Tag: education

Of those reservations…

The reservation issue was again in news in past few months as Gujjars were asking for reservation in Rajasthan. I won’t write whether gujjars were right or wrong in asking for reservation but lets talk about the reservation itself first.

I find this very idea of ‘cast based reservation’ stupid. It was a stupidity in the very first place. First thing you say people from some castes should be given some relaxation in the exams, admissions…whatsoever as they are financially weak and haven’t got access to all the facilities. Now are all the people from those castes same ? NO !

Second thing the people whom you leave in general section ? Are all of them able to provide their children with good education and facilities ? again NO !

So we talk about financial conditions of people but on the basis of their caste. How that is useful ?

Just an example. By now ( as it has been so many years since reservation system was put in place) how much percentage of people on administrative posts (IAS, IPS, PCS etc) has come through reservation system ? (no offenses intended here). May be 20-30% or more or less. Fine ! Now they can give all the facilities to their children but their children will again get admissions using their quota certificates. So what is the use ?

Once i heard that president K R Narayanan’s daughter got admission to IAS in some reserved quota (I have no proof, but there might be hundreds of such cases, if not this one). Now tell me was she really deprived of all the facilities ?

Another point is while admitting people to professional colleges for engineering, medical and other studies is it okay to relax in terms of score they get ? Recently someone on TV gave an example that lets say someone in your family was seriously ill, you took him to hospital. What would you think that a fully qualified doctor should take his case or the one who was not that intelligent but came through reservation ? Obvious answer is the qualified one. Then why reservation at every place ?

Helping poor people reach a standard in their life is not a problem. But it should have been implemented in some other manner like providing financial assistance to the people who were not able to bear the expenses of education. Giving them free books, education and other facilities. That too without saying what caste or class did they belong to.

The saddest part is that now this evil has been installed and its here to stay for always. No government is going to amend these laws as that would mean toppling of the government the very next day.

I have no hopes 🙁

Johny johny…no Papa

In last few weeks, a video showing kids reciting english poems in some school of Punjab has been making waves on youtube.

It definitely looks funny during first watch. But soon it gives rise to serious questions about our education system. These kids don’t understand anything what they are speaking. They have just crammed this small poem and keep on reciting it daily without even trying to understand what does it mean, forget the American accent. And they are not at fault, rather we are responsible that they have got such an environment to grow up in.

What does that mean ? There are some serious flaws in our education system. It has been 51 years since we got freedom and see the standards of education in our country. It is not the story of Punjab only but almost every state in India. Start with primary schools and go up to professional colleges. Everywhere you will find the same story. The biggest difference which i have felt between India and abroad is that there the most qualified people are in the teaching profession and here the least qualified. If you are not getting any other job go for teaching. There are n number of reasons for that. One of the primary things being the bucks you earn. That again has to do with the system of our country that people who are responsible for laying the foundation of the country are not paid well and they opt for alternate professions and the mediocre class comes into teaching.

Some serious steps need to be taken. Otherwise govt institutions have already lost all the charm and there will be no fun in keeping them running. People would (in fact, already are) opt for private ones and that also would be out of reach of the middle class.

Without education can we progress ? NO, i think. In fact education is the only thing which can help us get rid of the evil things in our society.