Students & Strikes:

These days students' strikes are a common occurrence and we hear news coming from all provinces & universities of strikes in colleges & sometimes, even in schools, of various duration. In view of the phenomenon having become so common, especially of late, it behoves us to enquire carefully & searchingly into the causes of these commotions & as to whether they can be justified in any circumstances. The main cause that sets them going is some grievance, real or imaginary against the staff or the management of an institution.

Let us say at the outset that, unjustified though most students strikes are, in some cases they are justified & arise out of some gross act of mismanagement of affairs or some injustice. One really does not know what to advise the students to do in case where the authorities may be irresponsible or despotic & ride rough-shod over the very reasonable demands made by the students. But not with standing these rare cases which are so rare really as to be neglible, the fact remains that most strikes are unnecessary.

Very often, however, in our students strikes it is seen that they are brought about by professional students, leaders, whether students of a college or outsiders to gain notoriety and to establish their leadership. Sometimes, they have some private grievance against an institution or someone of its members and are on the look-out for some minor incident to inflame the student mind.There is then free talk of students rights and of ogranization and a struggle.

The occurrence of strikes is based upon a misapprehension of the relations that subsist between the students & their teachers. Fundamentally, the interests of the teachers & their students do not anywhere clash. It is the teacher's and the parents common interest to see that the students behave well, study hard, keep healthy, and make good progress. On a long view, however, the students may resent any necessary curtailments of their liberty that is the students interests too. Students must be symapthetic & try to understand the difficulties of those who are carrying on the work of education in our country.