Readers! G.B Shaw has got competition now. Our own ministry of HRD is breaking all the barriers and has been keen to make satire out of "merit" issue in the education system present in our country. Decisions, one after another, are hilarious, funny and sadly regressive.
Latest attempt: changing the procedure of admission in the prestigious Regional Engineering Colleges or NIT, as we call them now. According to the decision taken recently, these colleges will relinquish the so called "flawed" method of admission, in which these colleges had a fixed quota for each of the states in India. The seats under that quota had to be allotted to the students hailing from the respective state. The colleges will now have a 50% allocation for the state in which it is present and rest 50% will be allocated according to the students according to their ranks in an examination which is conducted on a national scale.
This method of allocation of seats, wherein scholars from every state could study together, was as a matter of fact, one of the underlying principles in setting up these colleges during the second five year plan (1956-60) .On one hand it helped to meet the growing demand for quality engineers for number of industrial projects meditated at that time and on the other, it assisted in socio-economic growth of India as a whole.
Being an alumnus from NIT Calicut, I have tasted the very fruits of such a system of education, where one is able to get trained in an environment which has reputable teachers, modern facilities and laboratories and at the same time he is able to exchange his cultural views. This, in fact, is a distinguishing feature of a NIT from an IIT, where this potpourri of culture is missing.
Coming back to our HRD ministry's ideology which emphasizes merit in admission procedure, why do these think tanks put this ideology under their bums when they introduce some new quota or increase some existing one in institutes of higher education. How they are able to shuffle this "merit" card deep inside the pack such that it becomes invisible?
Why don't they think that dallying with setup in the premier institutes causes our nation to sprint opposite to development? In order to consolidate their vote bank, ministers are ready to toss away nation's progress.
If at all, their motive is to bring some backward class abreast with the rest, they should concentrate providing them education from the primary level. Bringing them at par with the so called "privileged" classes should mean that these classed are able to compete with the "privileged" ones at the national level.
But for heaven's sake, do not try to be Santa and give away seats in premier institutes as gifts, neglecting your own "merit" philosophy. Don't be a mother who spoon feeds one of its children, out of many, and pampers him. He will only become a spoilt brat in the long run. Instead, be a mother who treats each one of them alike and encourages them to develop on a holistic basis.
1 comment:
you said it, bro
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