Shuvajit Sarkar
The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) may not be running current college unions in West Bengal, but it is evident that we are the actual ‘students’ union’. Campuses have been vandalized and democratic spaces totally tarnished by activists and supporters of the Trinamool Congress and its associates. Along with this, the state government also has strong centralising tendencies. Elections are irregular in most colleges and the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad has illegally captured union bodies in almost all the higher educational institutes of the state, with the use of force and other unfair means. In 2020, the scenario has only worsened due to administrative inefficiencies in dealing with the pandemic as well as long standing corruption and extortion in the institutions.
At the moment, students are facing extreme difficulty regarding filling up official forms and all other such procedures related to the admission. Therefore, members of SFI, throughout the state of Bengal, have taken up the responsibility of helping them with these tasks, including offering to fill up important forms for them for free, which is a significant step towards admissions.
The outbreak of coronavirus, the subsequent lockdowns, and the Amphan cyclone have severely affected the mental health of students who were eagerly waiting to start college life. The patience of students whose XII Board Exams have not been conducted in the regular manner has to be appreciated, but not taken for granted. Many disciplines didn’t have proper examinations and students were marked on an average basis, which is not a proper evaluation of their academic credentials. In this chaotic scenario, the state government has issued orders that students need to be admitted in various higher educational institutions too soon.
All these years after the inception of TMC government in Bengal, students bereft of political colours have witnessed the corruption and extortion related to admissions in the colleges and universities of the state. It feels as if one has entered a restaurant and the waiter has given you the menu chart of courses to pick from. For example, English Honors for Rs 30,000, Physics Honors for Rs 40,000, Geography Hons for Rs 35,000 and so on, and it varies from one institution to another. This money is not charged by the institutions, but taken by the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad-led students’ unions in various colleges. The Parishad’s hooliganism in these colleges have even led students to suicide or to go through extreme mental distress.
In such a situation, it goes without saying that instead of the academic merit of a student, it is their economic ability that is prioritised. Education has literally been made a market commodity, which has distorted Bengal’s name in the field of education. Several students have had to drop out because their families could not afford this extortion fee asked by the “dadas” (seniors) of the unions. This has tarnished the overall concept of a students’ union in Bengal.
Even this year, in some colleges, students have been asked for money in order to confirm their seats in particular colleges.
SFI has demanded free education for all, waiving of fees in all forms especially in this crisis year. The organisation fights day and night to provide basic necessities to students and even during a lockdown, we have organised crucial protests. Due to our constant struggle, the state machinery has had to bow down and declare that this year, students won’t be charged for admission forms at least.
It must be said that no other student organisation was seen raising these issues other than those on the Left. The TMCP is only visible when they can extort money from general students; the ABVP, which is basically the alumni association of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, is sometimes seen while dividing campuses in the name of Ram and Rahim. They spread fake propaganda and try to mislead the students, but sadly for them, students have forced them out of campuses.
The SFI in Bengal has started Free Form Filling Camps across the state, where hundreds of students come with admission-related queries everyday. Indeed, it is an excellent initiative and we have had the support and encouragement of all the students across Bengal. This is why we assert that we may not be in the students’ unions, but we are the actual union.
Featured Image: SFI’s Admission Help Desk | Courtesy of the author
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