In a world dominated by the rat race and ruled by competition, a few youngsters who have achieved meritorious degrees are finding time to channel their energies towards the development and empowerment of society as well.
Because of this, the scope of these students is no longer confined to their academic and personal life, rather they now show interest in nation-building and try to contribute towards the same. EdexLive interacted with a few of these responsible young achievers and discussed how they strike the balance between the hustle of being a student and the responsibilities of being a public servant.
During our discussions with them, the aspirants commented on how education and social service are mutually exclusive. Juble George, Chairman, Standing Committee of Vadavucode panchayat, Ernakulam, Kerala, handles the development activities and the planning of six panchayats. He also offers coaching for Civil Services and is a Post Graduate Diploma student at IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University). With effective time management and carefully crafted scheduling, he was able to utilise his full potential for his personal improvement as well as for the betterment of society. There have been instances when one had to be given more importance than the other, like during the Brahmapuram fire incident when he had to be there for 20 consecutive days thus, hampering his education. But, as they say, c'est la vie.
Similar is the case of Sneha Padayan, the 22-year-old Block Panchayat member who is studying MA in Political Science from Kariavattom Campus, University of Kerala. She comments on how she struggled because she had to miss her classes.
These young leaders spoke about the difficulties they faced during exam times. Especially since politics being unpredictable and spontaneous in nature, demands sudden appearances which they sometimes find difficult to manage. Sneha had to compromise her studies during election time. When the time came for her dissertation and exams, she had to prioritise education over everything else. But she managed with the constant support she received from her teachers and friends throughout her academic life.
Walking the middle path
In the case of Raeesa Aboobacker, who handles Nannamukku Grama Panchayat's activities as a member while pursuing her CA, family played an important role. She elaborates on the advantage of coming from a political family that helps her handle her work efficiently. She says, “Pursuit of education is not done at one’s own convenience. I consider it very important for any human. So, one takes it along.”
The Welfare Standing Committee Chairperson of Pullur Periya Panchayath, Shaheeda Rashid Kuniya, who is pursuing her BEd with her panchayat duties, compares her previous term as a panchayat member and her present role and how it needs more of her time as she has to show up for more events now.
Inter-disciplinary. That’s what these youngsters consider education and their role in the political arena to be. One enriches the other and in reality, are two parts of the same coin. Managing multiple roles, these youngsters talk about how their education aids their political role and vice versa. Shaheeda says, “Academics and politics are not two. It’s the same. Both go hand in hand and aid in the betterment of one another.”
Inshida P, a Member of Gram Panchayat, Moodadi, Kozhikode district, acknowledges the influence of political life on her, “Being a BEd student, being active and having confidence and addressing people is very important.” Meanwhile, Raeesa adds how education and her position as a panchayat member together enable her to be of use to society. “I was able to assist people as I had a clear idea about the workings of different schemes and plans.” She also owns an Akshaya centre. Being a student of Political Science, Sneha says that she is able to practically apply theories, laws and so on, which she has studied while working on the ground.
Juble recognises the exposure and opportunities that education opened up for him and shares how he implemented various educational programmes that come under his ambit. “It is because of my education that I was elected to this position,” he said. “There was also a big project concentrating on 12,000 children in 70 schools which consisted of both high school and higher secondary students which was handled by me” he added.
Being public servants, a lot of sacrifices were made by these representatives, including leaving all their personal things aside and working tirelessly for the upliftment of people. “We’ll have to miss events of personal importance at times. But I have made it a point to somehow make up for such losses with a call or family visit,” says Shaheeda. Juble and Sneha shared the same.
Perception of politics should change?
Considering the fact that the general notion of youngsters about politics is that of a corrupt field but the youngsters we spoke to opine that everything in this world is connected to politics and it is the perception of the youth that needs to change. Sneha finds the stereotypical negative portrayal of politics in films has a role to play in the formation of this distorted opinion. She also calls for a need to familiarise the context and to make them aware that everything is political.
Sharing a similar view, Juble argued that politics will have its own negatives, we should accept that and educate ourselves, not distance ourselves from it. Meanwhile, Shaheeda thinks that, “Politics is in everything. It is in the stream we chose to study, in the dress we wear and in the job we do.” She added that politics as a concept is not corrupted rather it is the individual that corrupts it which, in turn, would affect the overall outlook of it.
