Shameful incident

An incident about a group of so-called students forcing a teacher of a senior secondary school to kneel down and then lie prostrate on the ground and seek an apology for a decision to increase fees in the institution, which occurred at Philobari in Tinsukia district last week, has shocked the entire state. According to reports, as students were staging a protest for the alleged collection of Rs 3,000 per student despite the institution being recently taken over by the government, a lady teacher allegedly uttered some words which appeared to be "unpleasant" to the so-called student leaders. The so-called student leaders – most of whom are reportedly not enrolled in any institution, as is the case with almost all student bodies of the state – then created a situation in which the lady teacher was forced to first kneel down and then prostrate before her students and tender an apology. Though there have been reports that the students too later tendered "apology" to the lady teacher, the police and district administration have taken note of the incident, a case has been registered by the police and a magisterial inquiry ordered. But the story should not be allowed to end there. The culprits – the so-called student leaders – should be identified and their names, along with the names of their "proud" parents, should be made public, and then arrested. If the so-called student leaders are students in any educational institution, then they should be rusticated for life and sent to a rehabilitation or counselling centre. To ensure that such incidents do not recur and that student organizations do not indulge in all kinds of protests, every student organization of the state (including AASU, NSUI, ABVP, SFI, AISF, AATTSA, ATASU, AKRASU, ABSU etc) should come out with a public statement giving details of all their office-bearers showing enrolment as students. The Chief Minister and Education Minister too should take a call, and especially look into the affairs of those educational institutions (including "junior colleges") in which posts of teachers have been brought under government control earlier this year. The Philobari incident must be allowed to fizzle out.