SUMA RAMANNA writes from Madras: It is July again, and students and parents are busy with admissions. This time the television news channels have also joined hands; they are telecasting the “cut-off percentages” of various universities to help the students.
Watching these cut-off percentages leaves me astonished and more than a little frightened.
Because the cut-off percentages range from 89-95 per cent. I saw one parent who was upset because his child didn’t get through in the first list for BSc (maths) in spite of getting 99 out of 100 in maths, with an overall 92%.
If a student with 99 per cent in maths can’t get a maths seat, who should?
The cut-off for commerce is 95 per cent. For arts, it is 90 per cent. Yes, you read that right, 90 per cent in a subject that need requires writing skills and lengthy answers.
What kind of a joke has our education, evaluation and admission system become?
The ridiculously high cut-off percentages also prompt me to wonder whether these numbers really carry any weight. Yes, it is true that getting 92 per cent marks is not a joke but the questions dogging my mind are:
1. Do the students who secure such high marks really have in-depth knowledge or are they just being equipped to score high marks?
2. If they haven’t acquired the knowledge, is the purpose of education being served by such a lax evaluation system?
3. In a hurry to give education to all and in the name of competition are we creating just literates, not educated persons?
4. Are we not just forcing children to score more by hook or crook, thereby encouraging private tuitions and coaching classes?
5. And, above all, what hope for those who score less than these sky-high cut-off percentages?
I know that that this is a competitive world. I know that because of the exposure of modern-day youngsters, they are better equipped to score more and they are scoring more.
But I aslo feel that the existing system of examination and evaluation is creating a false, even artificial, edifice. Instead of instilling knowledge, they are only leaving our students better informed than previous generations.
And, in the process, they are giving us a false, even artificial, notion of the health of our education system.
Our PUC marks sheet were of no use after getting admission in a college (unless, of course, you wanted to join Infosys) but the pressure of scoring such high marks is really to blame for the stress that students undergo, not to speak of the suicides.
Who are we kidding with such high marks?
Is it not time to change our education, evaluation and admission system?
Convert into OBC, then no need to study hard;
you will get seats everywhere.
Thats our India; Our Governement always make such useless laws.
Our education system can put a basket of rotten eggs to shame surely.
A parody of laughable proportions, it goes on and on, churning out largely unproductive human beings who have no real aptitude for the larger aspects of life in the big bad world that they eventually face.
Percentages and percentages alone is the barometer in a stupidly illogical system of evaluation where even 99 %, as you say, is not enough.
May be 110%?
In the present education sytem which we have, it does not matter even if you score 100. You need to be “previlaged” to get a seat, even if it means you score only pass marks.
Suma,
Great piece. liked the line “If a student with 99 per cent in maths can’t get a maths seat, who should?”.
Most of today’s teachers are content with “covering” the lessons in the class rather than help assimilation by all students. It is a deliberate and calculated practice to register additional income through “private” tuition to the “inferior” students. This precious act has become so common that most of the teachers are seen running parallel establishments in their homes for several hours; here the anxious boys and girls get tied completely to books and homework, when, in fact, they should be encouraged to play games in the open!
Moreover, tuition fees are quite substantial; this burden, over and above the school fees, capitation fees, uniforms, extortions of contributions under some pretext or other from time to time, is the last straw to break the camel’s back- indeed how much are the purses of the parents stretched!
It is just an indication of how competition has increased for a limited number of seats in premier educational institutions. THere are always ‘non-premier’ educational institutions which will perhaps be willing to consider lower cut-offs, so if students are really serious about an education rather than just a job, they would consider these as well.
IT may also start a healthy trend of more students opting for different subjects and more varied courses rather than the traditional medicine/engineering (and of late, law and business management)
Such cases are common in Tamil Nadu.. a friend of mine (an Iyer from Chennai) told me of the story where the interviewers laughed at him for being a Brahmin. He subsequently did his engineering at Suratkal.
Sunaad, you have a valid point. But how do we get it into our heads that marks are not the only indication of how good (or how bad) a person is intellectually.
Alok makes a good point as well.
Is it not time to change our education, evaluation and admission system?
The system is flawed, but the fact is that we have not seen any viable alternatives to this. The number of students is huge. The number of seats is miniscule in comparison. Given the sheer scale, any in-depth criterion is hard to utilize. Hence the use of a convenient “metric” in the form of marks, and common exams.
Open more colleges/universities…or give permission to do so. Follow the simple rule of Demand/Supply. Why create an artificial demand?
And the big “bad world” doesn’t need thinkers. All it needs is sloggers, worker ants…..And India is bound to supply tonnes of them in the coming years. However “screwed up” the Indian education system is.
Reservation in Education is very old in Tamil Nadu. I am a septuagenarian
from Tamil Nadu settled down in Bangalore for the past 42 years. In our days The Reservation was introduced during the Congress Rule under the “Communal G.O.” With limited number of Educational Institutions, many Brahmin Students could not enter into Professional Courses, inspite of garnering very high marks. Most of these youngsters belong to lower middleclass families were forced to migrate to other States for jobs instead of doing their Higher Studies. Nobody took their case because Brahmins are not vote banks. But the Brahmins faced all sorts of insults patiently without a murmur all these years. Now when the time came Brahmins started migrating to Other Countries like USA, Australia, UK in large numbers, where intelligence and hard work were respected. Today
there is not a Single Brahmin family in Tamil Nadu who do not have somebody working or studying abroad. No friends, I have no regret or hatred towards anybody for all these. Because I believe there is some good in every misfortune. The’ Communal GO’ and ‘Reservations’ forced the Brahmins to come out of their Cocoon and fly out in multi Colours to the new pastures.
This issue is not of TN but of New Delhi Hindu college I don’t know whether that student was abrahmin or not but what struck me most was the issue that the student was unable to get the seat. Of course the commerce cut off is of Chennai loyola college.
i think this is not only the issue of TN or NEW Delhi but of whole nation. Let it be any community pwerson but the one who deserves should get her/his due i belive
Getting 99 in Maths and No seat? What a shame.
Ask MK or DMK or Arjun Singh, They will blame the Teacher or evaluator for giving 99!!!
Thanks for these new breed of OBC PALeGaaru, We have to migrate else where for greener pastures.
HaaLU OOrige ULdavaNe Gowda.