The irony could not have been more pro-found. Recently, the third time elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inaugurating the finally refurbished Nalanda University in Bihar, which is believed to be the best symbol of Indian educational excellence rooted in ancient era. But around the same time, the NEET scam broke out which has jeopardised the future of 2.4 million students across the country. The question paper leak, many consider, a permanent factor of most of the competitive exams in the country, reflecting the deep-seated rot in the system. However, it has garnered angry response from all quarters and the Opposition (with better numerical strength this time) seems to have found a fertile issue just at the beginning of the new parliamentary session to embarrass the government.
Quite expectedly, while the NEET scam has triggered a new tug of political war, the real issues are serious in nature and can’t be ignored any longer, considering the broader growth and development agenda of the government. The current admission structure for higher education (engineering, medical and other streams) is full of inherent flaws, which need to be fixed with uttermost urgency.
It really baffles many a bright mind that the country is pursuing a ‘one nation, one examination’ policy, when this is not a norm in any other major countries. The admission process for higher education is mostly conducted by institutes themselves in the developed countries or local governments. Then what is the merit of this centralised system, which promises to respond to the aspirations of a huge volume of students? With education being a state subject, curtailing their larger involvement in running their own institutes does not seem to be logical and goes against the spirit of federalism. Not surprisingly, states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been opposing the common entrance exams con-ducted by Central agencies. Some of the leading private institutes also conduct their own tests but many educationists believe those are meant more to prove their premier positioning in the market than with any serious intent to promote the talent pool for the future.
The list of structural flaws in the prevailing system is too long. There are serious arguments whether this general marking or grading system really helps in helping the youths to move in their chosen direction. You will come across instances where, say, the admission process in a particular stream concluded at a certain percentage. But does it ensure that the candidates who just missed that mark by a whisker (there will be thousands of them at every stage) will have enough options out in the marketplace? Or will he be forced to opt for something which is not in alignment with his future plans? Our current system is such that we often fail to take note of such micro points as its prime focus seems to create a few success stories at the expense of a larger disappointed breed.
The government, since its first tenure, has been quite used to tom-tom about demo-graphic dividend as one of the key USP of the country. At a time when the average age in most of the countries is on the rise due to strict population control in the past, India with its dominant younger population brigade was supposed to be in an advantageous position to further its growth in the coming decades. One of the critical problems which the country has faced in higher education sphere is low enrolment. That is why the New Education Policy was launched in 2020, which entails taking the enrollment ratio to 50 per cent (two out of four youths) by 2030, as against a disappointing 25 per cent base, when the policy was initiated. And to achieve this, one of the key measures announced was facilitating gradual seat addition by the existing institutes and encouraging them to eventually assume the character of multi-disciplinary institutes.
While these measures may have the right intentions, they are unlikely to produce the desired results if the government fails to address the existing rot, which surfaces every now and then. And it can’t run away from its share of blame since it has been in power for the last 10 years. The NEET scam certainly begs a serious rethink on the entire gamut of common entrance exams model in the country. Merely making stringent laws for those involved in paper leaks can hardly be looked at as a permanent panacea. There is a set of measures which will be needed to fix the rot including making the entire process more participative for other stakeholders. Instances like NEET scam are just counter-productive to that grand demo-graphic dividend dream and, if left untreated, it could deliver disastrous social results.