A student council is a group of elected individuals at secondary and higher secondary school levels, who act as a link of communication between the student body and the school administration. The primary aim of this body, which functions based on parliamentary procedures is to inculcate leadership skills and effective decision making, whilst entertaining student requests as well as ideas; voting on them and passing them forth for approval by the school administration.

While such bodies are a crucial part of schools around the world, our local educational system remains largely ignorant of it and the schools that do encourage student councils greatly undermine and restrict their authority, establishing them only as a customary practice and therefore keeping them devoid of any real power or say.

In the local system, only students with extraordinary grades are handpicked by teachers and nominated for the council, students with a less impressive academic record are excluded from participation regardless of how eager or passionate they may be about it. Next, the student bodies (sometimes even teachers) vote for their respective nominees and a council of; headgirl, headboy, prefects etc. are elected. The voting process gives the students a false sense of control and a small taste of democracy.

The primary duty of this body over the next few months is to maintain decorum and provide the school with various services. However, instead of representing student interests to the administration and vice versa, here members of the council often begin to abuse their power by exerting social dominance over their fellow students, going as far as bullying them at times, due to lack of proper supervision by teachers. The school on the other hand uses the council members as mere ushers during parent teacher conferences and other important school meetings.

So, in essence the Council is used as policy implementing body for the school to maintain its brand of discipline when it should really be utilized to plan, organize student events that promote school spirit and community welfare.

Establishment of student council is supposed to be an important part of student grooming, where schools model leaders of tomorrow by giving them responsibility and correcting them when they falter and yet the local system has completely destroyed the principles the council is meant to be built upon, fashioning not moral figureheads but individuals who are accustomed to being puppets in the hands of those above them and exploiting those who are below them.