Reforming student politics

It’s time to take steps against the harmful sides of student politics. This is important to build up a knowledge-based society

Politics in educational institutes has always been a problem for us. It is a case of damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

If we do not allow student politics, political parties and students claim a violation of their basic rights; but if we do, they clash with other student political wings, thus start learning the ropes of politics rather ironically. But, this is not what should make up student political parties. That’s not even the question. The question is how come the environment is made so conducive for violence and other disruptions by these student politicians in academic activities. For starters, student political wings are considered to be an extension of the main political parties albeit without any check and balance as they are not answerable to the public. This in turn gives them an unchecked license to be violent and otherwise disruptive to the environment of a campus Awami League’s student organisation has repeatedly clashed with opposition to establish supremacy on the campuses of three public universities. As is well known Bangladesh’s political parties all have student wings, with students often acting as ‘muscle’ for the parties. In most cases, the authorities are forced to close down universities after violence and this is hampering academic activities in universities. A culture of immunity is prevailing among many members of the student and youth wings of the ruling party. They are getting away with rampant arson, extortion, rape, murder and what not. They are not content with crushing opponents using brute force, violent intra part feuds have become the norm rather than the exception. 
There can be no denying the fact that the students in Bangladesh have a glorious history. In every movement our youth have been at the vanguard. The 1952 language movement was virtually a movement propelled by the youth. It was they who sacrificed their lives to ensure the rightful place of our mother tongue. In 1966 it was the students who took to the streets against the Hamudur Rahman education committee report. Again in 1969 it was the youth who made possible the overthrow of dictator Ayub Khan through the mass upsurge. The senior political leadership came into the picture only at the fag end. Everyone knows about the heroism and sacrifice of the students in 1971.
 Even after the Liberation War the youth have been at the forefront of all the political struggles. In 1990 the autocratic regime of HM Ershad was brought down by a grand alliance of student activists of virtually all opposition political parties. During the military backed caretaker government rule it was students of the various universities who showed the courage to come out in the streets to protest against the injustices perpetrated by the then government. However it can be safely said that the golden era of student politics came to an end in 1990. The election of 1990 that was supposed to confirm our democratic ideals but instead became a vehicle for guile and divisions. Student leaders, especially those of the two major political parties, shifted their focus on personal gains. Those who run these universities, as part of their strategy to accommodate politicians, were more than willing to cater to the student-apostles of the politicians. 
Actually to be frank ever since the inception of this country, students have been used time and again by almost all major political parties and their leaders for their own petty interests. As said earlier this trend has been seen with increasing frequency since 1990. And of course this has done more harm than good. It has caused too many deaths, both of people actively involved and not involved in politics. Too many injuries, too many hours of classes and academic days have been lost.
This writer is not for a carpet ban on student politics as they are perhaps the most conscious section of the population. In an independent country participating in politics in different ways is an indispensable part of culture. Detaching the students from politics in an educational institution is equal to extinction of democracy while true democracy demands the involvement of each and every citizen. However student politics in its current form must be done away with. They should be imparted political education in their schools and colleges through debates, discussion or lectures. They will indeed protest when the situation demands. However acting as political hooligans is no task for a student.
The times and circumstances of the youth today are not similar to what it was decades earlier. One must realise that today's youth have all grown up in a free country. Most of the young people today are basically fed up with politics or more precisely politicians. They are apolitical. And who can blame them? The politicians are not exactly setting a perfect example. Are they? There is no such thing as internal democracy in the political parties. The young people are seeing the veteran politicians shifting allegiance for their narrow selfish ends. And the less one speaks about the so-called student leaders (many of whom ceased being students years back and are in their thirties) the better. Politics in Bangladesh have become totally dominated by a few major families. There has been a criminalisation of politics on an unprecedented scale. The politicians have used the youth as musclemen to terrorise other party members. One can argue 
that the youth have let themselves be used and it is true to a good degree. 
If the country is to be permanently cured of the vulgar medieval-practice of ‘might is right’ as is the practice by student politicians and their patrons, the entire country must agree on acceptable answers to two fundamental questions — what constitutes acceptable ‘student politics’ and what purposes must it serve?
The informed citizenry can reflect on the tradition of protest and participation in political and civic affairs that go back to the colonial era which was also part of the glorious past of our larger community. Current student unrest not only disturbing the academic environment of the institutions and depriving our future generation to nourish their potential, it is also jeopardising the possibility of Bangladesh’s stated goal to develop into a mid-income country. The environment of research is also affected in the universities by the present avatar of student politics. There is no burden on the student of liberating the country and there is no burden on the students to establish democracy in our country. Now the only responsibility of the students is to develop themselves as the worthy citizens and leaders for future Bangladesh. 
The character that the present student politics takes up not only is worrying for the present but it is more worrying for the future thinking that what type of leadership is waiting for us in the future. The present political leadership of both government and opposition have the responsibility (which they are blatantly disregarding) to develop future leadership for the country who will be decent, honest, committed to democracy and peoples’ welfare. But what are we seeing? The picture is in absolute contradiction to our expectation.  
Student politics needs to be separated from the mainstream politics and be mainly confined to the benefits of the students and only regular students would be allowed to do politics in the campus. A line is needed to be drawn between the campus politics and politics outside the campus. The teachers should also disassociate themselves from mainstream politics in the campus and should not use the students to keep their influence in the campus intact. The primary duty of the students is to build their career and after leaving the educational institutions they should ideally focus on the service of their country and countrymen. Indeed, students’ activitism on the basis of their respective organisations (that must not be affiliated with the parties) if confined to a certain limit must not be objected by us. They should take part in social and welfare activities for the sake of their country but should not waste their time and energy in meaningless political agitations.
It’s time to take steps against the harmful sides of student politics. This is important to build up a knowledge-based society. And to make that happen, sincerity and co-operation of our political parties are needed. We have to make sure that student unions are used for their own interests, and not for other political parties.
The evidence suggests that the students at our public universities have interpreted student politics as the politicisation of every aspect of university life — personalised partisan politics for personal gain. And this has been carried out with the tacit collaboration of the professors and senior administration. Unless the government, the political parties, the general public, and mainly the current university communities of students, professors and administrators act with haste and seriousness, the country’s system of higher learning will crumble into the ground. 
The graduates of these universities must join the task of rebuilding the institutions; the Universities Grant Commission must acknowledge drawbacks and re-evaluate its role so as to be more relevant; the political leadership must take a critical look on what has, and is, happening; and the media must, with due diligence, expose every aspect of the institutions that fail to meet generally acceptable standards of conduct.     
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has, on several occasions, expressed her disgust at the activities of Bangladesh Chhatra League. She even declined at times to meet with the feuding student leaders of Dhaka University and even withdrew her name from the list of patrons of the student organisation. While we appreciate the moves by the Prime Minister these moves didn’t prove to be enough to quell the tension in the academic institutions. 
It is high time that a new and vibrant form of student activism is developed in Bangladesh. It should be stated categorically that student politics could become a positive activity only if it is regulated by students, and may be to some extent the faculty, but not at all by political parties. Their vested interests make all the difference. Successive governments and university authorities have failed miserably to deliver the responsibility of maintaining the peaceful academic atmosphere in the campuses and to continue the academic exercises unhindered. A debate is needed among the citizens how to contain violence in the campus and a dialogue is needed to develop among different political groups for coming to a consensus regarding the form of student politics in the country and a thorough discussion of the issue is needed to be made in the parliament to define the form of student politics in Bangladesh.

