Educate! Agitate! Organize!

1

July 14, 2015 by nluodoublethink

By Justin Jos

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the father of Indian Constitution, has always been an inspiring figure throughout the course of India’s independence struggle. One of the slogans promoted by him still captivates me; “Educate, Agitate and Organize”. This is not just a radical proposition and should not be out rightly dismissed as a leftist propaganda for ensuring mass struggle. It has equal applicability in the University structure where the rights of students need to be balanced alongside the actions of the University. The student masses are clearly trying to educate themselves about the reasons behind administrative decisions of the University but the perceptible need to agitate and organize is currently lacking on behalf of the student community. According to me, this is one of the major reasons for an ineffective redressal of the problems of the students. In any university, the students lack bargaining power due to absence of an organized body which can present their demands in front of the authorities without fear, bias or prejudice. Here lies the need for establishment of an association which would act as a vehicle of fulfilling the aim of agitating and organizing. The organization can be called as a Student Bar Association or even, the Clown Association. I wouldn’t care less unless and until the democratic and progressive voices are heard through the forum. Universities are the battle field of ideas and an absence of dialogue with the students through an organized body clearly promotes a culture of university sponsored ‘student life’.

It is well understood that students and administrators have differing aspirations as well as perspectives about the course of University life. Yet it is my firm belief that there is a void when it comes to communication regarding this matter between the students, teachers, administrators and faculty. This snowballs and emerges as the bone of contention in every other issue which could be resolved through dialogue. Dialogue usually fails because of many reasons. One of the major reason being ‘delay in decision making due to lack of administrative will’. This ultimately concludes in the lack of faith in the institutional mechanism by the student party. This propels the anger of the students and the ego of the administrators towards the edge culminating into the death of the bleak possibility of negotiation. The answer to any tussle remains elusive due to the huge influx of emotions on both sides which in due course obstructs the idea of a constructive discussion of the ground problems.

It is also noted that with the advent of technology, the rise of virtual activism has increased which in turn increases the amount of subjectivity involved in an issue. This form is usually followed by students who perceive themselves to be activists by writing comments on an online forum. Whilst, I appreciate the act of protest but I also humbly disagree with the mode. It should be made clear in the minds of the parties that merely publicizing the issue through social networking website, group mails etc. is only the first step towards reaching an effective solution of the problem at hand. In any act of public interest ground level action which involve one to one communication with administrators, understanding the problems of the people in charge, practical difficulties in implementing a particular decision etc. are also equally important. The Student Bar association would act as a bridge between the parties at loggerheads and institute a constructive dialogue.

It is true that organization is above the individual but often one observes that there is always an inherent fear in the minds of the organizational chiefs when it comes to matters pertaining formation of associations and groups. This fear can be dispelled by establishing an ad hoc association which would dutifully report to the administration on the assurance that it would be granted a permanent recognition once satisfactory nature of working of the association is observed. This solution seems to be feasible and can also form an apolitical, unbiased and independent body working both “for the students and with the administration”. The idea behind formation of a Student Bar Association is also one of the means to enrich students with an experience of learning the technicalities involved in the administrative sphere alongside learning the most important lesson of life that is, dealing with people.