Few days back the principal of a private engineering
college in southern Tamil Nadu was brutally murdered by three of his own
students on the college campus while many students and staff were witnessing
the horror in panic. The three students had created series of problems that led
to the suspension of one of them for few days and the disciplinary action
provoked them to wreak vengeance on the slain college head.
The incident which is beyond our imagination has shattered
the entire teachers’ community and definitely this is a symptom of the presence
of a deadly disease in our present society. Could a principal / teacher ever
imagine that one of his students would stab him in stomach and other two would
fatally attack with long knives on his head? Unfortunately, the culturally
degraded society has made it realistic.
The murder has ignited a serious of debate among
academicians, students and the public. While many people have superficially
analysed the case and engaged in blame game, academicians and authorities have cautiously
used diplomatic words so that no one would feel offended. It appears that the
academicians and intellectuals are not willing to open the Can of Worms in the
public. Members of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers’
Organisations said such instances are mainly due to academic stress in the
students and the management pressure on professors to perform, especially in
the private institutions. The Vice President of AIFUCTO said, “Mentoring must
be continuous, and not ritualistic to oblige an internal examination
requirement. The government should try to evolve an institutional mechanism
that provides necessary emotional and pharmacological support to stressed-out
learners and middle-aged professors working in challenging circumstances but
facing uncertain future.”
I believe that the ‘academic stress’ on the students and
the ‘pressure on professors to perform’ should have started from the day the
private engineering colleges were allowed to mushroom in our country. Parents
want their children to study the most demanded courses even though their
children may NOT have the aptitude to study the particular course. The greedy private
colleges happily admit these blind folded youngsters solely for money and force
the underpaid young professors to bring miraculous results. All the managements
need is 100 % result because that alone would ensure the successful running of
their business. Unfortunately, many faculty members in the private institutions
behave like slaves and seldom have liberty to express their views to the
managements. So, they simply turn the heat on the students. This is the
beginning of misunderstanding between teachers and students and the result is
what we witness now.
It is a well known fact that many private engineering
colleges in Tamil Nadu practice the innovative way of imposing unreasonable
fines for each and every fault of students. Late arrival, not attending classes
and internal exams, failing in Semester Exams etc are few examples that would attract
invoking of the penal action of imposing heavy fines. Students from the well to
do families may not have problems to comply with this order but the condition
of students coming from the economically backward sections of the society is so
pathetic. Their parents might have spent the entire savings at the time of
admissions and in most cases the students might be continuing their studies on
Bank Loans. One may not easily realise the plight of such families unless they
witness it themselves.
The accused in the present murder case reported that the
college authorities have been imposing fine of Rs.1000/-(one thousand) even for
late arrival of 10 minutes, use to summon the parents over trivial matters and
insult the students with abusive words in the presence of parents. Whatever it
may be, no one could ever justify the gruesome act of the students. But at the
same time we must admit that the highly qualified professors utterly failed to
understand the psychology of today’s youth.
A noted Tamil writer (Paamaran) has expressed critical
views about the incident and I absolutely agree with his fearless views. Here
is the extract of his opinion.
“Instant
criticisms and punishing the accused in unfortunate incidents are like taking
pain killers without treating the cause of the disease and would never bring
permanent solutions to the problems. Today, most of the Educational
Institutions are owned by Politicians and Liquid Barons who manage the
organizations with the help of political, muscle and money powers. Parents,
Students or anyone who raise their voice against these managements are threatened
with dire consequences and are mostly suppressed. Those students who rise against
the suppression ultimately become the victims of violence.
A section of the teaching faculty is also blamed for the
fallout of the situation. Today’s teacher was yesterday’s student and also comes
from the same degraded society. He is also influenced by the cultural
degradedness of the society and we could not expect sudden behavioural changes
once he becomes a teacher.
Today’s education system moulds the younger generation as
revenue earning machines and fails to change them into Human Resources with
Character and Social Concern. The behaviour of vengeance dominates today’s
educated class and the entire society is responsible for the violent nature of
the misguided youth. Therefore, in order to bring changes in the younger
generation, we must begin changes from the grass root level of the society.”
Even though the Naga Society suffers from the
shortcomings of armed conflicts, I would honestly say that teachers serving in Nagaland
have been highly regarded by the society and the students. In the days of
globalization, we should learn lessons from the incidents happening in our
neighbourhood and correct ourselves before our society gets infected by the
deadly disease. I sincerely pray that let Nagaland continue to be an example to
the proverb ‘Parents are Teachers at Home and Teachers are Parents at School’.
