WITHER PROTEST

It is “Protests” season once again, in India we are used to doing things seasonally, we have seasonal fruits, harvesting is seasonal, even marriages are solemnised as per seasons. Periodically we have a season when the protests begin, sometimes farmers agitate or it could be the CAA, Anna Hazare anti-corruption LokPal or Delhi Nirbhaya. Sometimes these succeed, as was the case in Farmers or Nirbhaya protests, sometimes it takes a while but it bears fruit for a regime change as in LokPal protests. The protesters are also more emboldened now with the evident success of such movements in the immediate neighbourhood, so much so that they openly threaten that they will convert India into another Nepal. If only wishes were horses, cockroaches would ride!

Protests are engineered, that there is no doubt about, as even when Mahatma Gandhi launched his movements, they were not spontaneous. It requires funding, organisation, resources and leadership. It is widely known that the major protests like Farmers and CAA received widespread funding from abroad, obviously there are vested interests involved. Forces inimical to the country would like nothing better than India embroiled in its internal conflicts rather than pursue its path of progress. Notwithstanding that, this round of protest has a genuine raison d’être, the rotting education system of this country. NEET paper leak is just the manifestation of this decadent system which is in much need for an overhaul and not just some patchwork solution. 

While this generation does like their jeans distressed, you know the ones which are torn with threads emerging from the vents, they don’t really approve of their education system in total tatters. An education system which rewards only memory and not knowledge or its application per se, is not a recipe for a budding super power. A simple comparison with China who spends $800 billion a year, whereas we spend just $12 billion, a clear give away of the priority we accord to education in India. By our own planning figures, we should be spending at least 6% of our GDP, whereas we are managing just above 4%. There are challenges as the subject is in concurrent list in the constitution, hence uniformity of policy and their implementation is a huge ask, as is evident in the recent logjam in the conduct of NEET exams itself, with Tamil Nadu up in arms insisting on following their reservation system rather than the one applicable at the national level. The three language formula is also being actively contested by Tamil Nadu primarily.

Despite the  mess in Education system, the sincere and hardworking middle class puts their progeny through the grind of coaching institutes hoping to get out of the rut by qualifying in one of these competitive exams. This is the dream which almost every parent  has, and leaves no stone unturned to ensure their children cross the rubicon, thereby hoping for salvation of the complete family. Examinations were supposed to be a fair system of assessment, at least that is what one would have liked to believe. If the candidate has acquired the skills which these coaching institutes drilled into him/her over the two-three years period, he/she cracks it, else he/she probably did not have what it took to succeed. But of late, paper leakage has acquired menacing proportions, with hardly an exam managing to buck the trend. Barring the UPSC conducted exams, all the others can hardly be called fair. The so called demographic dividend is very demanding, but unfortunately the returns are only diminishing. So it had to come to a boil sooner or later.

Govt, as usual hasn’t covered itself with glory, it can’t offer any excuses, as having been in power for more than a decade, they had adequate time to fix the system. The conduct of Re-NEET is at best a patchwork solution, the National Testing Agency (NTA) itself has failed the test time and again. Repeated failures of this kind can’t be excused and heads should have rolled even without any protests. The minister in question should have offered to resign much  earlier, which would have sent the right signal, the NTA bureaucracy should have been sacked for their failure of oversight. Getting into a confrontationist mood with the youth can hardly be considered a politically wise decision. Once the anger dissipates, holistic reforms  should be on the agenda.

One moot question which needs introspection by all of us, is that why are the papers leaked? Obviously for just one simple reason, ‘greed’. The perpetrators are greedy for money, the parents are greedy, as they see this as an investment with disproportionate returns. So, again reverting to the education system, isn’t there a dire need for character building in the curriculum?