Editorial
Spurt in student violence
Corrective measures needed to address the issue
A sudden surge in student violence in the nation's capital leaves us all worried. The other day, factions of the Chhatra League went into battle against each other over the formation of new university hall committees of the student organisation. Alongside that came news of the violence which erupted at the Teacher-Student Centre centering around the selling of admission forms for prospective students of the university. And as if that were not enough, students of Dhaka College and City College went into pitched battles on Monday over the harassment of a female student of the latter institution by one of the former. Indeed, the clashes between the students of the two colleges resulted in a long and asphyxiating traffic snarl which affected not only the area around New Market and Science Laboratory but also other neighbourhoods.
Obviously, the incidents we speak of vary from one another. At the university it was basically a question of the turf wars that student groups or factions usually find themselves locked in. But what took place between the two colleges already mentioned is something of the clannish or parochial in form. Whatever the details of the incidents and however they may have been set off, the fact remains that it is all a portrayal of a bad situation that may get worse unless drastic and effective checks are in place. It is not that such incidents have not occurred before. But what is surely surprising is that despite the concerted steps being taken toward inaugurating a democratic order and a peaceful society, sections of rowdy students can have the audacity to indulge in civic disorder through blocking off all roads to traffic and pouncing on all sorts of vehicles that come in their way. It may a sign of a bigger social malaise, but that is hardly any reason for us to think it cannot be curbed firmly. And that certainly is the job of the law enforcers.
Apart from immediate action being taken, it falls on the relevant college and university authorities to seriously undertake counselling programmes for their students as a way of inculcating in them the ideals of responsible behaviour. The political classes too could play a positive role, especially in guiding students at the university and college levels towards a respect for and adherence to values. The bottomline ought to be clear: when a section of students, being tomorrow's leaders and social players, themselves give rise to panic by their actions, it is their own standing in society which takes a battering.
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