When Education Becomes a Cinema Stage at Malla Reddy University

When Education Becomes a Cinema Stage

Look at what we have become.

A university is supposed to be a place where young people learn to think.

But apparently, it can also become a giant cinema stage.

A film promotion is organised.
A massive crowd gathers.
Lights. Speakers. Celebrities. Political personalities. Loud music. Emotional speeches.

Everyone is excited.

And then a structure collapses.

Students are injured.

Suddenly the celebration becomes an accident scene.

At the recent Toxic pre-release event at Malla Reddy University, a sound structure collapsed and several people were injured. Police have registered a case against the university management and the event manager. (India Today)

Now comes the important question.

Why was a university hosting such a massive promotional spectacle in the first place — and who was responsible for making sure that the excitement did not become a danger?

Don't misunderstand the question.

There is nothing wrong with students enjoying cinema.

There is nothing wrong with celebrating an actor.

There is nothing wrong with a film promotion.

But a university is not merely another commercial venue.

It is an institution that is supposed to teach young people something more important than how loudly we can celebrate a celebrity.

It should teach them:

Question.
Think.
Evaluate.
Take responsibility.

Instead, we sometimes teach the opposite.

Clap.
Follow.
Celebrate.
Don't question.

And then something goes wrong.

Everyone starts asking:

Who is responsible?

This is where the real problem begins.

We have become very good at creating spectacle.

We put enormous screens on stages.

We bring celebrities.

We create crowds.

We make videos.

We generate social-media excitement.

We call it an “event”.

But where is the same energy for education?

Where is the giant stage for critical thinking?

Where are the massive crowds discussing unemployment?

Where are the celebrations for scientific discovery?

Where is the excitement around students solving real problems?

Where is the celebrity treatment for a teacher who spends thirty years building human beings?

We have created a strange society.

A movie star walks onto a stage and thousands of young people scream.

A scientist walks into a classroom and half the room checks their phones.

A celebrity speaks for ten minutes and millions watch.

A professor spends decades developing knowledge and nobody knows his name.

What exactly are we teaching our children to value?

And here is another uncomfortable question.

When a university becomes a venue for a giant commercial film promotion, does education become the background decoration?

The answer should concern every parent.

Because universities are not entertainment parks.

They are supposed to be factories of thought.

If safety arrangements fail at a public event, accountability must be established through proper investigation. We should not jump from an accident to declaring guilt before the facts are established.

But we should also not hide behind the word “accident.”

An accident can be an accident.

Negligence is a question.

And questions deserve answers.

Who approved the structure?

Who inspected it?

What safety standards were followed?

Who was responsible for crowd management?

Was the venue suitable for the size of the gathering?

Were emergency arrangements adequate?

Who signed off on the event?

These are not political questions.

They are not anti-cinema questions.

They are not anti-Malla Reddy questions.

They are basic accountability questions.

And if asking them makes someone uncomfortable, perhaps the problem is not the question.

Perhaps the problem is that we don't like accountability.

The irony is almost beautiful.

A film called Toxic arrives at a university.

And the event itself leaves us with another kind of toxicity to examine:

the toxicity of spectacle without responsibility.

We should not teach young people that bigger crowds mean better events.

We should teach them that better preparation means better events.

We should not teach them that celebrities deserve unquestioning admiration.

We should teach them to admire competence, character and contribution.

We should not teach them that education is a place where anything can happen because there are thousands of students willing to cheer.

We should teach them that an educational institution carries a special responsibility toward every student inside it.

A university should make students think bigger.

Not merely cheer louder.

The real tragedy would be if four people getting injured becomes yesterday's news while the next celebrity event begins tomorrow with even bigger speakers, brighter lights and a bigger crowd.

Because then we have learned nothing.

The purpose of education is not to create better audiences.

It is to create better thinkers.

And perhaps that is the most important question this incident leaves behind:

Are our universities educating students — or are we slowly turning them into audiences?

Wake up.

The stage can be spectacular.

The celebrity can be famous.

The crowd can be enormous.

But when safety, responsibility and education are pushed into the background,

the show has already become too toxic.