::: Star Campus :::

Feature

The ideals of campus-youth

Arshi Ahmed

The development process of a country is integrally linked with its education system. This highly modern society of today has constantly strived to emerge successful. Exploring the social structure, it is evident how education sets the youth apart. It promotes individual growth.

The basic school education teaches a child how to walk, to talk, to eat and to interact with other living beings. But I strongly feel that it's the higher education alone that moulds an individual's personality. It's like polishing a dull coin into a bright shiny one. Here an individual develops strong views and finally learns to voice them.

The world of education has certainly evolved from the ancient times when young boys spent years at 'gurukool's to this day when girls & boys commute from far off places to their schools of learning. And now, it's not only about excelling at studies; it's about an overall growth of a person. It isn't easy to get their ideas understood by everyone but the youth of today are standing up for themselves. They are accepting the challenges of this new social structure and are moving on with it. They have the knowledge and intellect to make the right decisions. I see students getting together and fighting a cause they collectively believe in. It's like deja vu, the time before independence: the freedom struggle where the youth of the country got together and started a movement which spread like a jungle fire and engulfed the whole country into opening their minds.

I remember many years back when I left school and the grounds of higher learning opened its gates for me, I was a little overwhelmed. Certainly in my ignorance, it was not what I had expected. The campus life and the university itself, I was in awe of it all. I felt a careless air around students clad in a forever confusing attire of kurta & torn jeans, and jute bags as 'assignment files', walked the campus roads with a shocking ease.

I did not understand that it was their forever-going post-grad researches that kept them in the campus for years altogether. The ongoing overnight boiling pot of tea at dhabas (popular roadside snacks stalls), the strumming of guitars, the curious discussions on any issue under the sun, had filled the nights. I had no idea that this very attitude of this place will lend this country many great thinkers and decision makers. I finally came to understand that it was not their attires and attitude that mattered, but their ability to make fruitful decisions for the betterment of all.

In my opinion, in this changing world of today it's the youth of the country who can carry the torch forward. So we must make it happen till the end. It's not going to bear good results if they are imposed with politically motivated rules. As the ongoing strikes and marches blocking the city streets show the resentment going on in their young minds, they are aware of the rights and wrongs. The ideals are the same; just the energies need to be channelised well. We need to develop resources in our own country, have a better infrastructure to support it. And the talented young people would not have to choose leaving their motherland for another country and be a plant uprooted in a foreign land trying to get in sync with something that never belonged to them and never will.

I am spending this evening walking down of memory lane, in my old campus, still the most beautiful place my mind has registered so far. I see this group of young people laughing as they walk off, clad in their worn out jeans. The guitar plays somewhere and the steaming cups of tea are passed around. Right then, “this is the Indian foreign policy!” I hear a discussion start.

I just smile and foresee a whole new beginning for the future...

(Arshi Ahmed wrote from New Delhi)