Students And Politics

Deke Tourangbam *

In the good old days, classes had a monitor each, while the school had a leader or a "prefect"perhaps a legacy of the British system of education. It was left to the class teacher to decide who would be the monitor for the whole academic year.

The monitor had specific duties attached to him or her. Children used to vie with each other in getting into the good books of the teacher to be chosen as the monitor. The selection of the school prefect was the prerogative of the members of the staff who would suggest a name-noticeably that of a senior student to the head master or the principal.

The post of the student leader was a coveted one. The system used to work well, probably because of the strength of the schools was limited in those days. Nowadays schools are not few which boast of a strength of 2000 or 3000 plus. Small wonders, therefore these schools agreed to the formation of student unions with elected officials like general secretary and so on.

It is usually said that necessity is the mother of all inventions, but the school and college elections which were born out of necessity to better the conditions of the students community has on the contrary caused adverse hardships to the student themselves. Holding of elections divide the students and affects their academic career.

Such student election has over the time taken a peculiar shape of say like general election where campaigning, festoons, pamphlets and tea parties are hosted. Such student candidates spend immense money for this purpose.

So when these candidates win the election, no matter how much reformation they want to enforce, they end up being corrupted to acquire back their money spent. Such elected bodies also start playing politics by getting into petty unrelated other issues and enforce the common students to boycott classes and thus losing up precious time and money.

Many incidents have come up where such unions have taken an active participation in boycotting classes, strikes, destroying public properties which not only affect the common students but also those daily-day bread earners and others on the face of just a demand. Thus shortly we can say that Students unions have taken the whole population under ransom.

There are various students from poor families whom their parents take great pain to educate so that later they can find a respectable job and support them, but such students are victimized by all such turmoil's.

Recently a Professor, Md Islamuddin,was brutally killed inside the very campus where he teach students for their better future, his fault being he was involved in Campus election of the university and had shown more allegiance towards a particular student's union.

Such is the outcome of Student's Politics in Manipur. A small state in the northeastern part of India where student's politics is very strong and have a great hold over the society. Student's community is divided into various unions with different ideology. One finds AMSU, MSF, DESAM, KSO, ATSUM and so on. How useful is their presence to the society at large is hard to gauge but the harm done is immense.

One can still remember the student's unrest during the 90's for the inclusion of Manipuri language in the sixth schedule of the Indian Constitution , the agitation was fruitful and we are bearing fruits for that BUT the channel use had open doors for others and many union's have formed and similar protest are taking place every now and than which are far from democratic in nature.

The recent being 120 hours of general strike called by DESAM to release some of their Leaders in police custody, Similar protest are also going on in the Hill districts calling for economic blockades in lieu of their demand. Thanks to those pioneers who gave them the way how to protest.

Student unions have somehow become a menace to the society and its high time to realize whether one has to let them loose or rein them and disciplined them properly. Such menace is the outcome of the incapability and failure on the part of the teacher's community to connect and guide the student's properly.

Political parties should refrain themselves from playing politics with the education system. Corruption in education should be stopped, Concept of quality education should be restored, and education should be utilized for the betterment of society.

Student unions should be made autonomous and bounded by rules of conducts. College management bodies should be enacted to look into the grievances of the common students. Discipline should bind both teachers and students.

Parents and Guardians should take notice that they send their wards to schools and colleges to study rather than playing politics. Thus only when such reformation measures are put into practice then a progressive and peaceful society can be formed and as such all should work towards that goal.