Students are devotees in the holy place of learning. Their key business is to study and learn their lessons. On the other hand, politics means the art of government. I think student politics is necessary, but that should not be like the ongoing situations of student politics. Students are the potential future of the nation. They are the future leaders. They should acquire knowledge and skill in politics so that they can lead the country to peace and prosperity. Their politics should be constructive and progressive. The students played an important role in the anti-British movement, in our language movement and liberation war.
Student’s main duty is to study and prepare themselves for the struggle of life and to lead the country to peace and prosperity. Obviously, they will shoulder the responsibilities of the country today or tomorrow. In this respect, they should participate in politics. But if this politics destroys the career of our students, they will not be able to lead the country to peace and prosperity.
Our country had a long glorious history of student politics. In the past, our students showed their great service to the nation. At that time, the main objectives of students politics were to protect the interest of the general students and to protest against repression, oppression injustice, etc. During our mother language movement, our brave students sacrificed their lives. They protested the injustice of the then colonial govt. of Pakistan. Even during our liberation period, our students were directly involved in politics. They tried their best to materialize the dream of independence. Nowadays student politics is neither people oriented nor educational; rather it is oriented toward personal interest and political gains.
At present, our student politics has lost its glory. Due to student politics, our universities have become mini cantonments. Most of the offenses in our society are being committed, directly or indirectly, by so-called students who are involved in nasty politics. Almost every day we hear the news of violence among the students and there are the closures. Students suffer from a lot of session jam. The student leaders are misguided by our so-called politicians. If the situation does not improve, it is better to ban student politics. The present aims of students’ politics are personal interest, supremacy extension and grabbing power. I should say that student politics is necessary for the greater benefit of the nation, but this should be made fair. Students should not involve themselves too deeply in politics at the cost of studies. College students should be permissible to attend political meetings so that they achieve hands-on knowledge of the goings-on at these meetings. They should, however, not be permitted to participate. It is the time to incorporate knowledge, harness it so that one can use it when one has the wisdom to do so. Otherwise, our nation will have to pay a higher price some day.
