The year is 2021. Pakistan has invaded Afghanistan after a tacit agreement with a few tribal chieftains. India is on the verge of declaring war against Pakistan. An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council is convened. The council spends a whole day discussing the definition of ‘ pre-emptive war.'
Those were scenes at the Futuristic Security Council of the Model United Nations (MUN) on day two of ‘graVITas 2010' organised at VIT University here on Saturday.
College students were actually discussing the limitations of the U.N. They were making a statement about how a post-world-war-II institution had repeatedly failed over the years “to maintain peace.”
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“It is very important to understand the fallacies in the current system,” says Gufran Pathan, ‘ Secretary General' of the MUN. And the fallacies came tumbling out.
The mock press corps described the International Court of Justice as a body where “all everyone did was read out random articles from law books to support their points.” Mr. Gufran added that the sessions also showed how difficult it is to arrive at a consensus. After two days of deliberations, the MUN hasn't come out with a single resolution.
S. Shekhar, regional director, National Maritime Academy, who spoke at the Disarmament Council, says that universities have turned into isolated enclaves and a generation of students are growing up without understanding the real world outside the campus. “Education has to relate to real life. Many just walk out of college and forget about what they learnt,” he adds.
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The fact that learning experiences are viewed in a narrow fashion was highlighted by events like ‘ Social transformers' and ‘Degree in a day.'