Student Politics: GFS ‘Panchayat’

Sitting in a classroom, with the future generations of the world largest democracy, it dawned on me that we needed a student leadership body, elected by the students for the students. These same students have come from villages where the 'gram panchayat' system of governance dissolves national and state power to a handful of responsible villagers, so have firsthand experience of such a system.

Our aim: to empower five individuals with the ability to manage the welfare, needs and social suggestions of the group of 44 students. After being given a few days notice of election, the students had limited time to consider nomination and what their message would be. On a Sunday morning, which students usually have for extra classes followed by holiday in the afternoon, they flooded the room with election excitement. A total of 13 candidates enthusiastically came to the stage, speaking for a few minutes each about their ideas for the student body and why they should be voted in. The students were then sent out of the room to form a queue as we converted the classroom into a temporary voting booth. The names of the candidates were written clearly on the white board as we allowed 3 voters at a time to come and complete a pre-printed voting form (giving them the three votes each).

Whilst they were eating lunch, the ballots were processed and I had the pleasure of addressing the crowd once again. As tension rose, we began naming the complete Panchayat, starting with the 'Sevaks' (Panchayat committee members) and ending with the 'Sarpanch' (leader) – in order of popularity. To avoid embarrassment we did not release the number of votes, just the priority as represented by the voters.

Our first GFS Panchayat had been elected. Led by Sachin, his sevaks will be Irappa, Prashant, Chaitra and Mangala.

There are normally many negative connotations with politics in India – however, I believe the only way to change this will be through the youth movement potent within this enormous nation. These students will meet on a weekly basis, initially with guidance, to discuss difficulties and suggestions. They will arrange GFS 'Sabhas' where the complete student body will meet in an assembly format. We shall see how they progress over the remaining 9 weeks at GFS.

Also worth mentioning, is that out of the five students that were elected, two of them were girls, ensuring fair representation of the group.