Thoughts on ensuring proper academic atmosphere

We love to call education the backbone of the nation. But most of the time, our political leaders remain oblivious of this truth. They favour their fierce political game over education. Instead of pen, they prefer guns for students. Thus, today many of the students at our educational institutions are oriented not to education and pursuit of knowledge, rather guns and gatherings. However, our students created a glorious history when they played the leading part in making the nation free from neo-colonial occupation, repression and established the rights of the people. In those days, student organisations were oriented to the interests of their fellows as well as the greater welfare of the nation. But with the passage of time, they eventually became the front organisations of the major political parties. Today, our political leaders are playing a double-game. While in government, they want the students to keep themselves away from politics. When in opposition, they want them to take a leading part in politics. The controversy over banning students' organisations /institutions is also the result of the double-standard of our politicians.
Compared to politics of pre-liberation periods, the nature and characteristics of our present-day student organisations have changed much. At present, student politics is considered an important basis of political power in national politics. Students are now powerful not only in their own organisations/academic institutions but in their respective parties also. Besides, nowadays student politics is neither people-oriented, nor education-oriented. Rather it is oriented towards personal interest and power. Their movements are not for their fellow students, but only to strengthen their position on the campus. They are not the student leaders in the pure sense, but a kind of 'power elites' of our society. In the past, the students did not lose time in protesting against oppression, repression and injustice. They used to move for humanity against brutality. Unfortunately, this character of our student organisations has changed. The kind of student politics that we are watching these days are characterised by mercenary, rent-seeking, violent and crime-prone traits. An important trend of our student politics is confrontation and stand-off between rival student organisations to take control of a specific area at an institution. For this, they do not even hesitate to kill their opponents. The most brutal of their activities is that they sometimes kill their own cadres only to create a 'troubling situation' at their respective institutions. At the same time, the terrorist groups comprising students are booked by politicians who use them to perpetuate their position in and outside the party. The students at large matter little to their leaders, who capture halls, manipulate business tenders and manage benefits and thus climb the socio-economic ladder, including even seats in parliament. Various student fronts are just a reflection of the main political parties, whose immediate goals have more to do with grabbing power and enjoying it while it lasts.
The arguments that are generally put against students' taking interest in politics is that they are immature and it is likely that they will be easily misguided by clever agents of political parties. The present status of students' politics in our country is enough to prove such a claim. Through active participation of students in politics, they are being derailed and today the educational institutions of our country have become veritable battle grounds. A group of students are more familiar with guns than books. Thus if we fail to make education free from politics, we will remain backward in this ever-changing world. Those who support banning student politics argue that student politics is the source of many socio-political ills and disorders in the country. It has become a threat to the right development of the country.
 Students are expected to devote their time and effort to studies, rather than involve themselves in politically hued hostilities. Studies and partisan politics are in fact diametrically opposite fields, and they are incompatible. It is unfortunate that money and power attract youths to politics. This is for, in the words of George Bernard Shaw, a person with political aspirations who "knows nothing and he/she thinks he/she knows everything. That points clearly to a political career."
Politics is no longer a noble service that it used to be. It was associated with social service and a political worker was first and foremost a social worker, or reformer. During our struggle for independence, it was these social workers that spread our patriotic leaders' messages throughout the length and breadth of the country. They were also at the forefront of unifying the country and reforming society, by educating the people. Ever since our independence, party politics has vitiated the political atmosphere, with moral and ethical enlightenment touching an all-time low. Politics is now a full-fledged profession, where power and office catapults one's fortune overnight, if one resorts to corruption.
It is unfortunate to see that the students are being increasingly exploited by political parties, for their own selfish interests. They exploit the young blood for their undesirable work by using them to promote their divisive politics. At times they also force them into the world of violence, for their perceived grievances to get political mileage. Quite often, many a promising youth's career is ruined. This is a very dangerous sign, for the impressionable mind of a student can be easily led astray. The students should, therefore, not take part in politics. The political parties should behave responsibly and not involve students in their 'dirty works'. They should desist from doing so, for it portends a great danger to the youths, who are the future of the country.
On the other hand, student indiscipline is another burning problem. This indiscipline is something alien to our cultural ethos. Our rich cultural history is proof of high regard that students once had in reserve for their teachers, and the concern the teachers had in turn for their students. Thus we all know how Eklavya sacrificed his thumb as an offering to his Guru Dronacharya, who had nourished the welfare of his pupil Arjuna at heart. This bond has indeed been broken to shreds and it is this materialistic society, which is responsible for the present state of affairs. The problem has assumed enormous proportions and threatens to vitiate and destroy academic atmosphere of the institutions. It is quite common to see students resorting to strikes, boycotting examinations and even taking law into their own hands, sometimes for real, but quite often for imaginary grievances. They behave more like industrial and political workers, rather than as students. To understand this shift in postures, we shall have to examine the causes for this radical transformation.
Students today are more pampered by their parents than in the past. This makes them at times become unreasonable. To add to this, we have excessive external influence of powerful people, to safeguard the interest of misguided elements. It makes the task of enforcing discipline into the campus arduous.
When it comes to campus mayhem involving students, it requires a strong political will to address the problem before it goes out of control. As a first step there is the need for a clear education policy, stressing vocational and professional education. This will ensure that only serious students go for higher studies, while the non-serious ones can opt for vocational and professional trainings. It will reduce the pressure of students at colleges and universities and help in safeguarding the sanctity of these institutions. The vocational training at the same time will help many students, by preparing them for life in a better way.
The government should demonstrate the political will in banning party politics by students and teachers; moreover these educational institutions are the centres of learning and should be left to the academicians. There should be minimum interference by the administration or any other external authorities.
There should also be periodic parent-teacher's interaction, so that the parents are apprised of the performance of their wards. The most important role of the teachers is they should refrain from ungentlemanly acts, like going on strikes, practising unfair means to accumulate wealth etc. These are highly unbecoming qualities of a teacher. They should be a real guru, in the true sense of the word, setting an example for the pupils to emulate.
This is the only panacea, which can help us get rid of the unruly behaviour of students. It, however, calls for a determined effort on the part of all of us, to appreciate the gravity of the problem. We must rise above our narrow selves, political interests and restore the sanctity of the educational institutions.
In spite of the above discussion, particularly arguments on students' politics and campus discipline, we must not forget that the principal duty of students are to mind their studies and not taking part in non-academic affairs. They have to acquire knowledge to train up their minds and to prepare for the duties. If they take too prominent a part in political affairs, they only detract from their main occupation. However, there is a demarcation between taking an intelligent interest in politics and taking part in public affairs. This line should never be blurred.
The writer is a librarian at BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT), email: atik@bift.info