Cut off from education

The hundred per cent alarm has given everyone a rude wake-up call. There is a very thin line between being educated and uneducated.

A thin margin? Photo: S. Abishek, Christ University

The Delhi University cut off list is very bizarre and has taken the student fraternity by surprise. Scores that were once considered to be extremely high now seem to be no good. High cut offs imply that years after, a student who has scored the required marks to be eligible for a course will be a leader in his field he opts for.

Trend defying

But this defies the general trend that has been seen, for these high scores are more a result of a momentary spell of concentration and hard work of three months, rather than being a consequence of a whole year study. Also, a child who has scored incredibly high marks need not have understood the concepts and have developed a deeply innovative mind, but might have just mastered the technique of “cracking” the examination and writing answers according to pre-decided guidelines to impress examiners.

We should keep in mind that a very objective marking scheme ends up doing just the opposite of what it is meant to do. Our education system deals with a population where the gap between the haves and the haves-not is gaping wide. Both a poor child, who cannot afford admission into an expensive coaching institute and take tuitions and goes to a government school and a rich student, who has inputs from not only his school but also from his tuitions will take the same examination. The former will definitely not be able to write answers as good as those written by his richer counterpart. As a result of which the poor child will have far fewer chances of getting a 90 per cent, and even lesser chances of getting admission into a good university. Therefore, the objective marking system makes the people who have few opportunities even more disadvantaged, and is not suited in, at least, our country.

Tapping every resource

Moreover, India is a resource-deficient country and needs to use every person available. Only a few students finding themselves eligible for a particular course they like, or are compelled to study, sends the message that students who have scored only a few percents less than the required score are as good as uneducated.

Therefore, we must tap into every mind, considering each one as a resource, so that the person can devote his ideas, however small it may be, to the country's development. India, thus, at this stage, cannot afford to “selectively discard” students, considering the huge brain drain in our country.