Students protests - yes, but should be within limits and accountable.
Date : 18/05/2024
It happened in 1970, if I am not wrong. I was studying in a high school in Triplicane, Chennai and one day, there was an official yearend party in the evening at the school. I used to stay near Pycrofts Road. That day, suddenly, there was a commotion in the street, and everyone started running toward a motley crowd of school students. In that procession was a school teacher whose dhoti was removed, and school students were dancing around him and occasionally hitting him. In the school party, a student had tried to steal a plate probably, and this teacher caught him red-handed. As a punishment to the teacher, they took him on a procession like this for about 2 kms. Being a school student, I also enjoyed the sight, but much later, I used to wonder why nobody tried to stop it. Those were peak days of student agitations, a fallout of anti-Hindi agitation. Being a coward myself, I used to admire these hooligans. It was not abnormal those days for some group or other to ring the school bell suddenly, and before the teachers could realize it, all the students used to run away.
DMK had come to power in 1967, riding on the anti-Hindi agitation and massive state-wide student protests. In fact, the person who defeated the great leader Kamaraj was a student leader. When their own party occupied Government, students felt completely at liberty to go berserk. Not a day used to pass without students' agitation of some sort. One day it would be a student hitting a conductor, another day, it would be conductor hitting students, or, it could be between students from different colleges. Or, it could also be between a group of students and some slum dwellers. These used to be violent clashes, not ordinary ones. Those days we used to go to college hoping for the students to go on strike for some reason or the other. So much so, I vaguely remember reading Anna Durai appealing to students to return to classrooms as it was their government that was in power.
As if this is not enough, the students used to behave in an unruly manner inside the class also. It is not uncommon those days for even students to suddenly ring the school bell and run away before the teachers could even realize it. Such were the heroic days of student life those days, and when people speak of academic freedom now, I get nostalgic for those days. These guys can never recreate those days of hooliganism by students.
By mid-seventies, there were widespread agitations all over India against corruption, though the agitation in Tamil Nadu was due to general lawlessness from a weak response from Government and Police. During the Emergency, students faced the maximum wrath of police in Tamil Nadu. Post emergency, students' agitation reared its head again. It was finally MGR who, with his iron fist, put down the agitations. He was a disciplinarian and worthy of being obeyed.
The immediate provocation for this article is some images I saw of young school students intimidating their teachers, and in one case, even the police were mute spectators. My heart went out to the teachers who looked threatened and petrified. These incidents seem to be growing by the day in recent times. Obviously, no responsible leadership will condone this. But, fact is that students have no fear of teachers, and teachers fear students because they feel the police is helpless. The question is, how does such a message get across through the length and breadth of Tamil Nadu without active support of at least midlevel leaders. It is a failure of political and administrative leadership that it is not being controlled.
As it stands, it looks like the students feel emboldened, and there is a general perception of lawlessness among teachers and helplessness among the police. My fear is ultimately, some lady teacher or girl student will pay with their lives. That would be tragic. It is a crisis waiting to happen. There is no room for hooliganism in classrooms and school settings.
I suggest schools immediately call a parent-teacher meeting if this concept exists in Government schools. The HMs and senior teachers should counsel students and make them realize the consequences of their actions for their future. The SP of each district should call a meeting of the HMs of Government schools and assure them protection. Maybe Inspectors should visit nearby schools and interact in a non-intimidating way. Police should have a free hand but operate with an open heart. It is important to place the misled students back on track. One question that raises is why do these incidents happen only in Government schools.
I wrote this article as I felt moved by the plight of these teachers as a teacher myself, though privileged. One humble request to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police. Both the CS and DGP of the state are sober and professionals. I have conducted a training programme for several officers from All India services across states, and I used to say that it is not enough to be good and professional; one has to be smart and effective. A strong message has to go, and they have to put their foot down. In the end, both politics and administration will gain. For administration and police, certain areas should be non-negotiable.
G Ramesh
Professor (Retd)
IIM Bangalore
Image Credits: Socialist Party.
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