If we had sensible people throughout our campuses, our country could perhaps have been different
- The future leaders of our country?
Once more, the premises of higher education have witnessed the murder of students – this time, one in Rajshahi University, and another in Bangladesh Agricultural University. Of the two latest cases, those who perpetrated the first one have not been traced yet. However, some were arrested and some are facing disciplinary consequences from the university.
Both the latest victims were involved in the pro-ruling party student organisation. These pathetic incidents take us back once more to the killings in our educational institutions that have occurred frequently, reminding us of the impunity these perpetrators have enjoyed much too often. It is clear that the university, our society, and our government have failed to effectively do anything about them.
Let’s take a deeper look into what is going on: To my understanding, the power-practice which is still prevalent in the universities is not supposed to exist in a democratic regime. There could be true student representation from among the students through a formal or institutionalised democratic process.
These two enormously saddening incidents take me back to my university days. When I first went to the university in the beginning of the first decade of the new millennium as a freshman, what struck me the most – which can offer a clue behind the recurrence of these incidents – was the unwritten rule that the newcomers learn from their seniors. This is not a “rule,” but rather a culture embedded in student politics.
New students have to prioritise on political activities over academics, or they will be driven away from the halls. They might also fall victim to organised beatings by political cadres. People who champion politics always say that it is not academics that make you prosper, rather, it is politics that gives you certain privileges.
I came to see that some students who were involved in politics were even older than many of our professors. They remained on campus throughout the years, not to study but to get into positions of power.
For junior students, this meant being forced into participation. It is a crude power race that may award you some control over certain underground business activities in and around the university by means of muscle. There are widespread allegations of extortion, manipulation of tenders, and drug-peddling on the campuses. And yes, murders.
Over the years, student politics has been conditioning students with ideas that are contrary to those of a true education. People who get involved in student politics enjoy something that the “common” students don’t, as the political ones keep gaining patronage from political parties, muscle, arms, impunity, and privileged treatment from the administration.
These players are not formally chosen or institutionally elected leaders. They maintain supremacy throughout their stay by maintaining the hegemony in the small territory that they have snatched for themselves as an excuse to justify their practice. They draw on the glorious history of student politics as an excuse to go on doing what they do, but all that is merely rhetoric. Real student politics is something else altogether.
Within the organisation, there is the usual hierarchy – the man on top gives orders to those below. The ones taking orders have to carry out their instructions by hook or by crook. The group has to be kept intact, powerful, and intimidating. Sometimes, external threats to the group will emerge, and in such cases, those external elements will be hit hard. Control must be established over what should really just be a piece of public property, using political clout gained through student politics. The students all have to abide by the arbitrary doctrines of the small gangs.
If we had sensible people throughout our campuses, our country could perhaps have been different from what it currently is. These aspects, of course, contain within themselves the legacy of undemocratic phases of history. The culture remains, causing longstanding impacts on the educational institutions.
No institution has counted the overall impact of these grim games, including the loss of human capital that has come to be expected. It is now necessary for all who are so badly affected by this practice of arms, muscle, and crime in the universities, to fight back effectively, devise plans for resistance, and save lives. These lives have always had the potential to contribute positively to our educational institutions as well as our nation as a whole.
Source: Dhaka Tribune