Bantwal: School children get firsthand experience of democratic process
 
Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network – Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Jun 12: The students of Balavikasa English Medium School at Mani in the taluk went through a new experience at school on Tuesday June 11.

They participated in the electoral battle, voted for the leader of their choice through electronic voting machine, and elected a school pupil leader (SPL) of their liking. The school management and teachers of this institution deserve a pat on their backs for making the children aware of the  basic principles of democracy at such an early age.

Kumar Ganesh Prabhu, a tenth standard student, got elected as the leader of the students, while Vidish Krishna Y from ninth standard got unanimously elected as Prabhu’s deputy. In the election process, 455 students from third to tenth standard were treated as electorate. 439 students present in these classes cast their votes. Kumar Ganesh Prabhu, who was allotted the symbol of sun, secured 273 votes, registered victory with a big margin over his closest rival, Praneet, who fought under the symbol of bicycle. Praneet could muster only 150 votes. Ahmed Anish, whose symbol happened to be umbrella, succeeded in getting only 16 votes.

Although most schools conduct these elections every year, usually the head of the school installs a student of his or her choice as the SPL. Balavikasa English Medium School gets credit for showing to the students how a democratic election is conducted, and allowing them to choose a leader of their choice.

During the election, code of conduct like the one followed during other elections, was strictly implemented. Filing of nominations, scrutiny of nomination papers, withdrawal of nominations, allotment of symbol, allowing the people in the fray to canvass for votes, voting through EVM, marking indelible ink on a finger in the left hand, counting of votes, announcement of result, etc were performed in tune with the principles followed in general election.

Filing of nomination papers and their scrutiny were held on June 7. Nominations were allowed to be withdrawn on June 8. Polling and counting were held on June 11. The teachers transformed themselves as electoral officers for the purpose.

Administrative officer of the school, C Sridhar, became the returning officer, while headmistress of the high school, Vijayalakshmi V Shetty, and headmistress of the primary section, Grace Saldanha, acted as polling officers. Teachers, Mohini, Akshatha, Manjula, Harinakshi, Yajneshwari, and Sujayashree, took over the roles of polling booth staff. Sudha and Sumiya, two other teachers, were allotted the duty of supervising law and order. Teacher, Raachandra Prasad, was given the responsibility of ensuring that code of conduct was followed strictly. Dinkar and Rajaram Nellittaya oversaw the election process, with the other teachers too taking over responsibilities of conducting the election smoothly.

Headmistress of the high school, Vijayalakshmi, said that the school has been conducting election by following all these procedures since the last some years, to elect its school people leader, under the guidance of school convener, Prahlad Shetty. She said the process provides the children firsthand account of democratic principles and helps them to gain knowledge over holding of election, besides allowing the children to have a leader of their own choice.

Bantwal block education officer, Sheshashayana, has praised the school for providing practical lessons to the students on democracy by holding election of school pupil leader and formation of ministry. He remarked that rather than teaching these things through theory, the students absorb the knowledge better when they are shown how elections are held, practically.