Do Students have a Voice?

A teacher effects eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops - Henry Adams

In the past two days there have been several viral reports of gender biased sexist rules in a so called prominent college in Mangalore. A college which goes by the motto 'Lucet Et Ardet' which means 'Shine to Enkindle'. Now this was rather unexpected of a college of such caliber. It was unexpected of the college I had studied in to come out with such regressive and archaic rules which in no particular way seems to 'enkindle'. I would rather call myself a 'migrant' student who moved from Chennai to Managlore to pursue my higher studies. The atmosphere I had encountered at this college was one of the most liberal ones that i had experienced over nine years of my college life. As most of you might know most of the colleges in Chennai are notoriously popular for their extremely oppressive and draconian rules that are imposed upon the students. I have also been a victim of such said rules. 

The St Aloysius College which I had been led to believe was a place that allowed every student to have multiple opportunities to excel at various fields. An institution that is supposed to 'to present to our nation and to the world men and women with minds bright with knowledge and creativity'. That is what the St Aloysius PU College claims to do so. If one were to go through the college motto, vision and mission of the PU college website, it would all seem to be a farce. 

St Aloysius was what I considered to be the cradle of leadership in a progressive city like Mangalore. I believed in a college that would set an example to rest of the decadent society that is filled with gender bias and sexist ideologies. I believed that this was the college that would 'enkindle' the hearts of men and women who would lead a society blinded by sexism and gender discrimination. Instead, this college has proved that even 'academically accomplished' administrators such as the 'Honorable' Principal himself has allowed himself to slip into an age of darkness. Is this the kind of man who should be leading such a prestigious institution? An institution which was started more than a hundred years ago to 'dispel darkness'. Was this the kind of ideology that the founding fathers of this hallowed institution had in mind? The vision and mission statement of the college has been subverted and perverted by such draconian rules.

The first line of the vision statement of the institution is to empower the youth. How is this possible when you rob the youth of their own identity? Every child should be allowed to create his/her identity. Instead the institution tries to create an identity for the child. In a country like ours where women are always treated with contempt and disrespect, an institution of such repute should have know better. We have to empower women from a young age that they are no different from men. It is not education that they require the most. It is the belief in their own power as an individual. It is the belief in her value without reference to her gender. It is the belief that she can be respected as a person with potential. It is not education and knowledge that she requires, but the confidence that she can be treated as an equal part of society and not as a subordinate creature. All of these beliefs have been robbed by the institution.

Of what purpose are all the certificates and degrees that we gain, when we are unable to look past and look beyond the heavy veil that is cast on us. We have gained knowledge, but lost common sense and logic.

The justification of the Principal towards these draconian rules are even more disturbing. He says that the aim of these rules are to make the students focus on study and inculcate moral values. Is this the 'transformation of society' that this institution aims to create? An academic institution is supposed to create men and women for society. A society of free thinking men and women. Let us hope that the Jesuit community would wake up soon enough to realize their blunder. Let us hope the children are allowed to make their own path, rather than force them to walk on a path that is covered by the barbs of such draconian rules.

'Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's way' 

- Viktor E Frankl