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The catastrophe was a long time coming. The RSS had taken the reins of the education infrastructure in its own hand unabashedly to push its own agenda. Pro-Hindutva faculties were foisted on top universities. These institutions, who should ideally be centres of new path-breaking ideas, were told to shut their mouths and numb their brains. They were asked to push just one agenda— “Hindutva is the greatest spiritual idea of mankind that would lit the path of this cured world out of darkness.” Academic freedom, independent research and revolutionary ideas were either curbed or coerced into silence. It was Jai Sriram everywhere, 24X7.
The leadership conveniently avoided three important questions.
Why are Indian students rushing to study abroad in ever-increasing numbers year after year?
Why do Indian universities fail to find a place in the top 200 universities of the world?
Why is unemployment such a burning issue today when employers complain that they don’t get enough trained and skilled workers to recruit in their organisation?
How many ministers think about such issues? Their children make their ways to universities abroad, but the sons and daughters of middle-class Indians study in schools and colleges that present a dismal picture, half-empty faculty positions, zero research, a compromised examination system, and a forced revision of textbooks to keep the Hindutva flag aflutter.
We have a brand new cabinet where as many as 19 ministers have serious criminal cases against them. From molestation of women to attempts to murder, these 19 ministers are veterans of the criminal world, not of the intellectual world. But, their saffron clothes and their strident hate speeches help them to get the coveted cabinet berths. Under such a vitiated atmosphere, where moral values are given short shrift so blatantly, can true education flourish?
The NTA chief has just been shown the door. The soaring public anger forced the government to take the belated action. It would be naïve to expect that the loss of integrity of the NTA triggered any soul-searching by the top government leaders. For them, anything that affects their vote bank is far more important than having a robust examination system and a vibrant ecosystem of new knowledge acquisition through research and experimentation. Hindutva is a monolithic thought that strangles freewheeling minds and academic argumentation. Under the present dispensation, anything not in line with Hindutva ideology is anathema to national interest.
We got swayed by the senseless bluster spiced up by tall promises of our top leaders and chose to turn a blind eye to the creeping degeneration of our entrenched commitment to academic freedom. Increasing numbers of RSS-approved professors now enter our top universities. These professors who willingly push the RSS agenda deprave our academia. We now have a system where Darwin is treated as irrelevant because our Puranas don’t mention him. Such has been our regression under a leadership that boasts of making us a world leader, a Viswaguru.
There is nothing to be gained through such lamentation. We need to fearlessly try to reinvigorate our schools, colleges and universities to restore their credibility in the world stage.
Let’s not grudge the politicians who send their children to Ivy colleges abroad with money stolen from public coffers. Instead, let’s try out this acid test to show the mirror to our central and state ministers who boast about their governments’ stellar records in the field of education.
When any of these ministers happen to be in our midst, let’s escort them to our schools or colleges and conduct a quiz of the students with a set of questions such as these sample quiz questions.
Name three renowned social reformers of your state, living or dead.
Name three eminent writers and poets of your state and cite just one book written by each of them.
Who is C. V. Raman and why did he get the Nobel Prize?
Who is Karl Marx?
The results of the quiz will expose the utter bankruptcy of our education system. The pitiable results of the test will open the eyes of the visiting ministers. They will make a quick exit and the TV channels will completely wipe out the footage. For the right-thinking, patriotic Indian, such a simple on-field exercise will provide food for thought.
So, what’s the remedy? More of saffron or more of soul-searching? The answer is so simple. Right from Class 1, till the PG level, these points should be at the top of the agenda.
How to provide top-quality education with the help of top-quality teachers?
How to ensure every boy and girl of the community attends school?
How to ensure every student gets to eat a nutritious meal and a snack in the school / college?
How to provide the best laboratories and libraries in the institutions?
How to instil pride in the minds of the students about their states’ unique heritage and history that contributed to India’s rich culture?
No doubt, such a mind-boggling makeover will need a humongous capital outlay. More than that, it will require enormous willpower and tireless effort, almost like a campaign.
A visionary leader who embarks upon such a nation-building venture will write his name in the sands of time. To retain power, he doesn’t have to browbeat the opposition through coercion and intimidation. The law courts and the government agencies will have more time to do their assigned duties. In just a decade or two, India will emerge as the true Viswaguru, not a self-styled one.
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