Editor’s note – The author brings forth a few real life incidents of uninhibited corruption and unethical activities inside educational institutions that are representative of how officials at these institutions think.
Author’s note - I am a graduate in BSc Economics. Over the years I have learnt a lot about the loopholes in the Indian Education System and through this article I would like to share a few of my personal experiences.
The Indian Education System is plagued with the disease called corruption. The students and their helpless parents are suffering at the hands of the Educational Institutes which have turned into Money Making Institutes. It has become a market where education is sold to those who have the ability to buy it. Those in power take full advantage of their position to rip-off the desperate students and their parents who have no choice, but to succumb to their will.
The Indian Education System, not only lacks transparency but most often the students are left with no choice both in the matter of the subject as well as the institution. The quota system, the marking system, the admission process, etc. are full of loopholes and are misused by higher officials in the educational institutes. The deemed universities, in particular, are the ones that are doomed at present.
Quota system which considers students based on their caste and creed and not merit, is in no way helping either the student who gets admission through these quotas or the rest who do not fall in this category. It can be called a discriminatory practice of a different form. Moreover, the quota system adds to corruption. A few students in my college were told at the time of admission that the seats were full and if they wanted to take admission then they can get in through the management quota only. It was later found out to be false information. However, those who were admitted through management quota paid twice the fee amount throughout the course.
The seeds of corruption are sown in the minds of the people when they are students. When children and the youth of India see that the only way to get things done is by paying under the table, they happen to do the same when they become responsible adults. It is easier and when no one gets caught, they see nothing wrong in doing it. Teachers, the principal and all those whom students look up to do not realize what kind of an impression they are making on the young minds of the country.
Even those who are opposed to it are helpless as a student’s position is too vulnerable in front of those who are in power. My personal experience in this matter is very shocking and I hope it will be an eye opener to all the readers. Imagine a professor taking money from the students as loan. I have seen this happen and not one or two but twenty students in a batch of eighty were involved in this. This shows how the students as well as the professors are taking the education system for a ride. What kind of impact will this create in the young minds? Obviously, the youth will think there is nothing wrong if the professor who gets caught by the Director for doing such a thing and gets reinstated in the college. Yes, the professor was not sacked. Isn’t it clear that the higher authorities have no values and all they think about is making money? It is sad that no action was taken against either the professor or the students. The students also went scot-free. Again, the students should have been corrected then and there. Their excuse was that they lent money to the professor on ‘humanitarian grounds’. If they have the audacity to do such a shameful act at a student level, one can only wait to see what they will do when they go out into the real world.
If any student would want to bring to the notice of the higher officials of the institute under which the college is run, then how does one go about it? Moreover, there is no way any student can approach the vice-chancellor or the chancellor to make him aware of what is going on. For instance, one day the student representative of my batch announced to everyone that the accountant of my college informed that the deposit fee will not be returned back to us. I remember approaching the audit and finance department in order to clarify a doubt regarding the college deposit. I thought this was very unfair and happened to question the higher authority, which is my right. After this, I was called by the Director of my college to her office and I could not believe what she asked me next. She asked me why I took the matter to the audit and finance department. She also asked if I will go the founder of my college or to the police or CBI next. I could not believe what I was hearing. She was simply misusing the power she had and the fact that I was just a student. In her speeches made to the students, she would talk about ethics and how ethical the college is in its functioning. Well, these ethics never seemed to reflect in day to day affairs within the college.
This brings us to another ambiguity, that is, the correction methodology. Some professors admit that they themselves correct the papers and some others try to hide the fact. They would say that the university corrected the papers. But, there seems to be no truth to their story. They purposefully fail students in subjects like Environmental Science and on revaluation where in the students are required to pay a sum of 300 per subject, their grades are changed from F to A+. The director even declared much before the final exams that at least 10 students were definitely going to fail. She would extract enormous amount of money from the students, every now and then, for seminars. It was compulsory to pay Rs.250 - 500/- for these seminars even if the students were not interested. The students were blackmailed that they would have to pay Rs.1000/- as fine if they do not attend. None of these seminars were useful and were merely a complete waste of time and money.
As if corruption wasn’t enough, there are infrastructural problems that suck the usefulness out of college life. The colleges, especially the deemed ones must be ready with all infrastructural facilities like computer labs, library, sufficient number of classrooms and staff before starting any course. Our class-rooms were in the boys’ hostel basement. The library was being shared with other colleges and had no computer lab until my final year there. The classes would get water logged and stink in the rainy season. This is the condition of an International University.
After so much, there is no need to wonder why students prefer running away to foreign countries. Whose loss is it anyway? The education system is the building block of any economy. Corruption has seeped into our education systems so deeply that only a revolution against it is the only option. The current revolution of the jan-lokpal Bill needs to be extended to the education system as well. Only with transparency can there be change and now is the time to do it.
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