the indian education rift

i wrote this piece a year back,...but i was not one of those bloggers then,...but now tat i do have this piece, i thot y not publish it,....

privileged becomes underprivileged

The arrogance shown by the UPA government in implementing 27%quota for OBC in indeed a sad story. The medical students' o AIIMS continuing their hunger strike is worse, especially now that all hopes have faded and government is giving deaf ears to thousands of students. What the agitating students should realize is that the government is now a 2yr old child and can only think and act like one.

The bill on reservation was passed in the parliament after independence and DR Ambedkar had made it clear that it should be repealed after 50yrs. Now, even after 60yrs, nothing has changed. The underprivileged are now the privileged enjoying quotas and reservations right from the moment he/she is born.

Seats are reserved for them in central and state schools, yes primary education is everyone's birth right. Free secondary education is also given to the same underprivileged irrespective of the marks, when thousands of students securing over 90%marks were thrown out of these central institutes saying that they can still study in other private schools. What if a student of general category is from a poor background? What if the so called underprivileged were financially secure? Is that what DR Ambedkar and Chacha Nehru wanted in India??

Now a student of engineering, I vividly remember what a nightmare my Std 12 was, round the clock training for the entrance exams, constant tuition calls, and those sleepless nights during my exams. It was hard work and it paid off well, as I secured a score good enough to get an admission in a premier institute in my state. I am now studying in a class, with half the seats reserved for SC/ST/OBC, i.e., students standing thousands of ranks behind me. I wonder why I went through all the trouble to get this seat, when all I wanted was an SC/ST/OBC certificate. Why did my life, and also of thousands of general category students, have to go through hell, when the underprivileged were complacent enough to do badly in the exams and still get away with all privileges.

In college, not only are the reserved category given free education, but also get to pocket handful of money in the name of stipend. Their hostel fees and mess fees are also lifted. Does the government ever care to look into the background of these students? If they did, they would find businessmen, politicians, IPS and IAS officers, as their parents. Government is investing crores of rupees on these reserved seats. Do they ever check how this investment is utilized? An alarmingly major chunk of the investments is being thrown into the water, with these students registering back-logs, arrears and also encountering year outs, where you lose a year. They still don't bat an eyelid, why??? Because there is reservation for government jobs.

This viscous circle on India education has been eating off the heads of general category students for the past 60years and only a few chosen institutes had closed the door on quota. Now the government wants them to open this door to what can be termed as plague. The UPA government says that the standard of education will not go down the drain, WONT THEY??? The UPA government says that with reservation only will India develop, WILL WE??? If the underprivileged are given free secondary education along with the general category students, then why in gods name do they need reservation in colleges???

Maybe the government should now implement quotas for Cabinet Ministers, Prime Minister, and the President. Maybe the government should make reservations in India Cricket team, the athletic team, after all the underprivileged also need to make it in the international arena of games. May be I should have been born to an underprivileged family so that I could live a privileged life….