FORCE FEEDING: The whole of the country will now become like Kota in Rajasthan which has the largest number of coaching classes for all competitive exams.

By Rajan Narayan

The down grading of the value of secondary and higher secondary exam results and the introduction of CUET has destroyed the education system in the country. It has reduced all students and particularly in the secondary level schools to standard agniveer.

THE newly introduced Central University Test Exam for admission to the Central universities in the country has destroyed the traditional educational system at secondary and higher secondary level. Unlike in the past little importance is given to the marks obtained by students in the secondary and the higher secondary exams. To get admission to universities and even appear for competitive exams like national eligibility test for medicine and the counterpart for engineering courses, you need to have only 50% in your higher secondary.
With the quality of assessment having gone down and boards competing with each other to inflate results, almost everybody gets 50%. It is only since 2000 that we have seen students getting 100% and 99% in their higher secondary school (HSSC).
The primary goal of most parents — if not students — is to become doctors and engineers, particularly in information technology (IT). To get into medicine or into engineering you need to get a minimum of 90% in higher secondary. Absurdly, even to get into the commerce stream in the prestigious colleges anywhere in the country including Goa, the cut off percentage is over 98%.

ABSURDITIES & WASTE
THOSE who want to prepare for the test for entrance to medical colleges and the IITs need to primarily get very high percentage of marks in physics, chemistry and biology. In the case of engineering students they have to get over 90% marks in physics and maths. For medicine they have to get an equally absurdly high percentage in physics, chemistry and biology.
So why waste the time of the students on other subjects like languages, social science and if the government of the day has its way, the Hindutva version of history which will prove that an ancient Hindu godman invented the Pythogares theorem which is the foundation of geometry and trinometry.
The downgrading of the SSC and HSSC and equivalents CBSE and ISE is seeing a flood of students leaving the established schools. Even prestigious schools like People’s High School and Don Bosco High School are witnessing mass exodus of students. For ambitious parents the goal of getting into medicine and engineering is more important than a general liberal education.

INSTITUTION TO COACHING
THE object of schooling has changed from an institution, which develops the personality of students with extracurricular activities and interacting with each other, and expanding knowledge by interaction with each other and the teachers. Now students have started shifting to coaching classes and for 18 hours a day they will sit down to mug physics formula, chemical experiments and mathematical equations.
There is nothing new about this pandemic of students flooding to coaching classes. But at least until recently till CUET was introduced they waited to finish 12th standard before joining coaching classes. The only industry in Kota in Rajasthan are coaching classes and hostels for students. Each of this coaching classes boast that they have sent thousands of students to IITs and medical colleges. This reduces the students to robots. Some of them who were bright anyway might pass the national eligibility test for medicine and IITG for entrance to the prestigious IIT. But the majority of them just waste their parent’s money and there have been many cases of suicides of students who could not take the pressure.
The demolition of schools as an institution will convert India into a land of agniveer just as those who enroll in the agnipath scheme of the Modi government will become soldiers of the Sangh Parivar; similarly, students who drop out of schools and join coaching classes will become parrots.
We have witnessed the effect of the neglect of general education. In any professional branch communication skills are as important as domain knowledge. We were quite shocked when a senior software engineer, who is the product of coaching classes, referred to an unmarried lady as a bachelor and not as a spinster which is the correct word.

FUTURE MORONS
AS you climb the ladder you need to be able to lead a team and for this you need to be good in languages and communication. Even more importantly schools offer you the interactive atmosphere where you can learn how to become friends and develop leadership qualities. However commendable the intension of CUET may be it will reduce India into a land of semi-literate morons who would not know anything beyond the technical skills they have acquired.
For instance, somebody who has specialized only in maintenance and repair of air-conditioners, and not bothered to learn history and geography and various languages, will be like horses with blinkers and will be able to go only in one direction that is pointed out to them.