged girl students from Jammu & Kashmir to study hard and compete for Army's 'Super 30' coaching programme and build their career through good education.
Making this point here while interacting with 18 girl students from various schools in the Valley, he said there is no other place like Kashmir when it comes to scenic beauty and a sublime environment. "But, terrorism has vitiated the atmosphere," he said.
"Unlike Kashmir, you do not see bunkers in Delhi or gun-toting security personnel everywhere. People roam here at night in peace. The Kashmir Valley also had peace and people in Srinagar even used to go for strolling in parks at night or for a movie, but it's not there anymore," he said.
Rawat reiterated that infiltrators come from Pakistan to our side and create trouble and said if you also want progress and development in the Valley, take this message from here, and tell the people there that guns are not good. Various militant outfits have been trying to radicalise the youths in Kashmir valley by using different means including online propaganda.
During the interaction, the Army Chief asked the students about their aspirations and while some said they wanted to become civil servants or police officers or doctors, only a single student said she wanted to be a teacher.
Rawat told them that the Army runs "Kashmir Super-30" — a free, special coaching programme for students to prepare them for entrance examinations for admission to IITs and NITs.
He also said the Army is working with NGOs to have a similar programme for medical examination aspirants. "So, work hard, compete for 'Super 30' for engineering career, and for NEET exam too, once we have it in place," he said.
The Army had earlier this year signed an MoU with a state-run firm and the National Integrity Educational Development Organisation (NIEDO) for medical aspirants, under which selected students will be provided with free residential coaching for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
The students, ranging from class 7-11 arrived here on Monday and have visited the Red Fort, Rajghat and Connaught Place market in Delhi, and will see the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah and take a Metro ride before heading to Chandigarh, an official accompanying them said.