Don’t allow events discussing politics on campus, says govt
Students, Teachers Oppose Move
Sambath.Kumar@timesgroup.com 29.04.2018
Trichy:
The department of collegiate education has asked colleges in the state not to allow their premises to be misused to propagate political ideologies. The circular was issued recently despite campus elections being abolished in the state except in a handful of institutions.
Director of collegiate education J Manjula has asked the colleges to deny permission for events that discuss or debate politics as it was found that participants with political affiliation were advocating their party ideologies while being chief guests at college events. Such events would affect students’ education and their research aptitude, said the circular while asking the regional joint director of collegiate education (RJDCE) to provide the required suggestions to the colleges in their jurisdiction.
“At a time when there are no democratic elections on campuses despite Lyngdoh Committee recommending campus elections, students in Tamil Nadu have been robbed of their democratic rights,” said state secretary of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), S Bala. Questioning the logic behind claiming that students’ research aptitude would be affected, he argued that alternative ideas would encourage research and the reasoning ability of students. “No event can be organised on campuses if politics has to be set aside as every speaker may or may not belong to a political party but would end up speaking politics and about the ideology that he is inclined to,” he said.
One educationist said that politics helped develop the socio-political and economic outlook of students. One of the states to have active campus elections a couple of decades ago saw a gradual decline in incidents of violence during elections. The advent of private institutions that dealt with election-related violence with an iron fist and the semester pattern in colleges managed to keep students glued to academic activities, he said.
While terming the order infructuous when colleges were closed for summer vacations, former president, Association of University Teachers (AUT), KPandiyan said that the orders were aimed at satisfying somebody, perhaps the state government which had been facing opposition from all over. Democratic voices on the campuses are being suppressed by such a move from the government, Pandiyan said.
When TOI contacted DCE J Manjula over phone, she said the circular was issued to avoid unnecessary issues on campuses. Asked if any such issues had cropped up in recent times, she said the decision was based on newspaper reports. “The basic idea is to avoid political campaigning inside campuses. However, we cannot avoid calling people’s representatives expecting them to not speak politics on the campus,” she said.
THING OF THE PAST? Kamal Haasan during an interaction with SSN college students in Chennai in March. Director of collegiate education J Manjula has asked the colleges to deny permission for events that discuss or debate politics as it was found that political leaders were advocating their party ideologies during such events
Students, Teachers Oppose Move
Sambath.Kumar@timesgroup.com 29.04.2018
Trichy:
The department of collegiate education has asked colleges in the state not to allow their premises to be misused to propagate political ideologies. The circular was issued recently despite campus elections being abolished in the state except in a handful of institutions.
Director of collegiate education J Manjula has asked the colleges to deny permission for events that discuss or debate politics as it was found that participants with political affiliation were advocating their party ideologies while being chief guests at college events. Such events would affect students’ education and their research aptitude, said the circular while asking the regional joint director of collegiate education (RJDCE) to provide the required suggestions to the colleges in their jurisdiction.
“At a time when there are no democratic elections on campuses despite Lyngdoh Committee recommending campus elections, students in Tamil Nadu have been robbed of their democratic rights,” said state secretary of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), S Bala. Questioning the logic behind claiming that students’ research aptitude would be affected, he argued that alternative ideas would encourage research and the reasoning ability of students. “No event can be organised on campuses if politics has to be set aside as every speaker may or may not belong to a political party but would end up speaking politics and about the ideology that he is inclined to,” he said.
One educationist said that politics helped develop the socio-political and economic outlook of students. One of the states to have active campus elections a couple of decades ago saw a gradual decline in incidents of violence during elections. The advent of private institutions that dealt with election-related violence with an iron fist and the semester pattern in colleges managed to keep students glued to academic activities, he said.
While terming the order infructuous when colleges were closed for summer vacations, former president, Association of University Teachers (AUT), KPandiyan said that the orders were aimed at satisfying somebody, perhaps the state government which had been facing opposition from all over. Democratic voices on the campuses are being suppressed by such a move from the government, Pandiyan said.
When TOI contacted DCE J Manjula over phone, she said the circular was issued to avoid unnecessary issues on campuses. Asked if any such issues had cropped up in recent times, she said the decision was based on newspaper reports. “The basic idea is to avoid political campaigning inside campuses. However, we cannot avoid calling people’s representatives expecting them to not speak politics on the campus,” she said.
THING OF THE PAST? Kamal Haasan during an interaction with SSN college students in Chennai in March. Director of collegiate education J Manjula has asked the colleges to deny permission for events that discuss or debate politics as it was found that political leaders were advocating their party ideologies during such events
No comments:
Post a Comment