Citizens need to ensure that the system is not being unfairly rigged, in whichever field. Education is too important an issue
Educational admissions are in the news these days. NEET and other prestigious admission exams are under a cloud. The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), formerly the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT), test for medical entrance qualifications conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), broke up into a raging a nationwide controversy as never before.
The issue is complex. There are so many discussions going on over the same. It's easy to get confused over what's happening and why. Many experts on the issue tell us how students are getting impossible scores, why so many toppers (with near full score) were announced this year round, or why things look fishy when certain centres seem to be getting phenomenal results all of a sudden. Investigations have even shown who is involved in some of the major rackets.
That's bad news. In a country where almost anything can be corrupted at the right price, we have clearly failed in building systems that work and guarantee fairness to all.
But that's not all. At stake is something even more serious than that....
An online video by Maheshwari Peri, the founder and chairman of Careers360, tells us what a big scam this actually is. See 'Truth behind MBBS Admissions and Paper Leaks' [http://alturl.com/uuw55] In this video, a little over 21 minutes long, Peri carefully explains how the full system is rigged.
Students even with fairly low NEET scores are able to get admissions into medical colleges, provided they are willing to cough up very high fees. Thus, in the name of merit, a system has been set in place where there is intense competition for the highly subsidised government colleges, while the private colleges give their seats to those with even rather low scores, provided they are willing to pay up astronomical sums.
Added to this, we have scammers entering the system, some to rig exams. They take lakhs of rupees in bribes, and make sure the paying candidates can get access to the right answers, and top scores. In some cases, hackers from outside the country (e.g. Russia) have been employed to hack into the system. So, in a word, there are hundreds of undeserving candidates who have paid and got their seats.
To make matters worse, those students whose parents have the moolah are going in for medical education abroad. Peri's talk shows how substandard such education can be, with many who have undergone the same failing in their qualification exams once they return. India has also been fudging up the number of doctors available, meanwhile, by adding AYUSH doctors to calculate and window-dress the doctor-population ratio.
But this is not all. We need to look beyond the obvious to also understand why our education system is not meeting the needs of a huge nation. Or, in Goa's case, an immensely talented region.
Today, our youth are suffering from intense unemployment in Goa too. You might not guess this to be the situation, though it's a fact. Many years back, the late former MP Erasmo Sequeira, came out with a detailed listing of how Goa could go in for job-focused employment. Who remembers that today? How much has been done over the same? In all our politics focussed on religious and cultural differences, does anyone have the time to focus on such issues at all?
Over the years, quite some infrastructure has been set up, and courses are on offer. For instance, there are technical courses on offer at Siolim, Corlim, Quepem, Aldona, and at ITIs that dot the State. There are open schools, and Don Bosco's at Panaji-- recently reminded us about its night school.
Some courses seem to be well thought out, and certainly could offer jobs to our young people when they complete the same. Among these are St Bridget's Home Nursing (Aldona), ISEAF.org's many courses around the Siolim area (and the Holy Cross Indo-German Techno Centre), the Montfort Academy's options at Corlim (Tiswadi), the Goa ITI multiple options, among others.
But where there are institutions, there seems to be a shortage of students. In some branches of study, there is an overload of students, while in others there's a drought. Of course, courses of this nature are difficult to set up and run. They cost a significant amount of investment to set up. In some cases, the government might not be offering grants to run the same.
It's a given that the government can't be expected to fund the entire educational infrastructure. But if more self-financed courses are being set up, then the students need to find some ways to finance their (much higher) fees. It's not enough to point to bank loans. Especially for those who are poorer and lack that kind of money to invest in their future.
Self-funded institutions seem to be facing their own challenges, and it is perhaps time for the authorities to see how these could be made more viable. Sometime back, when the Don Bosco's agricultural college at Sulcorna was facing its tough times, the solution of the State Government was to set up another similar institution of its own. The right approach might not be in making community initiatives redundant, being unable to compete with the State's, but to understand where the real problem lies, and solve those.
In the case of the NEET, the issue is of a system that is entirely rigged in favour of those who have the possibility of paying lakhs for their own professional education. Even paying the bribes, in some cases. In Goa's case, from what is apparent, it is a question of inefficiencies and the inability to carefully think solutions through. But there are other ways in which the system is rigged too. Semi-educated politicians are given permissions to set up educational institutions, while those with good track records are simply kept 'on hold'.
Local students find their opportunities for growth blocked, often due to a lack of options. For instance, it can be quite tough for students to find vacant PhD seats in Goa itself. This places them at a distinct disadvantage when competing with students from other States, especially in South India, where the process of joining and granting doctorates can be more liberal.
Goa needs more part-time education, as not everyone can afford to be a full-time student. While Goa has a 85% local student quota for its medical admissions, even the NEET fiasco would still be an issue of concern here. We have lessons to learn. It is not a question of the rare case of cheating, question paper leaks, or even admissions through bribery. Citizens need to ensure that the system is not being unfairly rigged, in whichever field. Education is too important an issue.
