It was in July 1960 that Dr. Khagendra Nath Sharma returned to Ilam from Kathmandu to set up a college. Holding an MA in political science, Dr. Sharma had decided to return to Ilam for a year.

"I was a general member of the then ruling Nepali Congress and went to Ilam to open and work in the college," Dr. Sharma said of his decision to become the first principal of the first college of his home district at the first annual general meeting of the alumni of the college the other day.

However, he could not return to Kathmandu in a year because of the royal coup in 1960.

Later, the college became Mahendra Ratna Multiple Campus and was one of the key campuses in the eastern hills. Until a few years back, students from Ilam, Taplejung, Panchthar, Tehrathum and Jhapa districts studied in this campus when the practice of opening 10+2 colleges and campuses was rare.

As an academic institute, it was a centre of political activities, especially for the communists, during the partyless autocratic Panchayat days.

Today, the ex-students of the first college of Ilam hold key administrative, academic and political posts in the country. Constituent Assembly Chairman Subas Chandra Nembang, former secretary Khem Raj Nepal, former ambassador Noble Kishore Rai, CA member Padamlal Bishwokarma and several other ex-students of the campus were present at the first AGM of the ex-students, who formed an association a year ago with the intention of developing the campus into a technical university.

The ex-students, who held key government posts in the past, want to keep their association free from politics because ‘politics has eaten up the essence of Nepal’s universities and campuses’.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sharma recalled how he kept the college free from politics even after King Mahendra took over the college just six months after its establishment.

"The students wanted to shut down the college and boycott the exams to protest against the take over, but I decided to conduct the exams although I did not agree with the royal step," Sharma said. On the occasion, he showed concern over the growing politicisation in Tribhuvan and other universities.

He questioned how the universities could function when they have no vice chancellors, rectors and other officials and how the academic environment could improve when professors, teachers and employees were engaged in political activities.

"If this association of ex-students becomes a tool of a particular party, I will not remain its member," said Noble Rai who was speaking as chairman of the ad-hoc committee.

"Also do not wrap your bodies with the flag of a particular party or religious group," the linguist and former ambassador to Germany said. In recent years, there has been a growing practice of wrapping the bodies of the dead with the flags of political parties while performing the last rite.

Truly, the growing politicisation of our academic institutes has become a matter of serious concern for all, and the ex-principal and students of Ilam campus rightly raised their voice at a time when the government has been unable to appoint VCs in all the seven universities due to pressure from the political parties to appoint their men in the key academic posts.

source:Editorial, RisingNepal