Difficult questions for our difficult times!
This must be the stuff of our education!
What are the short and long-term hopes and fears?
There are not many happy thoughts when it comes to Indian education. There is this latest news our readers must have read. An estimated 1.11 lakh Indians have surrendered their passports to the American authorities during the last two years.Is this not a happy news? Or,what do our countrymen think?
The latest news item is that the latest development is the American authorities have also relieved the in-person interviews for granting visas. For the much coveted H1B Visas that is the ultimate desire and dreams of hundreds, why thousands of Indians! So, all the sections of the classes, the rich, poor and the not so poor middle and the wide variety of OBC classes are now at the forefront of politics and whatever be the claims and counterclaims, are we democracy or what other shades of elected autocracy and whatever one calls their favorite political ideology, the total end result is that we, Indian citizens, all aspire to migrate to the American shores once the chance comes.
So, what sort of a social dream we have is citizens of India whose many major claims you can leave to our politicians who in their wisdom don’t bother to make promises and other claims for immediate disclaims! They say they have educational dreams for our children.
Such emergence of private education mafia has constructed even wider claims to make our children to reach the top that is still seeking some sort of entry into the class one careers, the IAS,IFS and other such all Indian services. Not to be left behind the State governments have their own State level public service commissions whose annual exams is another dream journey for hundreds and even thousands of students.
There starts the downgrade! For preparing for the State-level exams there are now the much disgusting psycophantic textbook publishers. In one state at least. There is a racket of sorts, from publishers and text book compilers whose aim is to win the publishing contract. That means again another racket, compiling ancient glories of the State’s one language history books!
By reading and writing the mother tongue only education what sort of candidates you turn out? Who cares?
Education context has now become a political game of sorts. From NEET to other, exams casualty is the true knowledge.Where are the growths in sciences and history studies, world history and many other social and physical and biological sciences?
What about the new sciences, the launching of telescopes and other outer space adventures and the exploration of the human spirit? Again, our answer or question is: Who cares?
So, education has become the biggest casualty of our current obsession for tuition-drivers education, aspiration for immediate migration to the USA and also the obsession for passing the many competitive education! All the trends have one thing in common. That is what we all hope for in education, a good society, an enlightened way of life based on truth, honesty and good conduct etc. So, there is a deep need for inter-search on the part of the enlightened society, we mean of course first the politician class and then the money making class and later the class that has no stake, direct stake in making these progressive outlook come into play! If all the medical doctors migrate, the 38 % are doctors who are based in the USA.May be more percentage in the UK where the National Health Service will collapse once the Indian health hands emigrate!
The very health minister now is an original Pakistani and so too other Indian original’s end up being high profile ministers. Indians are heavily concentrated in the IT industry, 34% in Microsoft alone, another 36% in NASA, 28% in IBMA dozen of the very highly qualified are managing 20% of American wealth, 9 billion dollars is not a small amount of money!
My argument is not for prohibiting the Indian migration. Migration is now an international phenomenon. Not this migration question is to go away from our concerns. Rather everyday we read how many helpless migrants from many unfortunate countries get themselves caught by their other countries’ border police and find themselves jailed and also face nature’s wrath of getting drowned! So unfortunate!
Unless every educationist of some honor and self-respect has to first ask some uncomfortable questions!
Unless any education reform report for the country has to also ask some other, equally unavoidable realities of our present other uncomfortable questions! That is none other than what is agitating the current world leaders. The planetary future of our generation and the next and following generations. The deterioration of our environment, climate change and the water and sea levels rise etc. Unless you ask some hard questions about our future, then what is the goal of our education, competitive education and exams and the narrow aspirations. Otherwise, why do our IAS office aspirants leave their jobs and become political aspirants. See the many high offices like Governors and other jobs are within the aspirations of Tom, Dick and Harry!
Let educators, and high ranking politicians, why the otherwise bold and yet timid public intellectuals, please think and ponder over such difficult questions for the difficult times!