STUDENTS AND POLITICS
Points: Introduction – Life of the student – Reason for his participation – Whether participation desirable and if so, how far – Precaution to be taken.
The life of a student is the life of devotion to his studies and preparation for facing all the problems that await him in his future life. We expect the students to be confined within the four walls of their educational institutions and don't like that they should participate in politics. For politics according to most of the conservative thinkers, lies beyond the territorial jurisdiction of their alma mater.
It has been pointed out above that the life of the student is not of exclusive devotion to his studies but also of preparation for facing and taking the problems of life to come. In considering the life of the student, therefore, we lay emphasis on the first aspect, totally ignoring the second. As theoretical teaching cannot lead us anywhere without practical knowledge, so also no, preparation for future life on the pan, of the student can be possible unless he is aware of the kinds of problems and their nature that await him in his future life. The conception of confining the student within the four walls of his educational institution is wrong and that he should be allowed to come out to the open, if not frequently, at least now and then. Any attempt to counter this will be not only self-contradictory, but also disastrously harmful for the full growth of the students.
The association of the students in political affairs cannot be overruled. They are intelligent; they are selfless by nature; they love the right and hate the wrong; they are full blooded young men and so they are always ready to lay down their lives for the sake of their ideal, whether it is patriotism or something as noble as that. That is why the students all over the world are now found taking part in all sorts of beneficial movements.
Politics is nourished and nurtured in educational institutions. The students are the cradles of modern political thought. Till yesterday our leaders were active participants in the student politics. How can they oppose the principles which they uphold in their academic career. On the one hand we say that students are the leaders of the future, and they should uphold the confidence reposed in them by the elder generation. But on the other hand, we teach them to desist from active politics. I hardy find any consonance in the two propositions.
The history of Pakistan will show that out students by nature are political-minded; they rise, if need be only for noble causes. The misfortune is this that they are taught politics and called out of their classes by interested people. But when safe or satisfied, these very people deliver sermons, on them that they should be exclusively attentive to their studies.
As a student is a learner, his first and foremost duty is to read and know. But this does not mean that he should be unconnected with and indifferent to the current affairs of the world and especially of his own country. It should not be suggested that the students should be completely away from politics. The only advice that should be given to them is that for all noble causes they should go forward, for they only, as the selfless section of our people, have the heart and ability to do so.