Why should student indiscipline not be tolerated
Indiscipline in colleges happens due to several reasons. One of the most common reasons is jealousy of some jilted lover, over a real or imaginary love affair, where the girl is seen friendly with any other male, or is committed to some other person, for reasons that are close to her heart, but not revealed.
Such indiscipline can also be caused for reasons such as poor quality of food in the canteen, late arrival of buses, casual attitude of some teachers, and so on. .
In one particular college in Coimbatore, for example, a group of boys belonging to the Mechanical engineering branch, bashed up another group of boys belonging to the electrical and communication students. The reason: one of the boys who was studying mechanical engineering fell in love with a girl who belonged to the other discipline. However, this girl was friendly with another boy of her own discipline. The Mechanical boy told his friends that he would rather commit suicide, if she did not love him. The girl turned "neutral" saying that she considered this fellow, as her own brother. The Mechanical boy thought his enemy was the guy in electronics and communication wing.
Not only was this boy beaten up, but his friends were also warned that they would have to face "serious" consequences, if he did not give up any friendship with the girl. The girl was also given a similar warning, that she "should love" only the mechanical boy.
All this is straight from Tamil movies, that more or less have similar story lines. This is an extremely sorry state of affairs. The Principal of the college, an ex-army man, was a good administrator. The case went to the police, who arrested the students involved, and quickly got a written undertaking from each parent that their children will no more indulge in any sort of violence.
In Chennai, the so-called annual 'bus days' are real nightmares for the police and college Managements. Students of a few colleges join together, buy some small gifts for drivers and conductors, and literally take over the buses, The even get atop the buses in Bihari style, and dictate terms to the drivers to drive the buses to specific places.
In the recent past, there have been several instances when the buses have been stoned, and the public put to tremendous hardship. The police is also under tremendous tension. The State Government is now thinking of completely banning the bus day but one would have to wait and see if that really happens. Once again, a lot of communication between the police and the students might help in putting an end to the violence.
Wherever there are small grievances, it is always wise for college Managements to step in, and solve them upfront. The indiscipline happens only when the Managements fail to do anything, or worse, try to justify inaction for some flimsy reason. For instance, colleges collect sixty thousand rupees upfront from the students for accommodation and food, the students naturally expect the taste of dishes to be good, If the Managements can just employ three good cooks to manage absenteeism or other problems like sickness of the cook, indiscipline can be easily solved. The problem becomes serious when one cook goes on leave, and only the second cook is there to cook for all.
A little extra expenditure, can solve the problem. Grievance solving committees can also do a good job. When hostel students have no other alternative, and their grievances are not heard, they indulge in violence. This fact has to be understood by college Managements.
As far as the so called love affairs are concerned, the teachers should ensure that the problem is solved in the first stage itself. It is wise to isolate those students with aggressive tendencies. When this happens, the more serious students will gang up, and apply pressure on the aggressive students to fall in line.
The transition from a purely village life to a city life, is one problem of boys. When the boy gets to meet a pretty girl, he thinks he can entice her in ways that he sees in cinema. The teachers need to carefully counsel such students and ensure that they do not go out of the way.
Student indiscipline is costly for the students who fail to understand that all heroism is only for a short while. They need to face the wide world, the moment they are out of the college. Most of the colleges should learn from the best-in-class colleges like the Loyola College, Chennai, St Stephens of New Delhi and so on, to understand how they are different. If the standards improve, and the students are assured of campus placement, most of indiscipline can be easily solved.
The worst of student indiscipline can be harmful to society, as some students tend to become villains in typical film style, after their college in over. Hence, if such students are present, it is fine if they are actually dismissed from the college itself.
The 'how' of managing indiscipline among students may vary from case to case, but it is important that it should not be tolerated. Most effective ways need to be explored and put in place, to manage the indiscipline and nip it in the bud.
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