Under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, a District Education Officer can impose fine on any school running without government approval. Surajmal University is a private institution established in Kichha, 12 km from Rudrapur, the district headquarter of Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand. Like most private educational institutions this one too has been built by moneyed people with the intention of making more money from it. Among other courses the university offers B.Sc. Nursing and General Nursing and Midwifery which are respectively 4 and 3 years duration. When the first batch of GNM graduated they discovered that their degree was not recognized by Indian Nursing Council, as any nursing courses ought to be. The B.Sc. Nursing students soon realised that they too were in the same boat and faced a bleak future. Who would hire them without a recognised degree? The website of the university says INC Suitability Approval for the above-mentioned two courses, whatever that means. The University is obviously misleading the students and parents, who are paying heavy fees here, either from their hard earned income or in some cases by taking loans. The fees for B.Sc. Nursing course is over Rs. 1 lakh per annum. A primary school cannot function without government approval and here we’ve a university running courses without approval.

The students have been protesting outside the university main gate for about a month now. After the police trying to browbeat them initially, the District Magistrate of Udham Singh Nagar submitted an enquiry report on 4 August to the State government, which has finally woken up in an atmosphere where a vibrant movement is going on throughout the country for reforms in education system. The Deputy Secretary, Medical Health and Medical Education of Uttarakhand Government has issued a show cause notice to the Surajmal University on 19 August. It has been asked to explain why its Essentiality Certificate should not be annulled in light of the violations of established norms of INC. The University has been asked to put on hold admissions for the next academic year. Now it appears that some action might be taken against the University but what will happen to the students who have graduated, are about to graduate and are still enrolled in the University is not clear? It is only hoped that the government will work out a solution which will save the careers of students by either enrolling them in some other university or taking over the university and setting things right.

The state of affairs in the field of education, in general, if we leave out the elite institutions of the country, is pretty bad. Education is a farce in a normal school or college or even university. Collectively the teachers, management and education department officials have let down the students badly. Teaching is only for namesake, if the institution is lucky to have teachers, students are disoriented, unfair means are rampantly used during examinations. When the student hasn’t been taught he has no option but to copy. External examiners will take money to award marks to students. Education, thy name is corruption. Private universities are established by an Act of Legislature. In the pre-BJP days tens of crores of rupees were paid to the functionaries of the government to get this Act passed. Presently the rate might by hundreds of crores of rupees. The Governors of the state are known to take few crores to appoint Vice Chancellors. And this payment is not one time. After getting appointed the VCs are supposed to keep siphoning off the money from universities to the Governor’s coffers. A well oiled machinery is in place to keep the ruling party going, In the BJP regime scale of things has magnified. Every possible source of revenue is being exploited. Even the Ram temple in Ayodhya was not spared.

In the era of Privatisation, Liberalisation and Globalisation it was thought that answer to the corrupt government run education system would be setting up of private educational institutions. But private institutions have proved to be worse. A government run system can be at least held accountable. But in a private institution one doesn’t know who to hold accountable because the owners are sitting far away and Vice Chancellors are at best glorified clerks, often their educational qualifications being dubious.

In such a scenario where does one expect honest teaching and learning. Students are pretty much on their own. If they learn anything it is because of their own efforts. The Prime Minister of this country is the best example of a product of our corrupt education system. He is often ridiculed for his fake degree and marksheets. But he is not an exception. He is just one of the many who have completed the formality of going through a system which just ensures a degree without any teaching-learning taking place.

And when such people sit in responsible positions of power they replicate what they have been through. It is no wonder that under the current PM the governance has become a farce, institutions have lost meaning and corruption has risen many times. In the corrupt education system you can buy degrees and certificates. The you learn that you can virtually buy anything with money – MLAs, MPs, even governments, officials, judiciary and so on. This art was taken to a climax when a judgement was bought in the United States for PMs best crony capitalist Adani.

There is really no hope from our current education system which is gamed to not produce innovators but only mediocre. The movement undertaken by Cockroach Janata Party which was launched on the question of paper leak in NEET has now expanded to broader education reforms. But so far the focus is on infrastructure. The more difficult task would be to get the teachers to take their job honestly so that there is some quality in our education programme when actual learning takes place. And learning comes with certain values. Those values can be inculcated only if the teachers start practising them. That is where the real catch is. Will the teachers, who are a product of a corrupt system, be able to change their basic character instantly and becomes the inspirational quintessential gurus?

By Sandeep Pandey
Phone: 0522-2355978, 3564437
Email: ashaashram@yahoo.com

Note: Writer is Secretary General, Socialist Party (India).