Srinagar, Aug. 20 -- By Dr. Wahied Khawar Balwan

Jammu and Kashmir contains some of the most biologically diverse terrain in India, stretching from subtropical foothills near Jammu to alpine meadows above Gulmarg and high-altitude cold deserts near Kargil.

Snow leopards, Himalayan black bears, musk deer, and dozens of migratory bird species move through this terrain within a single academic year.

Most zoology students at government colleges in the region still encounter them only through printed diagrams and decades-old specimens preserved in formalin jars.

This disparity between the classroom and the landscape outside it explains why the National Education Policy of 2020 counts so much here, and why its success or failure will show u...