The Indian Education System, Part 1

All right, this is going to be my 13th and my most important blog post till date. The reason is not because I am superstitious but because of the topic itself. The education system currently prevalent in India. I will be focusing mainly on its negative aspects.

Before I begin, let me give a short prelude. This is a topic which I wanted to discuss and write about, for over 3 years. Yes, you read that right. I was just too lazy to do so, but now finally I have got the chance. Just this Sunday(26/07/2009), I read a brilliant short story(‘The Cut Off’) by Chetan Bhagat in Hindustan Times Sunday Magazine, Brunch. The story was related to the educational system. How a boy tops his school, but is unable to get into any top college, just because his percentage is slightly below the cut off mark required by such colleges, such is the competition prevalent in India. We are facing a situation that even school toppers are facing problems in securing a good college seat, let alone the average or below average students. In fact the student decides that suicide is the only option available for him. Go and read the story if you haven’t already. Trust me, you will like it.

One line which I loved in the same story, goes as this: ‘When my parents were young, certain colleges were considered prestigious. Now, forty years later, the same colleges are considered prestigious.’ Try to understand the significance of this statement. Is our government really sleeping, that it has stopped producing high class universities and colleges? Does it really want a few colleges to keep dominating for an entire century? Why does India give so much importance to Engineering and Management, and ignores almost all other fields, including Science and Research, Commerce, Arts, Astronomy, etc? Why are there so few seats, for such an increasing number of students, who take their board exams every year? Does our government really want the nation to progress? Or is It satisfied with mediocre(in the optimistic sense. Many colleges do not even come in this category) colleges and mediocre performance? For a country, especially like India, to get fully developed, it needs to focus on lots of factors, and one of the premier ones is Education, which it has so promptly ignored till date. Let the top institutes gain more popularity and continue their Monopoly, while students keep fighting amongst themselves, for a handful of seats. The ones who get through are considered brilliant, and the ones who don’t are left to bite the dust. What sort of insane logic is this? Ask any minister, and he always gives the same, inane reply, ‘We do not have sufficient financial resources to build new institutions, or invest in areas apart from Engineering and Management. We are helpless.’ As a result, numerous fake institutions have sprawled across the entire country, which provide anything besides real education and vocation.


*Continued in Next Post.