Among the student community in research institutes, a sense of moral superiority in the fact that one is protesting could easily arise and in my opinion does arise. This is sheer nonsense. Protests are held for change, not so that you can look good in a photo and then reminisce about it twenty years later. Or make cool sounding noises when you pass each other in the halls.
The students/youth fought for freedom, democracy and secular values during the freedom struggle. They defended these values even after independence, whenever they perceived any threat like they did against the imposition of emergency in 1975. Bhagat Singh and the political values he bequeathed, should be the guiding spirit for students and the youth today. It is an opportune moment to rebuild an India Bhagat Singh aspired for.
Too often, there are suggestions to confer some kind of elevated moral standing to student politics. This is insulting both to students and to other citizens of India. This is because fundamental rights by their very definition apply to every citizen and no one citizen can claim that their fundamental rights are morally superior to that of another.
We should not be surprised if we find the engagement with the world and society of many great souls, from Nachiketa to Gandhi, was marked by questioning and conscientious disobedience.
Campus agitations (and now campus violence) are a consequence of the breakdown of communications between the administration and the student body, not the cause. Especially after months of a lack of communication, patience can wear thin. When one hears the different sides of the story, it can seem like a contemporary re-enactment of Rashomon, and a slightly fantastic one at that.
In this article, Rajan Kurai Krishnan, a well-known social anthropologist and professor from Ambedkar University, Delhi, takes the examples of three very popular films in Tamil cinema and picks up a common thread in how they view science and scientists. As he mentions in the conclusion, there have been films with differing perspectives, but those were much smaller in impact and popularity, hence his reason for basing his arguments on these three.
Confluence Series on Perceiving and Reacting to Science.
A series of articles on “Students and Political Protests”
Students need to and have to actively engage in [the] dynamic process of contestations, tensions, enquiry, discovery and re-discovery if they have to co-create knowledge and uphold the ‘desired’ values. Participation and protests are indeed an essential part of this process, and such education is critical for an evolving society that cherishes and aspires for democracy, equality, secularism, justice and freedom.
If you went to a public place where you were surrounded by people and randomly posed the question “What is science?” or asked “Is it important to learn science?” what do you think will be the answer? In this article R Ramanujam explores this question, dwelling on how a perception of science is built up by the way people are educated in science in school. School education shapes what people believe is science and what is meant by the scientific attitude in a manner that leaves a lot to be desired, he argues. He touches upon how education needs to be looked at to address this issue.
Students and youth have always been in the forefront of any viable movement, and they will always be. The sooner we accept it, the better.
The idea of academic freedom, although varying in different countries, pertains to a scholar’s liberty to express her/his ideas without the fear of ‘official interference’ or ‘personal disadvantage’. Such freedom, which is essentially freedom of speech, is necessary for the growth of an academic institute.
Should students take part in political protests? Some people think yes, others disagree. But why this difference of opinion and what might happen when students take part in such protests? Gauhar Raza examines the issue and feels that “When students come out on streets, their banking system of education gets disrupted and they are likely to acquire the ability to become catalysts for social change and, more importantly, question the balance of power.”
