Placing bombs at educational institutions : Leave the kids alone
- Sangai Express Editorial :: July 26, 2013 -

Bombs at school.

This time it is Little Master English Higher Secondary School, Samurou. A few days back it was Comet School. There have been other instances too, when educational institutions have come under attack.

Sure the bombs may not have been primed to go off or explode, but the message is clear. Damn the psychological impact it would have on the young children.

The only thing that matters is achieving their objectives, which of course is money. Well in almost all the cases.

Indigestible and unacceptable. What makes it all that more abhorrent is the fact that in most of these cases, the bombs are planted by organisations which claim they have taken up the guns and are waging a war against the Government for the freedom of the people.

Freedom from what ? Random planting of bombs at selected sites and select targets cannot be revolutionary movements, especially if that site happens to be educational institutions.

Sanctity of the place of learning and education, be damned is the message that has been rung out and what is disturbing to see is the stark indifference of the general public to such instances.

Embracing such instances as a part of the daily existence of the people does not sound healthy for society as a whole.

This is all that more unacceptable in a place where a bandh or a public protest can be held at the drop of the hat for extremely localised incidents.

Okay the bombs did not explode and cause any casualty, but where is the guarantee that it would not in the future ?

Are the people waiting for a powerful bomb to explode at an educational institutions to come out on the streets and say a big NO ?

The mentality on either side of the ‘planting bombs at school’ is not only detestable but also suicidal.

A breakdown in social values, a growing mindset that ‘if it does not happen to my kids or the institutions where my kids study then it does not concern me’.

Selfishness or plain indifference to the charade that is being staged at the ground of educational institutions by some self appointed sons of the soil.

As for the elements who see every justification in planting bombs at educational institutions and public places, the less said about them the better.

Unleashing terror under the cloak of launching a revolutionary movement. This is more than double standard but manipulating the conflict situation to make a quick buck.

Leave the kids alone, is the one line statement that should be drilled into the heads of these elements.

A certain sense of bravado, a sense aided and encouraged by the past, where the people have been conditioned to go in for selective protests.

A thinking pattern that as long as the damages come from the side of the non-State actors, it is not an issue for the people to take up.

This also goes for the numerous human rights organisations which have sprung up all over the place.

Whatever international covenants may say, human rights or violation of human rights need not be solely seen vis-a-vis the Government and its agencies but also the non-State actors, who are practically running a sort of a parallel Government.

A reflection of a society, which has been robbed off its thinking capacity that every adult has a bounden duty and obligation to ensure the safety and security of the young children.

And the safety and security should be understood beyond the realm of the physical but also on the negative impacts on their mentality and psychology.

There have been voices galore to let education a free zone along with the slogan quality education, but judging from the responses of the people to incidents such as when a bomb is planted inside a school campus, then these exercises may only fit the bill of a roaring but toothless tiger.