A teacher's task is to teach. There was a time when schoolteachers were all to ready to use the cane in the classrooms. They were often referred to as pundits. The teacher was the 'guru' and the student was the disciple. A father would drop off his son at the pundit's place, saying, I am leaving my son with you. The flesh is yours, the bones are mine." That meant, don't spare the rod, you can beat him for his good, as long as you don't break his bones.
Nowadays students can't be called students. UNICEF says they are children. If you lay a hand on them or cane them, child rights are violated. Human rights are violated. The parents can sue you. Teachers are now very cautious.
There are times when we hear students taking over the teacher's role. If a teacher does not pay heed, the students assault him. Sometimes the guardians summon the teacher and rebuke him, slap him, make him hold his ears as a punishment, break his bones even.
A time comes when the children grow up. They get admitted into university. Their childhood is over. They become line those pundits of old, wielding sticks, assaulting anyone and everyone, even children. In recent times we hear of teachers appealing to students leaders for jobs and promotions. It is at the behest of the student that they get the posts of hall provost or the university vice chancellor or pro-vice chancellor.
We often hear such news nowadays of student's laying siege to the vice chancellor's office, demanding his resignation. Days pass and no one is bothered about studies. Then the government takes a "bold" decision. If the vice chancellor is lucky, his is transferred somewhere else. If not, he loses his job.
I was wondering, why not just give the students the responsibility of appointing the vice chancellor? If the vice chancellor is appointed upon students' liking, why not elect him directly? Like the student union elections of various universities. The election to the post of vice president and other offices of the student unions is done by secret ballot.
By virtue of office, the vice chancellor is the president of the student union. So the students might as well election him directly too. If the students can demand the vice chancellor's resignation, they can also demand that he be elected to office. Then they won't have to demand his resignation at regular intervals.
At the same time the students can arrange funds to run the university. Just imagine a scene: The students are running the university with their money and their election vice chancellor and provosts. There is something democratic about that, some autonomous. Then no one can blame the government of intervention.
As things stand now, the citizens of the country arrange the funds through their taxes, the government appoints the vice chancellor, yet the vice chancellor has to obey the students. What sort of system is that? Surely this can't carry on. Either the students will have to listen to the students or the university must be given full independence. The students will run everything. They will not allow "outsiders" enter the independent sovereign university.
Why has not a single university been declared independent?
One can hardly remain sane, watching television, reading the newspapers or listening to the teashop gossip. Why are our universities in such a pitiful state? The poor people do back-breaking work to pay taxes to run the government, pour in money for the universities. There are student halls with their money. The students should have their books, pens and computers there, but instead when the police raid the halls, they fund sticks, knives, cleavers, firearms and ammunition.
Impatience is visible among the students. They no longer want to remain confined within the four walls of their institutions. They often spill into nearby villages or onto the streets. There, scuffles and fistfights break out.
When students leave their books to take to the streets, not all find it possible to return. They can broadly be divided into two. One section of them wants to study regularly and eventually get jobs. After all, their do not come from landed gentry and they are not prone to theft or robbery. The other section wander around, looking for opportunities, like tigers that turn ferocious, having tasted the flesh of man. Many of they have been in movements to "salvage" the country. Now they expect to be revered. They now have control over shops and other businesses. They must be paid protection money regularly.
This is a country of movements and struggles. A movement crops every few years. Whoever conducts the movement claims that their movement is the best and those in the past were nothing. What could be a better excuse to lay claim to power? We have seen such propensities for grabbing power since 1971.
On 16 December of 1971, a force suddenly sprang up. Overnight, they became "freedom fighters." They seized houses, cars, shops, and jobs, and entrenched themselves. They managed to secure freedom fighter certificates. Ah, what comfort! A monthly honorarium of 20,000 taka, along with festival allowances and countless other benefits!
Even after 5 August 2024, many new “coordinators” have emerged in the country. It's the same style, the same allegations against them - extortion, grabbing, and bullying. I hear that in some places, even their family members have jumped into the business of land-grabbing.
Now there are all sorts of demands. This must be done, that must be done. The perfect place to raise demands is the Shahbagh intersection. Just sit there and shout for an hour, and all traffic comes to a halt. The city is paralysed. So the demands must be accepted. And why would the government have any difficulty in accepting? After all, the money doesn’t come from their pockets, it comes from the taxes of poor people.
Meanwhile, there is another mess. Those who used force to suppress the July movement, those who shot and killed people - their ringleaders have already fled. The ones that remain face a flood of murder cases. The accused are listed in the hundreds, even thousands. And beyond the list, there are many more. Their names are recorded as “unknown.” I hear that in preparing the lists of accused in the cases, some local leaders of certain political parties, together with lawyers, have colluded with the police. “If you pay, your name will be struck off the list.” This has turned into a free-for-all trade. Tell me, does it really take a thousand people to kill one man?
Meanwhile, I hear that once a murder case is filed, bail is not granted. But we know that in this country, many backstreet lawyers have grown rich overnight by trading in bail. Everyone shares in the spoils. A kind of socialism.
Impatience is visible among the students. They no longer want to remain confined within the four walls of their institutions. They often spill into nearby villages or onto the streets. There, scuffles and fistfights break out. The media then raises a hue and cry. Laying a hand on students? What audacity!
It makes one want to sing that old refrain aloud: "Amra shobai raja amader ei rajar rajaotte ": “We are all kings in the kingdom of our kingship.”
* Mohiuddin Ahmad is writer and researcher
* The views expressed are the writer’s own