Gone are the days when students were supposed to be highly submissive, calm and quiet, cool-headed and peace-loving. The schools, then, enjoyed pin-drop silence and provided the learners with a quiet retreat. But things are totally changed these days.
School and college turmoil has become a common feature of the day all-over the world, and, particularly, in India. It is very unfortunate because it is our youngsters who are the hope for the future of the nation.
Any wastage of their precious time is contrary to the interest of all of us. Nurturing a positive attitude amongst these young men and women is the most burning need of the hour.
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Isn’t it sad and pitiable that our present-day students spend more time on strikes and agitation than in classrooms? Their coming out of their classes on issues that aren’t even related with them has become a routine. Shouting slogans, they can be seen, standing outside their school or college and stopping the traffic on the road.
The situation became agonizingly panicky and deplorable, when students boycotted their classes against the government’s decision to reserve seats for the backward classes in medical and other professional colleges. Their agitation, visually, paralysed the medical services in most hospitals.
This sort of painfully sad picture of our young students reveals their disturbed mind. We find them joining demonstrations, slogan-shouting, taking out processions against the government policies, and even damaging the Public property, such as buses and the school or college furniture.
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We find them addicted to drugs, alcoholism and Poking. This is, in fact, a manifestation of their restlessness and an absence of a positive goal in life.
For this sorry state of affairs a number of causes are responsible. First of all, the parents are to be blamed. Most of them are too busy in the business of making money and then socializing in the evenings to have any time for their children. Thus, their children, who are at an impressionable age, have no one to guide and lead. This is why they are easily led astray.
The main culprit is, of course, our uninspiring, obsolete educational system. There is overcrowding in schools and colleges, with the result that there is hardly any personal contact or rapport between the teacher and the taught. For the teachers, the students are merely roll numbers in the attendance-register and not human-beings. In such a situation, students feel as indifferent to their teachers as the teachers are towards them. Thus, there is, virtually, no opportunity to follow the example of elders.
Our present-day educational system is also equally to blame. It requires students to study a number of subjects unrelated and irrelevant to their practical life. This produces only graduates and post-graduates for whom getting a job is a major problem. It leaves them thoroughly frustrated, for they find their entire education a waste of times and money.
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Completely frustrated and desperate, they become an easy prey to the politicians, who use them for their selfish ends. It is only little to be wondered at, if we find most demonstrations and slogan-shouting processions, manipulated by the political bosses.
They misguide the youth and show their own strength and power by the sheer number of the people (mostly frustrated, unemployed youth) in their rallies. In earlier times, the youth-energy was used by politicians for a good cause, including the freedom struggle.
Thus, they were always utilized for a good cause and had a definite goal in life. Now, unluckily, their energy is wrongly used for creating trouble, unrest and mischief.
It is, therefore, very important that this situation is set right and the tremendous energy of the youth is used for beneficial purposes. It is for the parents, teachers and politicians to realize their responsibility towards our future hope and guide them properly.
At the same time, sufficient job opportunities should be opened up by way of self-employment and other schemes, so that the students are able to use their faculties in some useful occupation.