I feel sorry for the child. All she wanted was to pass in second division. She told that to her father who ensured that she came first in the subject, a subject she clearly has no idea about. I do not know what the father was up to. Did he not realize that the whole thing would blow up on their face in this era of instant sound bytes and TV hunting for stories?
I have no idea what the authorities are planning to achieve by arresting Ruby Rai. When she needs them most, her parents are on run. The Minister who wrote a big list of achievements few days back on her Facebook is silent on this issue. She can, of course, claim that education is a state subject and therefore, under the purview of the State Education Minister. Bihar is fortunately not ruled by BJP and therefore, everyone in the Center can wash their hands off.
The rot in our education system run deep and every state is in a mess. The cut-offs for admission to colleges in Delhi University are a joke. Seriously, they expect some one to get 99% in English? What kind of examination was administered that a child could score 99% in English?
But who cares? Those who can send their child abroad. Those who can't...well, do they really matter?
I have no idea what the authorities are planning to achieve by arresting Ruby Rai. When she needs them most, her parents are on run. The Minister who wrote a big list of achievements few days back on her Facebook is silent on this issue. She can, of course, claim that education is a state subject and therefore, under the purview of the State Education Minister. Bihar is fortunately not ruled by BJP and therefore, everyone in the Center can wash their hands off.
The rot in our education system run deep and every state is in a mess. The cut-offs for admission to colleges in Delhi University are a joke. Seriously, they expect some one to get 99% in English? What kind of examination was administered that a child could score 99% in English?
But who cares? Those who can send their child abroad. Those who can't...well, do they really matter?
Ruby, who?
ReplyDeleteThe rot in our education system is not a new phenomenon, Professor. The system was rotten even thirty years ago. When I applied for admission in ICT (then known as UDCT) in 1979, the cut-off for Chem Tech was 97% in physics, chemistry and maths, requiring me to settle for a BPharm seat in ICT - having missed my medical seat by one single mark, thanks to the non-BJP government that first enforced 33% reservation during that year.
Over the past three decades, the situation has of course worsened. The reasons are self-evident: (a) successive governments' refusal to control our population, except for a brief period between July 1975 to November 1977, during which period that nice non-BJP lady and her son introduced the concept of forcible vasectomy on the general population and (b) the inclusion of more and more allegedly backward communities into the reservation system in the name of social justice, with the result that in some states, reservation quotas are close to 70%.
So, in our country, if there is an entire eco-system comprising corrupt officials and school managements, criminalised tutorial colleges, touts and thugs, and enterprising parents who are happy to break the law for their children, it is not surprising.
Much too late to do anything about it. The only solution, as far as one can see, is not to have children. Or, if one insists on having children, then let them not be Brahmins.
Cheers ... SKS
(I like your blog, by the way.)
Of course the system started rotting long time back due to our short-sighted policies. I would like to believe that it is still redeemable but then I am an incurable optimist in such matters. The politicians are largely to blame for the mess but then so is the society for we are very happy to dump the government schools and colleges for the private ones. The usual comment I hear is that why should my child study with them (them of course implying the lower economic strata). The government schools, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, deteriorated over time. The same is happening to government colleges and universities.
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