Inshida is also of the opinion that the youth are setting a trend of standing for no party and idealising the concept. She also adds that they consider politics traditional. Contrary to the general opinion,n Raeesa finds more students and youngsters coming forward in several political fields. “Most parties now have very active, vibrant student wings which expose the youth to politics at an early age,” she added.
The challenges of being in the spotlight
Holding the limelight at a young age can be challenging and for a person in politics, the matter is no different. People chose them as the representative of the youth. Their political image has to be maintained. Sneha shares her concerns about people being always judgmental about their activities and speaks, “They’ll always be following your activities and I always need to be careful about it.”
Inshida reacts to this by commenting on her experiences as a young member of the panchayat and how others were considering her to be inferior in the beginning. “Similarly, the functioning and technicalities of the panchayat were new to me at first. But I overcame all of this,” she says.
Unlike others, Raeesa looked at the whole situation in a positive light. She was not pressured or intimidated by it. She also added that being a woman and being a youngster, other women and girls felt her more accessible and approachable. Juble also finds the responsibility of others' expectation on him to always do the right thing good sense, in a way.
The future of these young representatives in politics has been laid by the works they have executed over time. “I wanted to continue my political career. As for my studies, I want to continue it for as long as possible too,” Shaheeda responds. While a few want to concentrate on academics, others wish to have a future in politics. Raeesa wishes to give equal importance to both in future too. Meanwhile, Sneha shares her plans of pursuing a PhD in future and stick to academics. “But politics won’t be left behind,” she added.
What about finances?
Speaking of financial security, everyone is of the opinion that politics is not a place that offers it. The honorarium they receive barely covers their needs. Sneha is able to meet the expenses of her travel from Trivandrum to her Panchayat with this. Juble says that politics is not financially viable and hence, one has to do other jobs too. “Never count politics as a profit-making thing. Because one hardly gets anything and even if one does, they’ll have to spend more from their own pockets to fulfil the duties,” Shaheeda shared. She used to take online classes to meet her expenses.
Apart from politics, there are other fields that promote public service and the empowerment of society. A non-governmental organisation (NGO) is an example of this. Ruksana, one of the co-founders of The Nameless Community, which is an NGO headed in Trivandrum and Delhi, shares her views with EdexLive.com. She is currently pursuing her post-graduation in MA Arabic from Kariavattom Campus, University of Kerala. Her intiative started out with helping people who were affected by floods in Kerala. Ruksana finds handling an NGO and a post-graduation manageable as it was mostly online during the pandemic. She shared her future plans and how she is interested in pursuing academics along with working in the NGO.
Even though Ruksana was concerned about not having an MSW degree, she excelled in the field, centreing most of her work around her own village. She even commented on the changes they have brought about by involving villagers in the NGO activities. “We tried to help them change from a non-progressive mindset to a progressive one,” she says. She received enough support from her family and her cousin was one of the co-founders. Ruksana reacts to the general idea of overlooking NGOs as hectic and non-profitable by saying that the concept has changed as students from every field are now at the forefront to offer their contribution to building an NGO. “We have even changed the name from social work to social engineering, the volunteering has become engineering,” she added.
Speaking about managing multiple tasks, we can clearly state that it is not something youngsters alone can manage. EdexLive spoke to a much younger entrepreneur, Muhammed Ameen, who is a 12-year-old boy and founder of ABC Coders. With strong support from his parents, he is now a self-taught developer, entrepreneur and teacher. While discussing his future plans, he says that he wishes to widen his business as he finds that there is a lot of scope for coding and AI in the future. “Innovations and technological developments are coming in, further widening the range of it,” he adds. He criticised the normal education system as not being updated and he praises Hash Future School, where he is currently enrolled, for providing customised education.
When we look into the lives of these public servants, it’s clear that education played a significant role in their upbringing. Each one of them is enriched by the education they have acquired till this point in their life. Many of them have been given a better chance to prove themselves in politics because of their educational achievements. The most important thing to be noted is that they are not satisfied with their quest to attain more education. Just like Juble said, “Both are mutually exclusive, as one helps the other every time.”
