AFTER 38 years, Sindh became the first province in the country to lift the ban on student unions.
The Sindh Assembly on Friday unanimously passed the Sindh Student Union Bill to revive the student unions so as to promote an environment for social interaction and exchange of ideas besides promoting other healthy activities at educational institutions.
The provincial government deserves commendation for taking the lead on this important matter.
In recent days, demand in this regard was emanating from the events organized by students.
The bill indeed is a comprehensive document as it also imposes restrictions on carrying of any kind of weapons at educational institutions and those acting in contravention of the law shall be dealt with in accordance with disciplinary rules and regulations.
Thus, this allays the fears that the revival of student unions will lead to violence at these places.
The importance of the student unions can be gauged from a clause of the bill which states that the educational institution shall have at least one nominee of the elected union in its syndicate and Senate Board with a Committee for protection against harassment.
The fact of the matter is that student unions and democracy go hand in hand.
They provide the platform where the students can learn the art of politics and diplomacy and evolve political thought.
By this way, merit based capable leaders can come to prominence.
This is the need of the hour in Pakistan to bring a shift from feudal and dynastic politics towards merit based politics.
Student unions have much to contribute to the promotion of democratic processes, norms and values.
They can serve as the grounds to truly understand that democracy is “government of the people, by the people, for the people”.
Then their presence is also important to voice and address the multifaceted issues of students including those related to fee hikes, harassment and so on.
In this backdrop, we will also ask other provinces to follow the suit but at the same time, the political forces should refrain from using these unions for their petty political interests as doing so will only undermine the impact these student unions can create both in the educational institutions and in the society in general.
