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Unit 7: Essay Writing (Short Essays)

Whatever be the various flaws in the inherited educational system in India, the number of universities Notes
and colleges have, undoubtedly, increased since independence. In the year 2002, there were 291
university-level institutions in India (including 70 deemed universities). Of these 17 were central
universities, 162 traditional universities while the others were professional/ technical institutions.
Of these, 40 provide education in agriculture, including forestry, dairy, fisheries and veterinary science,
18 in medicine, 33 in engineering and technology, and 3 in information technology. The total number
of colleges in the country was 12,342, including 1,525 women’s colleges.
The pressure of the educational system is taking its toll on the toddlers who are barely out of their
infancy. They are made to identify fruits, vegetables, animals, alphabets, numerals, etc. for admission
in kindergarten. Parents of the children are interviewed to assess their educational background and
financial stability. Once admitted to the school, children are subjected to an inhumanly gruelling
academic schedule; huge and largely irrelevant syllabus; over worked, underpaid and unsympathetic
teachers and emphasis on competition, rather than cooperation as a result of which they are unable
to enjoy their childhood. The students learn their lessons by rote, without straining their grey cells.
There is a domination of textual knowledge in the educational system. The students do not participate
in the practical application of knowledge. Maulana Azad had once observed that “there is no
adjustment between the system of our education and the needs of our life.” The curricula adhered to
by the system, find little or no application, in the practical life of the people.
The exam-oriented system judges the student on the basis of his performance in the annual examination
held at the end of every session. The marks mania drives every teacher and every parent to expect the
very best from every student, 90 per cent or above. Difference of a few per cent categorizes a brilliant
student as mediocre, if he could not perform well in exams for some reasons. Parental and peer
pressure to secure good percentage for entry into prestigious colleges and courses hinders the proper
development of the child.
Admission in a good college is a herculean task. The applicants are many but colleges have limited
seats for various courses, and hence, cut off percentage for admission is high. Some colleges have a
limited sports or extra-curricular quota, but this is used mainly to secure back-door entry for favoured
candidates. Colleges have reservation of seats for various special categories, like Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes, etc. Applicants belonging to such categories are able to secure admission at
comparatively low percentages. Capitation fee, though banned, is charged by the colleges which at
times sidelines the deserving students. Dealing with the menace of capitation fees, the Supreme
Court on 14th August, 2003 ruled that no professional institution can charge capitation fees from
students seeking admission. The Bench said, “Governments should consider framing appropriate
regulations and cancel the recognition as well as the affiliation given to a professional college if it is
found charging capitation fees or indulging in profiteering.” This ruling has affected the engineering,
medical, architecture and management colleges mainly in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The court also said that private, unaided or minority institutions imparting technical or medical
education could decide their own fee structure which must be scrutinised by a committee headed by
a retired high court judge in each state.
Though the university regulations require each student to have 75 per cent attendance, the fact is that
nobody observes this regulation. Reports of massive absenteeism appear in most universities as soon
as teaching begins. It is often seen that the students without attending the classes in the college opt to
go for private tuitions as a result of which the teachers in the colleges are not able to take up classes
properly. Students take up tuitions for each and every subject. This is the latest trend going on among
the students. For this kind of degradation in the educational system, some of the teachers too are
responsible. The standard of teaching is deteriorating day by day and the teachers encourage the
students to take up tuitions under them. Children of well to do families can afford to go in for tuitions,
but the plight’of the poor children is very sad. Education is not properly imparted in the colleges and
universities as a result of which the bright students who are poor are the worst sufferers.
The present educational system need be altered so that all children can get proper education. The
truth is that an average youngster who merely concentrates on the university course has a bleak
future as the university degree does not assure them a lucrative job. There is lack of emphasis on
vocational education. It is evident from the fact that Delhi University has a limited number of vocational
colleges and courses. A modest attempt in favour of vocationalisation was launched by the UGC

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 105