The writer is Assistant Editor of The Independent and can be contacted at: [email protected]

Reforming student politics

Its time to take steps against the harmful sides of student politics. This is important to build up a knowledge-based society

Politics in educational institutes has always been a problem for us. It is a case of damned if we do and damned if we dont. If we do not allow student politics, political parties and students claim a violation of their basic rights; but if we do, they clash with other student political wings, thus start learning the ropes of politics rather ironically. But, this is not what should make up student political parties. Thats not even the question. The question is how come the environment is made so conducive for violence and other disruptions by these student politicians in academic activities. For starters, student political wings are considered to be an extension of the main political parties albeit without any check and balance as they are not answerable to the public. This in turn gives them an unchecked license to be violent and otherwise disruptive to the environment of a campus Awami Leagues student organisation has repeatedly clashed with opposition to establish supremacy on the campuses of three public universities. As is well known Bangladeshs political parties all have student wings, with students often acting as muscle for the parties. In most cases, the authorities are forced to close down universities after violence and this is hampering academic activities in universities. A culture of immunity is prevailing among many members of the student and youth wings of the ruling party. They are getting away with rampant arson, extortion, rape, murder and what not. They are not content with crushing opponents using brute force, violent intra part feuds have become the norm rather than the exception. There can be no denying the fact that the students in Bangladesh have a glorious history. In every movement our youth have been at the vanguard. The 1952 language movement was virtually a movement propelled by the youth. It was they who sacrificed their lives to ensure the rightful place of our mother tongue. In 1966 it was the students who took to the streets against the Hamudur Rahman education committee report. Again in 1969 it was the youth who made possible the overthrow of dictator Ayub Khan through the mass upsurge. The senior political leadership came into the picture only at the fag end. Everyone knows about the heroism and sacrifice of the students in 1971. Even after the Liberation War the youth have been at the forefront of all the political struggles. In 1990 the autocratic regime of HM Ershad was brought down by a grand alliance of student activists of virtually all opposition political parties. During the military backed caretaker government rule it was students of the various universities who showed the courage to come out in the streets to protest against the injustices perpetrated by the then government. However it can be safely said that the golden era of student politics came to an end in 1990. The election of 1990 that was supposed to confirm our democratic ideals but instead became a vehicle for guile and divisions. Student leaders, especially those of the two major political parties, shifted their focus on personal gains. Those who run these universities, as part of their strategy to accommodate politicians, were more than willing to cater to the student-apostles of the politicians. Actually to be frank ever since the inception of this country, students have been used time and again by almost all major political parties and their leaders for their own petty interests. As said earlier this trend has been seen with increasing frequency since 1990. And of course this has done more harm than good. It has caused too many deaths, both of people actively involved and not involved in politics. Too many injuries, too many hours of classes and academic days have been lost. This writer is not for a carpet ban on student politics as they are perhaps the most conscious section of the population. In an independent country participating in politics in different ways is an indispensable part of culture. Detaching the students from politics in an educational institution is equal to extinction of democracy while true democracy demands the involvement of each and every citizen. However student politics in its current form must be done away with. They should be imparted political education in their schools and colleges through debates, discussion or lectures. They will indeed protest when the situation demands. However acting as political hooligans is no task for a student. The times and circumstances of the youth today are not similar to what it was decades earlier. One must realise that todays youth have all grown up in a free country. Most of the young people today are basically fed up with politics or more precisely politicians. They are apolitical. And who can blame them? The politicians are not exactly setting a perfect example. Are they? There is no such thing as internal democracy in the political parties. The young people are seeing the veteran politicians shifting allegiance for their narrow selfish ends. And the less one speaks about the so-called student leaders (many of whom ceased being students years back and are in their thirties) the better. Politics in Bangladesh have become totally dominated by a few major families. There has been a criminalisation of politics on an unprecedented scale. The politicians have used the youth