KOCHI: The verdict is unanimous. Former students of Maharaja’s College, who now occupy top positions in the socio-political-cultural arena, had one common thing to highlight -- the intellectual degradation of the campus. According to them, the campus today is a mere shadow of its former self.
Of late, the college — which boasts a great legacy and has produced many a great politician, actor, writer, scientist, industrialist, educator and thinker — has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Nearly six years after the Abhimanyu murder, the campus saw a series of clashes and stabbing incidents recently. Things have become so deplorable that even teachers are now bearing the brunt of attacks.
“All this is happening because of intellectual degradation,” said Justice K Sukumaran, who was a student of the 1940 batch of the college.
“There is a negative attitude now. Earlier revolutionaries were not like that. There were people like Prof Augustine, a most conservative and fullest Christian, who liked us because we were intellectuals. Of course, there will be differences of opinion. But that was dealt with at an intellectual level. Everyone used to read and were aware of the things around them. But that has changed today. And there lies the tragedy.” He said firm handling is the need of the hour.
“I’m not talking about enforcing an emergency-like rule. Without archaic rules, you can enforce discipline. And it has been done successfully on many campuses.”
Admitting that the situation on the college campus has deteriorated over the years, former professor and critic M K Sanoo said student organisations were very active even during the time he worked as a lecturer there.
“There was K M Roy, Vayalar Ravi, A K Antony and Vaikom Viswan. All believed in different ideologies and there occurred a clash between opposing ideologies. But the most important thing is that they were all friends,” he recalled.
Sanoo reminisced how they would engage in heated debates and dialogues over many issues.
“But in the evening after college, they would all get together for a cup of tea and be jovial. We are missing that sort of intellectual understanding,” he pointed out. N M Pearson, a Leftist critic who was a student of the college between 1979-81, echoed similar sentiment.
“The profile of students who study at Maharaja’s College has changed. In the past, meritorious students formed a major chunk of the student population. Now, the number of such students can be counted on the fingers,” he said.
The teachers too were among the best, Pearson said. “Sadly, I have to say that, today, there are neither good students nor teachers.” He said clashes did happen in the past but stabbing didn’t.
Former additional chief secretary of Kerala K K Vijayakumar, an alumnus from the period 1965-1972, said politically active students in his time did not engage in degrading activities like defacing the campus.
“We had intellectuals in the student organisations. In my opinion, giving autonomous status to the college did more damage than good. Students have unfettered freedom and the same is the case with service organisations, like those of teachers,” he said.
Another point that Sanoo highlighted was the deterioration of the teacher-student relationship.
“During my days, the teachers, though firm on discipline, had a good rapport with students. The students could approach them for help. Is that happening now?” he wondered.
The distance between teachers and students might be a big reason behind the situation on the campus now, Sanoo said.
“A change has crept into student politics too. They don’t know what they are standing up for. That was not the case in the past.”
According to Vijayakumar, the college authorities need to take the initiative to resolve the issue.
“There is a limit to what the government and the police can do. The ultimate responsibility lies with the college authorities, including the principal, teachers and councils,” he pointed out.
Sadly, in the case of Maharaja’s College, they become active only after an incident happens, Vijayakumar added.
