"Students" set standards!

Yellow flames licked a white government jeep at the Exhibition Road, Kathmandu. The newspaper headline the next day declared that the Proficiency Certificate Level (PCL) would continue. On August 12, “students” (in quotes because I doubt that the agitators desire real learning) wanting to retain the PCL held that bonfire. In Butwal, Maoist “students” torched two vehicles belonging to the Nepal Drinking Water Corporation and vandalized six others. (Who pays for these? We, the taxpayers.) In the capital, three Maoist leaders began a “fast to death”. After three days of needless destruction, disruption of life and traffic, the education minister and 13 student unions came to an agreement. In the end, the Tribhuvan University (TU) had to cave in. A Maoist elder gave juice to his fasting cadres. Did the “students” really win? Hardly.

I myself went through the PCL system, sat for the Intermediate of Arts exams, and so have some attachment to it. However, the 13 “student” unions erred in protesting the way they did.

With the PCL issue, the agitating “students” and the submissive minister turned a blind eye to the fact that TU had come to the decision after careful thinking.

First, the agitating “students” gave the message that might is right. They used violence to subdue the confused government but also the professors who knew better. In the past, some of these very “students” had burnt TU’s furniture, destroyed books, and smeared black soot on the faces of TU’s vice-chancellor and rector. On August 10, their colleagues disrupted Bachelor’s third year exams at different centers in the capital.

Education for real students doesn’t end when one leaves college and joins a union. When “students” burned volumes belonging to the TU library some years ago, the question arose, “Did these read a single book after they left college?” If so, wouldn’t they have more respect for tomes of knowledge?

Violence includes fasting as well. When one begins a fast “unto death”, the opportunity for discussion ends. It’s a threat of suicide. “Do as I say or else I’ll kill myself, and the society will dub you a murderer!” (Strangely, in our country relatives can go to jail when someone commits suicide; so the horrid act has become an avenging weapon.) Mahatma Gandhi fasted against the British government’s injustices, for Hindu-Muslim unity, against discrimination to untouchables, and as atonement for violence by his followers. He had noble aims. His copycats have used the fast for very murky reasons.

However, such fasts don’t impress everyone. Gandhi succeeded only because he dealt with the gentler British government and the sympathetic Indian population. Had he gone to Germany and fasted against Hitler, he and his followers would probably have added themselves to the holocaust in a Nazi gas chamber. In 1981, the British PM Margaret Thatcher ignored 10 Irish nationalists fasting in a Belfast prison to get London to recognize them and their associates as political prisoners. They died. Nepalis who decide on a political fast for any cause should mind who heads the government. The compromising PM, Madhav Kumar Nepal, gave in. Others may not.

Second, the agitating students became pawns to leaders with political ambitions.

Many who started their political careers doing “student” activities have ended up as ministers or the PM. Among these, we can name Nepali Congress’ Bal Krishna Khand, Ram Chandra Paudel, and Sher Bahadur Deuba. (In 1967, Paudel earned fame by shouting anti-China slogans and demanding the removal of Chairman Mao’s portrait at Bhrikuti Mandap.) Similarly, present “student” leaders aim to become the PM or a minister later and the more attention they can bring to themselves now by outrageous acts, the better promotion their parties will grant them. Their dumb, agitating counterparts become mere tools for their leaders’ future, political goals.

Third, “students” don’t have the qualification to decide on the PCL or other scholarly matters. They should leave such decisions to educational experts. If they dictate how a university should run by merely burning vehicles and fasting, we don’t need grey-haired professors. When”students” force their will on our university, they become the de facto chancellor but without the needed expertise.

With the PCL issue, the agitating “students” and the submissive minister turned a blind eye to the fact that TU had come to the decision after careful thinking. Dr Kedar N Shrestha wrote in a national daily, “An unexpected problem surfaced when the minister of education declared that the PCL would be retained at TU...The minister cannot interfere in the affairs of an autonomous TU, and certainly not in this case when TU has made a long-awaited and right decision.” With so many 10+2 institutions now providing quality education, the PCL has become redundant.

Besides, these very “students” complain of the sub-standard education under TU. How can TU improve? Obviously, one way is to get rid of the PCL and devote its energy to other more relevant branches of studies. Sadly, TU had to back down in this noble goal.

Fourth, the protests show utter lack of respect for seniority. Culturally, Asian countries had great respect for teachers. In Hinduism, the guru was a guide who has gained some spiritual insight. He used the tutorial method of teaching. Usually, the pupil stayed in the guru’s home, obeyed him, and served him. The Bhakti movement made the guru almost a god. The word Sikh comes from the Sanskrit sisya which means a “disciple” thus implying the presence of a guru. The Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed that the disciple cannot be greater than his master. Thus, even today no respect for teacher; no learning.

Chairman Mao ushered in China’s Cultural Revolution during which he disgraced academics, and didn’t allow schools and colleges to run for 10 years. Our Nepali Maoists and their associates can’t go to that extreme (our society isn’t stupid), but they have tried to shut down private schools. With the PCL issue, the Maoists “students” have taken the lead. Other parties’ youths have joined in to show their peers that they also care for education as much as the Maoists (and deserve their votes).

Fifth, TU now lacks the initiative to promote the PCL because it feels the “students” and the education minister have twisted its arms. Forced decisions kill zeal. Thus, the university has begun to accept students for the PCL but half-heartedly. Teachers lecturing on subjects will do it without enthusiasm. In the end, the students themselves will suffer.

One fine day, our “students” may decide to do away with exams, burn more vehicles, and produce many “fast to death” candidates to bulldoze their decision through. Not an impossibility. Dr Baburam Bhattarai himself favored issuing academic certificates to Maoist combatants who tramped the jungles for 10 years but neither studied nor wrote tests. When “students” set standards, expect more educational disaster.