- Not for nothing it is mentioned that today’s students are tomorrow’s future. Any country wishing to make a mark in the global scenario must encourage intent-filled wholesome participation from the student community in nation-building in whatever form that promises to take us forward. The environment provided for the student community must be not only friendly and encouraging but also allow seamless sharing of ideas as well that would stimulate the young minds to excel. The hands-on learning expected from the portals of educational institutes is aimed at shaping the future of the country. The onus is placed on the teaching fraternity to allow unhindered sharing of knowledge, experience, and of course, pedagogy on subjects chosen by students.
PC: Free Press Journal
- Of course, politics has universally taken root in everything society has to offer, and educational institutions are not an exception anymore. As you are aware, students in colleges and universities have their own federations/associations which are harnessed and nurtured by the political class as vote banks. Of course, arguments and counterarguments to what extent educational grounds must be used for furthering politics in a democratic setup have no easy answers. Little wonder, conflicts do arise often. Take for instance how a Mumbai University demanding students be apolitical and patriotic may severely dent their overall learning itself. One can’t be faulted for believing everything is political. That’s a fact which cannot be brushed under.
- Thus, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) students who are being made to sign an honour code pledging that they won’t indulge in any political, anti-establishment activity are signing away their freedom of speech in toto. Their right to demand govt accountability for women’s safety for climate change mitigation or better public transport, or to discuss the drawbacks of any public policy including on education, or even to demand better hostel food, it’s all under a cloud now. Whenever the administration wants to rein in a demonstration, even a discussion, it can dangle the honour code over the students. It is their amorphous catch-all wordage that makes such decrees truly troubling. This is where the university administrators must be careful.
PC: Mumbai Live
- Many universities would wish away student discussions, demonstrations, and protests, especially when they get intense. It’s not easy dealing with these. But is the function of universities to do easy work? Suppose it is to distribute and produce useful knowledge, another amorphous word. Anti-philosophical automatons cannot break out of the box or imagine new ones, let alone build a novel business out of it. Suppose students are discouraged from listening to hostile ideas, from each other or the world, the silence will be poor training for citizenship in a complex country and world. Blind obedience serves the nation and its people very poorly. No university should let policing take precedence over learning and teaching. That’s self-defeating.
