http://odishapostepaper.com/edition/4676/orissapost/page/6
The Orissa High Court issued a notice to the Odisha government over the cancellation of the elections of students’ bodies in different universities and colleges. The Court had directed the government to submit replies. The Court’s notice revives the age-old conversation on students, politics, the role of the state government, and democracy. In 1939, Gandhiji defined ‘democracy’ as the art and science of mobilizing the entire physical, economic, and spiritual resources of society in the service of the common good of all. He further argued that true democracy cannot worked by a small group of people sitting at the top.
Though Gandhiji stressed the relevance of democratic practices at the village level, the spirit of his suggestion can be applied to colleges and universities too. Universities are a vital pillar of democracy and provide an opportunity for young citizens to experience different nuances of democratic practices.
Elections, in a democracy, enable people to elect their representatives and express their political opinions. Student governing bodies and associations become impactful when these bodies elect their office bearers through robust and transparent elections. By participating in university elections, students get a taste of the democratic processes that drive our country.
Student activism has resulted in the creation of strong political leaders all over the world. India is no exception. Some of the best political leaders of our country picked the art of politics during their college days. Two names that come up when we talk about student politics are P V Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Both were active student leaders, who became Prime Ministers during the 1990s and early 2000. No wonder, several research studies have found that prior involvement in student politics is a predictor of quality political engagement in the later part of life.
There are three general theoretical perspectives, which explain why the experience of student politics is related to subsequent adult political engagement: the structural perspective, the participation perspective, and the development perspective.
The structural perspective shows that political engagement in college and university days creates social capital among youth. Social capital is the amount of trust that characterizes the political culture of modern societies. According to the participation perspective, the process of voting and participation in college-level activities helps in understanding how democracy works and developing leadership abilities. The development perspective says through participation in student political and community service activities, youth begin to understand their role in a developing society. The above three perspectives are not mutually exclusive. Each perspective explains how elections play an important role in the political socialization of young people.
Great world leaders, like MK Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, and several other leaders recognized the importance of democratic schools. Such schools have two common features: democratic governance, and autonomy to manage their own learning process.
Several experiments on creating democratic schools are taking place in different parts of the world. I had the privilege of getting firsthand exposure to one such experiment happening in Leh (Ladakh). Sonam Wangchuk, an engineer from Ladakh and a Ramon Magsaysay awardee is the man behind the innovative democratic school for the local students of Leh.
This school is run wholly by students having a ‘mini government’ of its own. They learn to manage people, animals, plants, and other scarce natural resources through experiments and experience. One group of students operates as the party in power, and another group works as the opposition party. They are held accountable on a bi-monthly basis for their performance through a parliamentary system of debates and discussions. It may not be possible to create such schools everywhere, but nothing stops us from following the principles of democratic governance and autonomy in the learning process.
This is even more important for a country like India, where more than 50% of the population is below 30 years of age, but only 12% of our MPs are below the age of 40 years. Even at the state level, the representation of the youth is low. In Odisha, only 11% of our MLAs are below the age of 40 years. It is time to revisit and reexamine the link between education and politics.
However, I am not proposing that students should be involved in party politics. I believe in what Gandhiji said, “Students must not take part in party politics, they are students, searchers, not politicians”. In that spirit, let us see college and university elections as a legitimate democratic process, rather than a party-based political activity. Hope we will work towards making colleges and universities operate like magnificent and vibrant social laboratories of democracy.
DV Ramana