Supreme Court judge Justice S. Abul Nazeer said here on Saturday that universities can make “civic internship” a requirement for graduation by institutionalising it.
Delivering the 40th convocation address at Mangalore University, Justice Nazeer said that civic internship should be available for awarding credit and taken in lieu of other classes.
He said that colleges and universities can create a menu of civic internships by establishing relationships with local organisations and businesses. These partnerships should span a broad range of fields and public services, including media, public agencies, local municipalities, public health and justice organisations, educational services etc.
“Such internships are opportunities for students to contribute to the civic functioning and real lives of the people in the wider community,” he said and added: “Most critically, these should be standard offerings in a university curriculum – not extracurricular or additive electives.”
He said that democracy has a very close relationship with education. The principles of democracy like liberty, equality, fraternity, dignity of the individual , cooperation, sharing responsibility etc. are the dimensions which deeply influence education.
“...Democracy in order to be a reality, a way of life and a living style has to be introduced from the very beginning of education and its values practised in schools, colleges and universities...” he said.
Education is the most direct path for building a democratic culture. Education should allow for consensus building with room for dissent, should present reality and with all its problems and should foster critical thinking, the judge said.
Justice Nazeer said that democracy believes in giving freedom to the people. But if they are not educated, then their freedom may lead to anarchy and indiscipline.
Stating that education is not a preparation for life but it is life itself the judge said that university is not the replication of society but it is society itself.
He said that the quality of public representatives depends on the quality of people who vote for them. Hence the root cause of problems and solutions lies with the voters.
The judge said that university campuses are not pure democracies, but they are ripe environments for democratic decision-making in several areas.
