Government and private universities and colleges across nation require urgent changes at several levels, starting with faculty appointments and revamping of admission, evaluation, examination and advanced and modern curriculum.
Education infrastructure is in appalling condition across the nation, especially in the small towns and rural areas. The senseless and mindless increase in the enrolment at the primary level and intermediate level has proved to be of no value because of serious flaws in the educational system. Senseless changes like No Detention System, Mid Day Meal, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Credit-Based Choice System, Easy curriculum etc. initiated in the name of so-called reforms have ruined the standard of education completely. There is a tremendous shortage of meaningful and useful secondary and post-secondary education.
Education is a highly ignored and politicized sector of government policy, and failures in its area require extensive endeavour and revolutionary changes for recovery. In the entire country, where the parliament polls are to be held, but education is not at all any concern for any political party. There only concern in the field of education is to give or increase the caste and communal quotas.
In all the regimes, education has suffered extended and continuous neglect. The systemic aptitude of enrolling a very large number of students, both for creating a big vote bank to sustain their political and caste pursuit. However, all failed to introduce new solutions and for sustaining the pursuit of quality education. What is worse, all the political parties have been exposed to the magnetism of quick and easy solutions.
Narrow-minded viewpoint suits well with political opportunism, so all the governments and political parties have chased ugly populist priorities. For example, all the political parties and caste groups used students and campuses for carrying out their agitations on SC and ST Act judgment, Faculty quotas, Bhima-Koregaon agitation etc. Some use gimmicks like a free bicycle, free laptops etc to the students to fulfil their political agendas. What is worse, some political parties facilitate cheating in the exams or the inflation of grade in the name of moderation and standardization. Nobody has the guts and courage to implement radical solutions because people are too sick to accept a radical treatment.
Reservation politics is a sign of this abject state of affairs. On the surface, it looked like helping the poor and downtrodden but deep down quotas reflect a hollowed education system. All the quotas are grabbed by rich and powerful castes. This is another story of corruption. Corruption in education rarely hits the pinnacle it did in the post-reform era. Both its degree and modus operandi are unparalleled. Although its nerve centre is so-called reforms, liberalization, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, Out-sourcing etc but its roots and benefits are spread and distributed to almost everybody. Students, teachers, authorities, politicians, businesspersons etc all are benefited but the quality education is nowhere to be seen.
Reforms are s a case of wild fraud in education. Cover up of the fraud; very attractive names are given to these frauds like liberalization, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, Out-sourcing, No Detention System, Choice Based Credit System, Right to Education (RTE) etc. It has brought in a series of disasters. On the one hand, non-deserving and non-serious learners enter the campus but when to fail to cope with the pressure either they commit suicide or create problem to others by their indiscipline acts. This scenario has created a massive shortage of workforce in rural areas and small towns. Students, middlemen, NGOs, politicians etc are associated in various ways with this fraud. Nevertheless, nobody is ready to speak against these failures. Even if exams and evaluation are conducted honestly, the pass percentage cannot go beyond 25%. But there is little hope that anybody will redraft the whole system with rigour.
There is no use to go into past failures, but fresh initiatives are more essential. Political leaders have spread this distress everywhere. From rural areas and small towns changes can be started. Importance should be given to quality and standard and not the numbers and vote bank. For example, all the political parties to promote bigotry and hatred have used history books. The same objective has been pursued by unofficial ways used in schools through just office memorandums.
The new government will have to move fast with cautious changes towards extensive changes in the education system. The most important action needs to be made in teacher appointment and service conditions. Now, the nation has a large number of underqualified and underpaid teachers. Before the next academic session, properly qualified teachers should be regularized. Everywhere vacancies have increased to perilous levels. The earlier regimes ignored all concern and criticism. The new dispensation should redraft the education system to make it meaningful and qualitative.
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