India is the only country in the world conducting such frequent and large-scale competitive examinations, where governments interfere most in the field of education.
During this decade, there has been not less than seventy instances of paper leaks in India. Added to this, is the malady of manipulations at the evaluation levels which often goes unnoticed as these are mostly for individual candidates. This has affected the careers of more than 1.5 crore youth. These paper leaks have turned into an established multi-state dealings, where criminals charging lakhs of rupees to provide question papers to aspirants in advance.
Education is building the future of the nation and how can defective workmanship and guidance by those who have nether experience nor knowledge nor skill direct the future of a nation?
Before the advent of these government regulated centralised examinations, professional education system in India, had its own quality and reputation, based on the reputation of the Institution. The reputation of an institution depended on the quality of teaching and the calibre of teachers.
All over the world, this is the criteria, used by those who seek quality education. These standards are same throughout the world, be it Havard, Yale, Stanford, Wharton, Cambridge or any other, world-renowned Institution.
The government of India and many state governments, had earlier, limited their role in Education to funding, for infrastructure, research and primarily supporting the employment of quality teachers so that the future of the students is secure.
This is basically the fundamental theme of NEP 2020 as well, calling upon the government to support education by enhancement of the government allocation of funds for education to 6% of the GDP from the present 3%, besides promoting the centrality of Teacher’s role in education, by recruiting sufficient numbers of teachers and encouraging research and innovation to create new models of teaching and training.
Unfortunately, the Governments in the last decade, have unilaterally, concluded that they are competent, fit and qualified to interfere with Education in as many ways as possible.
Maybe they assumed that since government is funding, they have the authority to interfere. Little do they realise that since funding is done with tax payers’ money and the tax payers want India to have the best quality education.
The recent leaks of NEET as well as NET question papers are part of the symptoms of this malady is a common problem across India. The frequency and the strategies used to manipulate these examinations may be much deeper than what is being revealed.
The issue ultimately boils down to two aspects.
1. Are the Governments, (Both Union as well as States) capable of conducting an entrance / competitive examination, without leak or any kind of unfair practice
2. Are these examinations the correct and just method to ascertain a candidate’s suitability to seek admission to a course of study?
These entrance exams do not improve, either the quality of students or the quality of education. On the contrary, there is evidence of deterioration, as witnessed by the failure rate and the dropout rate of students after the first year of the course. Secondly the mushrooming of coaching centres’ which are more profit oriented than academic oriented has hiked up the cost of studying for entrance examinations. The psychological effects and the spike in suicides is enough evidence to scrap the very system. There are also many news reports that candidates who fail or score low ranks were able to obtain much higher rankings in their second attempt if done so from certain remote centres. Undoubtedly, these entrance examinations have created a scar on the Indian education system and has caused much more damage to the quality of education and the quality of those who get admitted through these entrance examinations.
India educated professionals, have over the years migrated to countries in Europe, Australia and USA and have brought credit to themselves and the Nation. They were selected by the Institutions that made them world class. Now all these prospects are at stake for the future students from India.
The problem seems to be the thinking of government as to the purpose of education as compared to the reality. It looks as if the government is focusing on mere granting of degrees, whereas education as such, and more so, the professional education, aims at creating individuals, with not just knowledge and skill in their chosen areas but in developing humane qualities, where a doctor would be more happy with treating an incurable disease or a surgeon in successfully conducting an impossible or difficult operation and saving lives and families, which would give them much deeper sense of fulfilment or may be an engineer would be happy to find a solution to a conventionally difficult building model or machine model to achieve that sense of euphoria of fulfilment or a social scientist , in tackling a deep seated human problem or finding emancipation to a community to survive a drought or flood or a difficult social situation.
All these calls for special mental strength or attitudinal orientation, which is what a good and quality education should provide, nourish or support.
The idea that a person would earn more, or acquire wealth or build big buildings or the like may be partially true but are not necessarily the aims of quality education.
Maybe a lesson worth imbibing is, how those prestigious institutions world over select their students.
They have devised a method and strategy, to assess the candidate’s calibre, leanings, skills and capabilities, by analysing a student’s performance, aptitude and attitude, to adjust and excel in their academic programme. There are Institutions in India which are capable of such student assessment to find their suitability to be admitted to the courses they offer.
For the argument that there are too many candidates and the government could easily open many more of institutions, for providing quality education. Education is a constitutional obligation of the government, which has to be fulfilled to the fullest and maximum possible manner.
Sending man to the moon or constructing world’s biggest statues or bridges across mountains are not constitutional obligations. All those required for progress and prosperity will automatically happen if proper education, is provided, without any caste or community colour as pollutants and keep the focus only on children and their needed knowledge and skill to enable them to make this Nation proud.
(The writer is a professor of Law & an Education consultant)