ENCOURAGE STUDENT ACTIVISM

If pummelling young people into silence is anyone's idea of politics or governance, then it betrays a deep sense of insecurity

- PROF MANOJ KUMAR JHA

Let us begin by citing a book called When Poetry Ruled the Streets by Andrew Feenberg and Jim Freedman documenting the experience of the French student movement of 1968. The authors were passionate participants in the movement in Paris that was met with brute force by the French state. Their account is infused with the reasoned emotional efforts of the students to kindle political awareness in society. Our contemporary history bears witness that youth and student activism has played a crucial role in questioning authority, demanding accountability, and advocating for a more just society. This tradition of dissent has been a powerful force, whether in the freedom movement or the more contemporary challenges and social injustices across the globe.

During the Swadeshi Movement in 1905, institutions like the Presidency College in Calcutta and Fergusson College in Pune became the important nodes of revolutionary ideas and activities. The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-1922) saw widespread participation from students, who boycotted British educational institutions, opting for national schools and colleges instead, such as the Kashi Vidyapeeth and Jamia Millia Islamia.