HOW DO UNIVERSITY TEACHERS PERCEIVE THEIR STUDENTS’ INVOLVEMENT IN PARTY POLITICS: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY FROM A POLITICALLY TURBULENT REGION

Abstract

Universities through-out Pakistan have at least one student wing belonging to one of the mainstream political parties of the country. The political parties, irrespective of their political orientation i.e.secular, religious or nationalist, attempt to establishtheir roots in the universities through the mentioned political wing. This involvement of students is perceived by different opinion leaders of the society in different ways. Bearing in mind the geo-political situation of the study area, the university teachers are considered to be the most influential opinion leaders. Therefore, considering importance of university teachers’ perception regarding deep rooted political involvement of theparties in universities and use of its students for their political objectives; this study attempts to analyze the teachers’ perception regarding students’ involvement in the party politics at university level. To carry out this study, we use census datacomprising 110 university teachers.We employ Chi Square testanalysis. The analysis shows a strong perceived association between political activities and academic performance of students. Moreover, political participation by the students is perceived to be a total waste of their time; it diverts students’ attention from their studies; and results in a tug of war among the university students.