Every time an internationally constructed event such as World Environment Day, World AIDS Day, No Smoking Day etc. is observed, children are seen on the streets with placards screaming with tag lines. On ‘No Smoking Day,’ school students carried placards that read, ‘Smoking Kills,’ ‘Smoke at your own peril’ and similar such slogans. On World Environment Day they had different sets of placards, many of which they don’t even understand since they are written in the NGO lingo. Yes, students have been the most faithful audience although what they carry back home in terms of the messaging from those who preach at them from the high podiums is debatable. Often the students have to march to the venue in the scorching heat and then wait there for a long time before the dignitaries (who hardly practice what they preach) arrive. Meanwhile students are already tired, hungry and restless and the message, when it does come, falls flat.
This rigmarole has gone on for decades without any critical questioning. In a year there are several such days listed by the United Nations for various concerns. And for each of them, students are invariably used. While there is a case for students to have experiential learning outside the classroom, listening respectfully to a monologue is not the way to learn. There has to be space for questions from the students and for those who lecture at them, to answer them. In this age of Google Search, students often know more than their parents and teachers about the issues that confront us such as global climate change and the reasons for that. They are aware and cautious about the use of plastic bags and plastic water bottles etc. It is the elders who don’t walk the talk.
It is therefore high time that those who run institutions stop using their students to fill up space at public functions. It is a fact that without students most auditoriums would be empty. If at all students have to engage with issues it could be done differently and perhaps as an interface with their peers from other schools. Following a definite pattern of behaviour unquestioningly means that no learning has taken place.