as musclemen to terrorise other party members. One can argue that the youth have let themselves be used and it is true to a good degree. If the country is to be permanently cured of the vulgar medieval-practice of might is right as is the practice by student politicians and their patrons, the entire country must agree on acceptable answers to two fundamental questions what constitutes acceptable student politics and what purposes must it serve? The informed citizenry can reflect on the tradition of protest and participation in political and civic affairs that go back to the colonial era which was also part of the glorious past of our larger community. Current student unrest not only disturbing the academic environment of the institutions and depriving our future generation to nourish their potential, it is also jeopardising the possibility of Bangladeshs stated goal to develop into a mid-income country. The environment of research is also affected in the universities by the present avatar of student politics. There is no burden on the student of liberating the country and there is no burden on the students to establish democracy in our country. Now the only responsibility of the students is to develop themselves as the worthy citizens and leaders for future Bangladesh. The character that the present student politics takes up not only is worrying for the present but it is more worrying for the future thinking that what type of leadership is waiting for us in the future. The present political leadership of both government and opposition have the responsibility (which they are blatantly disregarding) to develop future leadership for the country who will be decent, honest, committed to democracy and peoples welfare. But what are we seeing? The picture is in absolute contradiction to our expectation. Student politics needs to be separated from the mainstream politics and be mainly confined to the benefits of the students and only regular students would be allowed to do politics in the campus. A line is needed to be drawn between the campus politics and politics outside the campus. The teachers should also disassociate themselves from mainstream politics in the campus and should not use the students to keep their influence in the campus intact. The primary duty of the students is to build their career and after leaving the educational institutions they should ideally focus on the service of their country and countrymen. Indeed, students activitism on the basis of their respective organisations (that must not be affiliated with the parties) if confined to a certain limit must not be objected by us. They should take part in social and welfare activities for the sake of their country but should not waste their time and energy in meaningless political agitations. Its time to take steps against the harmful sides of student politics. This is important to build up a knowledge-based society. And to make that happen, sincerity and co-operation of our political parties are needed. We have to make sure that student unions are used for their own interests, and not for other political parties. The evidence suggests that the students at our public universities have interpreted student politics as the politicisation of every aspect of university life personalised partisan politics for personal gain. And this has been carried out with the tacit collaboration of the professors and senior administration. Unless the government, the political parties, the general public, and mainly the current university communities of students, professors and administrators act with haste and seriousness, the countrys system of higher learning will crumble into the ground. The graduates of these universities must join the task of rebuilding the institutions; the Universities Grant Commission must acknowledge drawbacks and re-evaluate its role so as to be more relevant; the political leadership must take a critical look on what has, and is, happening; and the media must, with due diligence, expose every aspect of the institutions that fail to meet generally acceptable standards of conduct. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has, on several occasions, expressed her disgust at the activities of Bangladesh Chhatra League. She even declined at times to meet with the feuding student leaders of Dhaka University and even withdrew her name from the list of patrons of the student organisation. While we appreciate the moves by the Prime Minister these moves didnt prove to be enough to quell the tension in the academic institutions. It is high time that a new and vibrant form of student activism is developed in Bangladesh. It should be stated categorically that student politics could become a positive activity only if it is regulated by students, and may be to some extent the faculty, but not at all by political parties. Their vested interests make all the difference. Successive governments and university authorities have failed miserably to deliver the responsibility of maintaining the peaceful academic atmosphere in the campuses and to continue the academic exercises unhindered. A debate is needed among the citizens how to contain violence in the campus and a dialogue is needed to develop among different political groups for coming to a consensus regarding the form of student politics in the country and a thorough discussion of the issue is needed to be made in the parliament to define the form of student politics in Bangladesh. The writer is Assistant Editor of The Independent andcan be contacted at: [email protected]