Wednesday, March 17, 2010

'Cog'nitive Abilities

There is a certain static, a buzz in the air during examinations in this state which is second only to the election fever which grips everyone during assembly and general election.Not surprising since we are talking of the most politically volatile State with a defunct education system.Fortunately the present government has been proactive and are taking desperate measures to revamp the system.
Till a few years back, those assigned with invigilation duty were sent off by a tearful family with instructions that 'life comes before duty'.A similar scenario was witnessed in the household of an officer assigned on election duty when the family went into mourning and neighbours got together for a preemptive condolence session!
However ludicrous it may sound i am just stating facts.Over the years i have heard appalling tales of mass 'cogging'.The wards of the examinees burnt the midnight oil practicing the art of almost writing on rice and ensured that their loved ones were not taxed and got a goodnights sleep.More audacious ones sat next to the candidates armed with weapons and books to help them through the farce called 'board examinations'.There are unrecognized colleges without a faculty that enroll the students and then send them to a local recognized college to attend classes!!There have been incidents of an SP being taken to task as his wife had acquired a degree from the local university without taking exams as also a prominent citizen arrested and put behind bars for printing fake degrees at his brothers' printing press!!(They were not caught by vigilant authorities but were booked due to personal and politically motivated vendetta!)
There are reforms being made now.All the teachers employed by the state government face termination if they are not present to take the classes and cheating is now a criminal offence in the State!This has resulted in a certain tragic hilarity..I have a friend who has been teaching English for over two decades lamenting that she remained exhausted as she had to be in college from 10am to 4pm.I was once completely distressed to see that my drivers son had failed his inter exam,when i expressed my displeasure the driver told me it was not the sons fault it was because he was not allowed to cheat! A couple of years back i heard gunshots from a leading college which is located right behind my house.I was told it was the parents of the students taking exams, protesting as they were not allowed to help their children!!The protest got unruly and the police had to resort to teargas and fire shots in the air to disperse the crowd.'The shot in the air' apparently fatally injured one person(a flying in rage parent, i presume!!)
Very recently ,i saw the most absurd video on a local tv channel.Brains and brawns had been replaced with acrobats and gymnasts!There were shots of two young 'spidermen' climbing three floors to throw a chit into the classroom.A young boy was running on an 8" narrow parapet of a neighbouring house with a bamboo pole with a chit stuck at the forked end. After strategically placing himself in front of the assigned window he tapped the pole and someone from inside extricated the slip of paper!!!
Is there no way to change the mindset of these people, to let them know that rather than risking their life and limb or go to juvenile prisons it requires just a little effort to sit and study, take exams but most imporatantly to make them aware of the true meaning of education!!

3 comments:

  1. Could not agree more with the last line of your post!!! did not realize how intense the board examinations were in India.......!!

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  2. Shubh, This is not just the case with Bihar but the rest of the country as well. We have now come to a stage where we consider cheating and corruption as our birthrights. Very soon you will find them included in the Fundamental Rights of our esteemed constitution. Who wants to work hard when you can have it easy by cheating and being corrupt?

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  3. Its SAD but true, is it really their fault-they also want to MAKE it. the long mis-administration is resp for this state. and things are getting worse everyday, we have adopted a primary school in a village behind our factory and the students-from classes 1 to 5 cannot even recognize the alphabet, they just copy everything from the 'shyampat'(blackboard).

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