A student is seen, universally, as someone who climbs the ladder of success at an educational institution- an institution that is supposedly not only the epitome of best of the teacher-student relationship but also a place full of vibrancy, of exchange of views- more like a facilitation center leading a young, curious mind on the path of eternal appetite for Knowledge. This might be the case in several academic institutions across the globe but the same assertion cannot be applied to various educational intuitions in Kashmir, not at least in totality! We fail to acknowledge, in case of Kashmir, that the same student who is the soul of the complete mechanics as well as quantum mechanics of education intuitions is made to lose his/her self-respect.
I strongly believe that I don’t need to get into many details as majority of the students, especially those who are pursuing higher education in Kashmir, can easily associate a certain meaning to what I have written in the previous paragraph.
Now, the question that remains to be answered is what compels a student to compromise his/her self-esteem and never complain about it. Well, the answer is that no student can afford to compromise his/her hard-earned academic career.
My experience tells me, the students are made to tolerate rudest of all behaviours in the garb of having them to maintain the discipline. Students are instilled with such a terrible fear that we get to see in those epic movies wherein great lords, through fear, make their subjects behave in the most intimidating manners possible. Those who are propagating this fear of great lords in educational institutions believe that discipline has a face and they are the only ones to have understood the grammar of it. Why don’t we keep these rules of discipline confined to the classrooms only? And, by asking this question, I am not favouring the scrapping of rules of discipline in the educational institutions as the same is undoubtedly at the heart of every educational institution.
Let me share some of my personal experience with regard to whatever I have written in the prior paragraphs of this write-up and I am very much sure that majority of students, reading this, can relate the experience to their study place experiences. Here I go.
One of my friends, who is presently working outside Kashmir, called me recently saying that I need to apply for her migration certificate at one of the universities here, keeping it confidential, in Kashmir. One month has already passed since she asked me for help, but I am yet to make an effort to get her work done. I am not being lazy or disobliging; rather it has a lot to do with the fact that I was supposed to face an arrogant clerk, which happens to be the most embarrassing situation for any student, and for that compromising my self-esteem was inevitable.
Our higher education is suffering from a lot of issues and one among those issues, which has been hardly talked about, is the behavioural problem of administration. It is not just about the clerks, who are low-rank officials, but the high-rank officials who call shots at educational institutes are so inaccessible that it takes days to meet them. Whenever a student has to meet a higher official at an educational institution, it will be an exception if he/she is allowed to meet the official at the first request only.
If a clerk feels overburdened with his assigned work, as suggested by their behaviour, he should talk to some concerned official about it. Venting their frustration on the students is not a thing to do. If a student violates a rule, there are hundreds of procedures at the disposal of administration to punish him/her, but who is going to check the rude behaviour of the administration itself. Who is there to check the rude behaviour of administration at educational institutions?
If a clerk misbehaves with me who I should turn to as there is no specific place to get my complaint registered. The clerical force of educational institutes should be imparted training, for the same reasons a teacher is made to undergo training so that they can make themselves immune to anger and frustration.
The author can be reached at akeelsofi@gmail.com
