“Students are the politicians and leaders of tomorrow” keeping this fact in mind The Times of India in association with Goa State legislators Forum had organized the “School Parliament” at Assembly complex at Porvorim. 93 students from the 23 schools debating the passing of the “Goa Ban on Use of Mobiles by Students Bill, 2015” The ‘bill’ was the piece de resistance of the first-of-its-kind school parliament. Students, dressed in wrinkleless uniforms, looked on in wonder as speaker of the Goa legislative assembly, Rajendra Arlekar, who was also the chief guest of the function advised, “People often ask why certain members of the legislative assembly behave in a particular way. There are norms according to which we conduct ourselves in the House. So, students need to learn how things function within the legislative assembly.” “The more you are interested in the proceedings of the House, the more you tend to not disrupt the legislature,” Arlekar told the students before the mock parliament session commenced.
Keen to demonstrate the manner in which legislators speak in the house, Arlekar said there are certain restrictions on members even as they take up public issues. “You may have wondered why an MLA didn’t behave or question a given situation. This is because there are certain norms and regulations which have been set and have to be followed.” Arlekar explained in detail the procedure for question hour, zero hour, calling attention motion among others. He expressed happiness that TOI had decided on a good topic —the use of mobiles – for legislating a bill. “It was heartening to know that the students would participate in the entire proceeding of introducing a bill and getting it passed.” He told the students that after the bill is passed it can become an act only after it is given assent to by the governor. “After seeing the proceedings of the House, what goes on inside, let our future citizens decide if they want to join politics or not,” Arlekar remarked.
As per the setup of actual assembly the students were divided into ‘ruling’ and ‘opposition’. Gautami Kamat, a Class IX student of Dr K B Hedgewar high school, Panaji, and Sanat Bharne, a Class IX student of Mushtifund high school, Panaji, donned the roles of speaker and chief minister respectively. As the ‘assembly session’ got under way, the students vociferously debated the ‘proceedings’. Divided into two groups representing ‘in favour’ and ‘against’ the ‘bill’, the students put logical points forward and analyzed various perspectives of the issue.
Memorable, was when a swarm of youngsters, arguing in favour, said the usage of cellphones makes them responsible; it prompted 14-year-old Ashwin Mascarenhas, a Class X student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, INS Mandovi, Verem, to quip, “Why only phones? They should permit kids to use cars and bikes too then to make them more responsible.” A roar of laughter engulfed the PAC (public accounts committee) hall where the ‘session’ was under way. Kamat, who seamlessly donned a sari and her role, immediately called for order to be maintained in the House. Later she said of her role, “I felt a sense of responsibility sitting on that chair. Bharne, physically quite the contrast to the state’s current chief minister, played his role to the hilt too, eloquently stating his ‘government’s concerns’ and the reason for the ‘bill’. “I learnt many things about the dos and don’ts in a parliamentary session,” he said later of his experience, “It was amazing being part of this debate, and I would certainly recommend other students to participate in the coming years.”
The debate drew a mutual spirit of competition from both sides, and quite like the real setting students backed their party’s views by thumping their desks and armrests. In the end, despite the high-pitched ‘nos’ of the ‘opposition’, it was the ‘ayes’ of the ‘government’ that won the debate. The intellectually-stimulating programme saw six exceptional students felicitated by Nilkanth Subhedar, secretary, Goa legislature secretariat, for their outstanding performance. Elated, one of the winners, Jaya Kuswaha, a Class IX student of Rosary high school, Miramar, said, “I never expected to win an award for ‘best girl speaker’, but this has now motivated me to return next year for another interesting session of the Times School Parliament.” Goa legislators’ forum’s Mohan Amshekar (secretary), Sadanand Malik (treasurer) and Victor Gonsalves (member) were present for the event.
