Catch them young
If a society has to fight corruption, the youth have to be moulded in a way that will make them honest citizens who fight corruption right from the school level
The all-pervasive corruption in our society is one major factor that is preventing our country from realising its full potential and emerging as a developed country.
It is said that a country gets the government it deserves. A society suffers from corruption to the extent it tolerates it. A 2006 study conducted by the universities of Auckland and Melbourne on attitudes towards corruption in Australia, India and Indonesia revealed that Indians exhibit a higher tolerance towards corruption than Australians. Indonesians have the same attitude to corruption as Australians.
Indonesia seems to have realised the basic fact that if a society has to become less corrupt, the youth must be moulded to behave honestly and fight corruption right from the school levels.
According to press reports, a few weeks ago, Indonesia introduced anti-corruption classes in the school curriculum. Sadly, there is no such initiative taken in our country.
There is, however, a heart-warming development in Chennai regarding sensitising high school students on the issue of corruption. Some students themselves have taken the initiative to form voluntary groups to promote a sense of commitment to integrity and good governance in our society. Every member of the group, at the time of joining, signs a pledge to be totally honest in his/her life and work to ensure better governance of the country.
Many times, the spark for a major movement is lit by one committed individual. G Suresh, a young vigilance officer working with Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, a public sector enterprise in Bangalore, has provided the spark for this movement. While most of the vigilance officers in the government may be satisfied with routine discharge of their allotted functions, Suresh has gone much beyond that. He is computer savvy and has been using IT and the internet to spread the message of integrity, particularly among the students. A few years ago, he started a movement called SIVG (Self Imposed Vigilance for Good Governance). If business enterprises are expected to display corporate social responsibility, Suresh believes that at an individual level, every citizen can display individual social responsibility.
To promote the idea further, he has been holding national level essay and elocution competitions among school students on the need to fight corruption. These competitions coincide with the observance of the annual vigilance awareness week promoted by the Central Vigilance Commission of the Government of India and observed by all government departments and public sector enterprises.
In 2008, a student from DAV Girls High School in Gopalapuram, Chennai won the first prize for coming up with the original idea of forming voluntary groups in her school — of students who were like-minded and committed to integrity in personal life and better governance of the country. Suresh helped her to launch a voluntary group in her school with the active support of the principal and her friends. This group is called the National Governance Corps. The idea is to promote such groups in as many schools as possible.
Like the National Cadet Corps (NCC), which is launched by the government, if NGC picks up in schools and becomes a nationwide movement, we will have a committed core of students who have internalised the values of integrity and are dedicated to the better governance of the country.
There are already encouraging signs that the movement may pick up. In Chennai itself, Ramana Vidyalaya, as well as Sharada Higher Secondary School run by the Ramakrishna Mission, have launched NGC in their schools. In Bangalore, too many have shown interest in the initiative. A professor from Dartmouth Massachusetts, USA, has also enquired about launching NGC in the United States.
The initiative of the students is definitely a silver lining in the prevailing darkness of all-round corruption in our country.
Schools should form voluntary groups of students who are like-minded and committed to integrity in personal life and better governance of the country
In the last decade, N Vittal, the former CVC, emerged as the voice of our collective conscience. This is his weekly take on public life in India