THE FLAW-FULL INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

THE FLAW-FULL INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of others. This article doesn't mean to criticize the Indian Education System at all rather it just highlights the problems associated with it. If any individual doesn't agree with this, please feel free to comment your views :)                                                                     P.S. The author is also a 10th Grader studying in a CBSE school :) 

Introduction: This article mainly deals with two problems which are: one, how the education system is not at all structured properly and how they treat their students as lab rats (for more information on this topic refer to my previous article : www.bit.ly/TheIndianEducationSystem) and two, how corruption in India not only affects the integrity and the functioning of the government but also affects the education system and its students as a whole.
On the 28th of March 2018, the Central Board of Secondary Education conducted the Mathematics board exam for grade 10 which was conducted not only in India but also in schools affiliated under CBSE which are based outside India. Same goes for the economics exam conducted on the 26th of March 2018 but for grade 12. 

However, the common thing between these two exams is that the question papers or parts of them were leaked through WhatsApp a few hours before the exam as stated by the HRD Minister of India. However, there are some other sources which show that the paper was also leaked on the popular app Instagram.  



1. The Very Idea of Education is not Justified

Our education system just loves to experiment with their students. They consider themselves to be the scientists and treat their students as rats. The homepage of the cbse website (www.cbse.nic.in) says that it is "committed to equity and excellence in education". Now, is introducing full portion out of the blue excellence in education? Is mugging up bookish language and not being allowed to express your own views in subjects like economics and political science equity and excellence? Is glorifying the science stream anywhere close to equity or excellence?

The answer was, is and will remain a BIG NO. This is because the education system has a flawed structure and its ideals are utter nonsense. It is focused on producing students that have the ability to mug up and vomit whatever they're told to, from the textbooks. And for once, if you write something that is outside the textbook and even if your content is right/ true, you will lose marks because "It is not given in the textbooks". You know why it is not given in the textbooks? Because our textbooks are a joke for the present. For example the grade 10 Civics (Political Science) textbook was published in 2006 and has never really been revised since then. Dear CBSE, it has been 12 years since then, and very less pieces of information in the textbook have been updated, I mean the textbook says our ruling party is still Congress and 2 elections have taken place since then. All the statistics, graphs etc. in the book are of census 2001 and it has been over half a decade since the last census was conducted i.e., in 2011. The books have in a way become obsolete and just contain data that is not true for the present or is irrelevant.

Now to the structure and the functioning of this system,the CBSE, DID NOT EVEN HAVE A CHAIRPERSON FOR 2 WHOLE YEARS! For 2 years ladies and gentlemen, the CBSE was in a way, on its path without a leader. And even with a leader, it is on the path of destruction. Destruction of out-of-the box thinking, destruction of creativity and destruction of the very idea of education which is to not only develop the child academically but also to develop the persona of the child. This is the sad reality of the education system and the only way this could be reformed would be to bring huge reforms into its structure and functioning and introduce strict measures to prevent malpractices like the recent paper leak which I will be addressing in the next section. Our education system is needed to be revamped and must be designed according to our economic policies. This education system has also failed because it has not been able to reduce the social disparities. In fact these disparities have gone up. It is such a shame that education itself has become a tool for creating divisions. A child of a rich parent would get good education and a child of poor parent cannot afford good quality education. The government spends only few percent of the GDP on education, and education is one of the most basic and key factors that plays an important role in the overall development of the individual. So our government should make education its first priority. All these problems bring us to the second problem that is, 

2. CORRUPTION (also involves other problems)

Corruption in India not only affects the ideals and the functioning of the government but also affects the education system as a whole. Now, corruption in an education system obviously involves malpractices like bribes, other illicit financial means and methods of cheating. However, it also involves the recent form of malpractice that has gained national attention, PAPER LEAKS. Paper leaks are the worst form of malpractice that can be carried out. This is because they provide an unfair advantage to the students who have access to these papers. It is a clear example of how the education system was unable to handle a few pieces of paper. Now, All Indian citizens have the right to education but is that norm of Indian democracy actually practiced? Does India treat all students equal and gives them equal education and opportunities? Is the Indian education system corrupt?

Yes, the Indian education system (in this case CBSE) is corrupt. There have been numerous instances of corruption yet no one decides to resolve these.

For example:

MBBS seats sold for between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 40 lakh by two private colleges in Chennai and this barely exposes the tip of the iceberg. The scam gets bigger, more brazen as medical graduates embark on specializations that are necessary for a successful career. The price this year for a post-graduate seat in radiology in most leading private colleges across the country is Rs 2 crore while in cardiology, gynaecology and orthopaedics are priced around Rs 1.5 crore

This is an example of clear corruption in Indian Education System.
Middle caste students and poor students who have brains can never get into these colleges although they have the ability to perform. Marks, grades, percentages hardly matters to these institutions. Is this the sacredness these medical colleges are showing? (source: https://www.facebook.com/alicraj/posts/316101081829213)
And corruption is not only seen at higher levels of education like medical or engineering, in fact even if a child wants admission into a nursery school, schools demand huge amounts of bribes in the name of donation. The movie, Hindi Medium is a great portrayal of this situation.
Now coming to the recent events which involves the paper leaks. Due to these paper leaks, the 10th and 12th grade students now have to appear for a re- examination in the respective subjects of mathematics and economics. This might seem as a fair decision in a way, however, how does this promise us that the retest paper will also not be leaked? Does this mean that all the hard work the students have done for the exam is waste? What about those students who actually put their heart and soul into this exam and now they have to appear for a retest just because of a few? Why should I go through this exam once again when I was not even remotely involved in this paper leak? And this is not the first time the papers have been leaked, question paper leaks take place almost every year and there are numerous allegations regarding these, yet all these years the government remained silent. The only good thing I find in this is that the government actually agrees that a paper leak has taken place and they have at least addressed this issue at a press conference.
But the real question is, HOW DID THE PAPER LEAK TAKE PLACE? I have no answer to this but, isn't it quite obvious that it might have some internal involvement. Doesn't this clearly show, that the government employees themselves don't respect the sanctity associated with these exams, they themselves don't respect the ideals of its institution and are clearly not committed to equity and excellence in education. And how does India promise to become a super power when it wasn't even able to handle a single question paper? (source for this line: my friends instagram story). 

The worse part lies in the fact that CBSE knew about the paper leaks before the exam was even conducted. On the 24th of March the CBSE academic unit received an unaddressed envelope containing four sheets of handwritten answer papers of the class 12 Economics paper held on that day. The papers inside the envelope it was indicated that the papers were leaked and circulated through four different WhatsApp numbers (Source: Republic). This means that the CBSE was fully aware of the paper leak, yet they still didn't consider once, to even address this before the examination took place or cancel the examinations. This is a clear indication as to how our education system has degraded and has fallen to a level where it has no choice but just to be ashamed. Also, this incident can harm those students who are planning to study abroad. This is because, this incident can obviously cause all International universities to develop a negative mindset about the students coming from CBSE as they wouldn't want to case harm to their reputation. 

In conclusion I would just like to say that: This article cant do anything but raise awareness, and through this awareness we could try and bring radical reforms in this flaw-full education system. So please, share this as much as possible and don't forget the fact we still have to write those re-tests, so BEST OF LUCK! :)