Universities are revered portals where a student’s future is sculpted. Knowledge creation, dissemination and interpretation and all things connected therewith, alone have a place in those hallowed portals. A university stands for humanism, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. Some recent events in some of our best universities, have questioned these basic tenets as students have been coming out on the streets to protest. So, why do students protest? Or why do they have to protest? Their job is, after all to acquire knowledge and grow to be good citizens. The current generation is hard working, passionate and talented as were the earlier generations, a singular difference being that the earlier generations had structured systems to contend with be it in education or in employment, whereas the current one seems to be challenged all the time, with technology at the forefront of disruptions as is, in almost all walks of life. It is interesting to see the pain points.
The public discourse and media attention on Indian universities has mainly been confined to quality deterioration, unemployment, under employment, leadership deficit, non-recruitment of academics, lack of resources, loss of institutional credibility, absence of decent ranking in global evaluation of institutions of higher learning and, of course, the university politics.
Present education system seems to fall short of expectations and aspirations of its benefactors, as it is widely accepted, as creating skills deficit. The employment opportunities are shrinking and the order of skills has been rising, something attributable to a high level of automation and induction of technology into even mundane activities. The social security systems, unlike the west, are few and have been found wanting causing human distress. Corruption in implementation has taken a toll too. Data from the latest KLEMS India database shows that employment in the Indian economy shrank by 0.1% in 2015-16 and by 0.2% in 2014-15. Far from more jobs being created, employment has actually contracted. Consequently, student unrest and indiscipline has touched a peak.
Most of our students come from families that are economically poor. With tuition and other fees rising all the time, the family income falls short of requirements. Though Banks offer scholarships, the operational part needs a course correction. Consequently, 78 people to a hundred do not reach colleges. Of the remaining, 22, who go to colleges or a university, 80% have limited financial means. Once again economics of the process, weighs down heavily causing students to agitate.
Many of our class rooms, even in some of the best colleges, overflow with students with very little personal attention and sometimes no attention. The student teacher ratios are anything but holy, resulting in students to run, those that can afford, to coaching classes, and those that cannot afford, rendered morose, sulking and pushed to agitate, with or without a cause. The teachers, cannot command enough, have questionable personalities, and have no impact on the young minds. There are several departments, colleges and universities where class-rooms, laboratories, libraries and teachers are nothing to write about. In such a situation, unrest and indiscipline amongst students is not surprising.
It is also true that many of our teachers do teaching as any other job, do not invest time in pursuit of knowledge and hence are found wanting in the class rooms. There are teachers who do not even report to teaching, far from being role models and mentors, end up with negatively impacting the system. They harbour inferiority complex, and engage in petty politics or in manipulations. The pedagogy adopted and teaching methods are ineffective, and uninspiring. They do not arouse curiosity and are devoid of experiential learning. Examinations are attempted as a matter of fact, passed without any rigour, sometimes adopting unfair means, causing an all-round fall in standards. Parents in nuclear families, exercise hardly any control on their children, leaving them to undesirable influences resulting in the child’s unbridled freedom, hurtling them towards irrational behaviour, crime and dishonour. It is of utmost importance that parents have a benevolent influence on their wards.
Admittedly today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders. However, student leaders do not grow out of unions. Many years back, Delhi University Student Union, similar to many in the country, used to provide a scaled-down version of parliamentary elections, year after year, with scope of influence being the only factor. Display of money and muscle power was blatantly used and even students started expecting freebies such as food coupons and movie tickets. To complete the circus, extensive traffic jams were caused by party campaign vehicles.
A six-member panel headed by the then Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh., under the directions of the Supreme Court, submitted a report in May 2006 curbing some of the bad practices. His Committee has, However, been largely denounced by student unions and dubbed as limiting democratic functioning of student unions. However, many universities restoring student union and other elections on the campus can actually be counterproductive to the very thesis of a university.
Education is not limited to provide degrees and diplomas. An all-round development of the student is expected. Value added courses, morals, ethics, and employable skills are all a part of a university education. Co-curricular activities such as games, sports, contests, competitions, dramas, music, magazines, collective social service, etc., are all necessary for an overall development. The examination system does not inspire confidence in learning. With a curriculum that is at best ordinary, examinations testing an ability to master a few past question papers with very little effort put in, the skill quotient of a student always stands questioned. If the student is not productively engaged, what does he/she do with the available energy? Any vested interest agency can easily tap into it, causing systemic disruptions. The elements of indiscipline and anarchy prevailing in the society, is a reflection of how our students behave in the world. Azadi brigade of JNU is a point in question. So how may the administrators look at containing the protest, revolts and similar indiscretions?
As an academic and administrator at a premier university, and various government organisations dealing with education, I can safely say that student protest politics is to be cherished. It is a time for students to really express what they believe in and stand for, while growing up in a learning environment. Of course, this does not detract that, these protests may get out of hand and elements within the student groups may want to resort to violent behaviour.
Part of the reason, why there has been an eruption of old-fashioned confrontation, is that protestors have wised up to efforts to control them through managed negotiation and refuse to play ball. The response from the authorities has been entirely counter-productive, and has led to punches, batons and tear gas shells.
A much more effective response is, to come out of the ivory tower and sit and engage with students on their own terms in their own spaces. Suspensions of students following various university protests is not the answer. How many registrars, let alone vice-chancellors, sit down on the floor with their students in tents and occupation sites and just talk, just listen? I had, and it’s fantastic, one gets to engage with serious people who care passionately about the world, ideas, evidence, and knowledge, and the conversations are so often better than one gets in a seminar room. University management has become far too remote from that daily experience of talk and debate. Yelling louder does not give you the moral high ground. It needs to sit down, person to person, and converse.
Many may ask: what do students know about running thousands of millions of rupees institutions? That’s not the point. Just as the people of Thailand were able to force Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to dissolve parliament following a public vote of no confidence, if vice-chancellors knew they could lose their jobs when ignoring the concerns of those they are ultimately supposed to serve, perhaps they just might listen to student issues and seek collaborative compromise instead of fire.