Kozhikode: Governor Rajendra Arlekar has urged students to stay away from disruptive protests and focus on education, discipline and acquiring knowledge, saying differences and grievances can be resolved through dialogue with university authorities.
“Streets are not the solution. Going to the streets, disrupting the lives of common people and disrupting classrooms is not the answer to anything,” Arlekar said speaking after conferring honourary doctorates of Calicut University to filmmaker Sathyan Anthikad, industrialist P K Ahmed and scientist Dr Eluvathingal D. Jemmis.
“There are some few people among the younger generation, very few people, who take to the streets. I don’t understand what purpose this serves. The issues they want to resolve can be addressed by talking to the vice-chancellor or even the chancellor. Instead, they choose to come out on the streets, disrupting people’s lives and the functioning of the university. What we require is for the younger generation to ignore such deviations and concentrate on their studies and on acquiring more and better knowledge,” Arlekar said.
Incidentally, SFI had held protests outside the event against the singing of Vande Mataram in full at the function.
Arlekar added that every student should understand that the period spent in educational institutions is the most valuable phase of life.
Speaking about the honorary degree recipients in his convocation address, Arlekar said the highlight of the ceremony was that degrees were being conferred on eminent personalities who had made significant contributions to the state and the country.
The governor said it was not easy to become an industrialist or entrepreneur like Ahmed. Similarly, filmmaker Sathyan had a clear understanding of why he chose to become a filmmaker and what he should contribute to society and the people. Each of his films had a clear theme and social perspective behind it. Similarly, Dr Jemmis, he said, was an exceptional achiever.
