Maravi

Indefinite closure of CBU

Indefinite closure of CBU
Written by Editor

Closing the Copperbelt University is not in any way a solution. Closing the university is the easiest thing one can do. And no one can fail to close a university. The decision to close Copperbelt University simply demonstrates that those in charge of that university are not working, are not exerting serious efforts to try and address the problems facing that university.

And above all, this only goes to demonstrate how low the priority they attach to the education of our young people and to the future of our country. We say this because people who value the future of their country always attach a very high priority and special attention to the education of young people.

It doesn’t make sense to close the university several weeks after the disturbances are over. And as Copperbelt University Students Union president Kasonde Mwenda has correctly observed, the reasons being given for the closure of that university don’t make sense. One doesn’t need to indefinitely close the university to investigate the causes of disturbances. This can be done while the university is running its programmes.

And the causes of the disturbances should be known to all who want to know. Only an incompetent management can really fail to know the problems of that university. If they don’t know, then they are too detached from the affairs of that university and the issues that concern students.

This is not the way to run such an important institution. And moreover, regrettably as it may be, the incident that led to the burning of that car was an isolated one by a band of students that detached itself from the main. This is common everywhere – rogues are found everywhere. Even in our political parties, there are rogues; there are uncontrollable elements who commit crimes but that has not been used as pretext to close or ban such political parties.

If this was the case, the MMD would have been closed or banned a long time ago for the many violent actions of its cadres against innocent people. Even some of its leaders are violent but no one has closed or banned that political party. There is no section of the community that has all the virtues, neither does any have all the vices.

There is need to exercise a lot of care in the way we treat young people, even when they are wrong. Young people are learning not only the courses they have registered for at the university. They are learning many other things, including how to meaningfully participate in the politics of their communities and their country. And they need to be helped. Their weaknesses should not be turned into permanent disabilities by unjustified expulsions.

All over the world, it is young people who are actually involving themselves in the struggles to eliminate injustices. They are the ones who most quickly identify with the struggle against injustices and the necessity to eliminate the negative conditions that exist.

Their violent actions should be seen not as a problem but a symptom of a problem; in the understanding that young people do better in a strong and decent community of people with principles, standards, common aims and values. The source of these problems is the community in which these young people are being educated. The source of the problems lies in the injustices that they see every day.

We don’t favour violence. If we could bring about recognition and respect of our young people without any form of violence, we would be happier. Everybody would like to preach his objectives and advance his interests peacefully. But sometimes ignorance and greed stands in the way of this. If our young people were properly educated – by properly educated, we mean given a true picture of where their country is coming from, where it is and where it is headed and the reasons for all this and their place in the scheme of things – we think many of them would be less violent and more rational.

But also let’s be fair to these young people because more often than not, they are the victims of violence – police violence. Their non-violent protests are usually met with police violence. And this overtime breeds a culture of violent resistance on their part. There is need also to respect young people as important citizens, or even as special citizens because they are actually special. We say they are special because the future of our country depends more on them than on anyone else; it doesn’t depend on people Dr Kenneth Kaunda used to say are in their afternoons.

This country is theirs, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is theirs. These young people, full of vigour and vitality, are in the bloom of life. Our hope should be placed on them. We must help them to understand life much better. We must help them to understand that ours is a very poor country, that we cannot change this situation radically in a short time, and that only through the united efforts of our younger generation and all our people working together with their own hands, can Zambia be made strong and prosperous.

And because of their lack of political and social experience, quite a number of young people are unable to see what forces are at play in their country. That’s why we must constantly carry on lively and effective political education among our young people and should always tell them the truth about the difficulties that crop up and discuss with them how to surmount these difficulties.

The young people are the most active and vital force in society. They are the most eager to learn and the least conservative in their thinking.

Instead of dealing with these young people in a ruthless manner, trying to crush them, we should be helpful to them and go into the question of bringing into full play their energy. We should not treat them in the same way as everybody else and ignore their special characteristics. Of course, the young people should learn from the old and other adults, and should strive as much as possible to engage in all sorts of useful activities with their agreement.

Zambia must care for her youth and show concern for the growth of the younger generation. Young people have to study. Full attention must be paid to their study and to their recreation, sport and rest.

We have to accept responsibility for the way our young people behave. We have a duty to nurture them. We can only have influence on them if we treat them fairly, justly and humanely. Let’s teach them the correct history of our country. Let’s show them how young the revolutionaries of this country were when they took up the responsibility for the liberation of their homeland.

Most of the freedom struggle revolutionaries were in their teens and twenties. But contrast their responsibility, their maturity with that of the young people of today! If we make them feel they are human beings, they are respected, they will behave like human beings and they will respect themselves and others. But if we treat them without respect and care, they will behave accordingly; they will not behave like human beings in a society of human beings.

So it takes education to change the behaviour and attitudes of our young. And just because one is in a university doesn’t mean one has education. We say this because the universities in this country today are not in the strict sense educating our young people, they are mis-educating them.

We are depriving our young people of a better future by not showing enough respect and by not giving them enough attention and care. And we should not be surprised when they start treating us not as friends but as enemies who are depriving them of their future and start fighting us to secure a better future for themselves.

These young people are not anarchists, they are not necessarily violent people. They do some of these negative things because they don’t know what else to do given the myriad of problems they face and the frustrations these generate. They have been waiting for the government to solve their problems: they have been waiting for the president to solve their problems; they have been waiting for parliament to solve their problems; they have been waiting for their political leaders to solve their problems; and all they hear are a lot of petty words.

So they become frustrated and don’t know what to do. So they do the only thing that all frustrated young people do: resort to violence and other antisocial behaviour. And this is behaviour is seen in young people all over the world who find themselves in similar situations.

We are not justifying violence. Not at all. But we are justified in talking like this because this is the type of experience our young people are faced with every day. And today they are trying to find their way in all this confused social milieu, trying to see things for themselves, listen for themselves and think for themselves, trying to come to an intelligent decision for themselves.

Clearly, education of our young people is a critical challenge facing our nation today. And we should pay a lot of attention to it if we are to produce the kind of young men and women so desperately needed by our country – young men and women not only of high culture but of great personality as well. Young people are called to develop their country and to love the culture of their people. They have the right to be stimulated to make sound moral judgments based on well-informed conscience.

Mistreatment of young people constitutes a crime against the future of these youths as well as against the interests of our country’s future. We have to develop the activities of our young people to the highest level possible. For these reasons, we feel the decision to close the Copperbelt University is unwise, unjustifiable and irresponsible. Whatever problems are at the Copperbelt University, we sincerely believe they can be tackled while the university is open and running. These young people have no time to lose, they need every day to advance themselves and help in the building of the future of their country. We therefore urge the authorities to rethink their position, mull over things and subordinate all that to the interests of these young people.

And this calls for the immediate reopening of that university and to struggle without respite to create a more favourable and conducive environment for the development of these young people. Bringing up a country of upright young people requires a lot of effort and not resigned submission to the most barbaric and backward methods of dealing with problems facing these young people. Closing a university whenever there are problems has never been and will never be a solution.

Labels: CBU, STUDENTS

posted by MrK @ 4:25 PM