The Indian Education System

The Indian Education system is a system that is failing to be honest and provide the quality as expected. We expect the education system to convey a message to the learners. A message that will not only make them good at their profession but also make them a good person. There are a few eminent students out of many who get into reputed and top colleges as well as universities but what about the rest? Do they have to pay exorbitant fees to get into the same colleges or at a lower rank? Many students prefer to go abroad rather than study in their home country. The colleges are inequitable when it comes to taking in students who come from minority communities. An example is a student from Pune who took the NEET-UG exam and ranked 17th in Maharashtra. However, she couldn’t get into any government colleges just because she came from a minority. This is unjust as she tried her level best just to be discriminated against during the counselling process and appear for the same exam again. India has one of the highest youth suicide rates. In 2020, a student died by suicide every 42 minutes. DW conducted a survey where a student who moved to Kota to fulfil his parents' dream of becoming a successful engineer was interviewed. He spoke about the immense pressure and expectations from parents, which leave students feeling emotionally drained. For them, life is a rat race, as the number of students applying is much higher than the number of seats available. There is also a bright side to our current education system. The state of Kerala vowed to remove sexist language from its textbooks in 2021 after an enormous number of cases were reported where the deaths of women were allegedly related to dowry harassment and domestic violence. The chief minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan said, “In light of the recent horrifying incidents of domestic abuse, Kerala has decided to take more stringent measures to create a fair society”. As an effort toward a “fair society”, the process includes the auditing of school textbooks as the government wishes to remove sexist portrayals of women. The new textbooks feature pictures of fathers helping with household chores, sons assisting in the kitchen, and girls and boys playing cricket, among others. Earlier, the scenario was the complete opposite. This is a huge step towards shattering gender stereotypes. On the other hand, in Rajasthan, there was a Hindi textbook that compared housewives to donkeys. “A donkey is like a housewife… It has to toil all day and like her, may even have to give up food and water. In fact, the donkey is a shade better for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parent’s home, you’ll never catch the donkey being disloyal to its master”, the class IX textbook conveyed. A Class XII Sociology textbook in Maharashtra listed 'ugliness of the girl' and 'disability' as reasons families seek dowry during marriage negotiations The textbook was used by students to prepare for the HSC board examinations. While discussing dowry, an insensitive paragraph in the textbook asserted, “If a girl is ugly and handicapped, it becomes very difficult for her to get married. To marry her, the girl’s bridegroom and his family demand more dowry. The helpless parents of such girls are then forced to pay up”. In 2015, a young female teacher from Jashpur district in Chhattisgarh petitioned the state women’s commission against a textbook by the state education department that said male unemployment was rising because women started working. Another textbook used by CBSE schools listed the ideal body proportions of a woman as 36”-24”-36”. “That is why in Miss World or Miss Universe competitions such type of shape is also taken into consideration,” said the book. This is contributing to society’s terrible body image standards and is pernicious especially for teenagers who are undergoing puberty. There is perhaps hope for our society, however; Miss Nepal Jane Dipika Garrett has become the first plus-sized woman to compete and place at Miss Universe. After having a conversation with one of the students who has given NEET-UG this year, concludes by saying that the NTA (National Testing Agency) had been negligent and dishonest about the procedure of the examination. It began on 5th May, which was the day of the examination itself, the students were suspicious about the leaking of the paper which had received attention on social media platforms. The NTA assured this year’s batch that there was no such case. Therefore, the students put their focus on their studies and were in search of colleges according to the previous year’s cutoff. A month later, the release of the results on June 4th shocked all the students, as the original scheduled date was June 14th. Students were incredulous at the fact that rank inflation was four times higher compared to the previous year. 67 students scored 720/720 while the prior year only had 2 students with that score, which was extremely bizarre. This year, 2 students quixotically scored 718 and 719 respectively. Due to such mishappenings, Students discovered the concept of grace marks. One of the centres in Gujarat had multiple teachers filling out answer sheets of students who had paid their teachers to aid them in cheating, and rumours hinting the involvement of a renowned political figure were also going around. Patna, controversially, had also been accused of making students memorise answers a day before the examination. 2 teachers from Latur district in Maharashtra had been arrested for leaking the paper for Rs. 5 Lakhs. This wasn’t the first case of a leak of questions for a majorly sought-after exam in India. The one prior to the most recent incident had been in 2015, which was only limited to 44 students. Despite it being a small number, the exam had been conducted again. This year, even though the number of students thwarted is exponentially more— 23 Lakh students in total - the government holds it impossible for the exam to be conducted again. The NTA also, boldly, stated that the exam’s integrity had not been compromised. At the same time, the Supreme Court is seeking proof for the compromise in the sanctity of the exam. Another case of paper leak would be the NEET-PG. The preparation for this exam takes around 2 years, and the seats available are comparatively lesser than its undergraduate equivalent. The exam was originally scheduled in March but got postponed to 7th July, after which got preponed to 23rd June, and finally, 10 hours before the exam, it was unofficially announced that the exam had been postponed once again. First of all, the centres allotted were less in number, due to which many students had to take for long, costly journeys. The student I got a chance to have a conversation with was forced to travel from Pune to Nashik. Some students even had to travel to a different state to appear for the exam. The Ministry of Health tweeted about the postponement of the exam 10 hours before the fact, due to which it was taken to be unofficial information. Students remained sceptical and made several assumptions regarding the examination’s final date amongst themselves. The official time of the release of news was supposed to be 7 a.m., and at 1 a.m., they posted a notice about the postponement. Although it was extremely costly for them, students still made sacrifices and travelled long distances to appear for the exam. Not just NEET, but at least 64 other major examinations across 19 Indian States have been marred by incidents of question paper leaks since 2019. How negligent can the system's management be? This was not only scandalous but also inexcusable. How many paper leaks continue to occur while students in large numbers are determined to give the exam with honesty and perseverance? The so-called Education Minister isn’t moving ahead of “Everybody would be punished,” while the Prime Minister is busy attending the weddings of billionaires. This is a very remiss attitude shown towards their duty for this nation. They are failing to maintain the transparency of nationwide examinations, craft the future generations with excellence, and reduce the number of crimes which can only be done with education. What is genuinely incredible is that Kerala put their money where their mouth is. Changing our education system may seem like a small step, but the impact is significant!