Dear Readers:This post is published on the site ''News that Matters Not".
"Apart from the top 20% of students who crack the tough IIT entrance examination and can "stand among the best anywhere in the world," quality of the remaining 80 per cent of students leave much to be desired,"
"Apart from the top 20% of students who crack the tough IIT entrance examination and can "stand among the best anywhere in the world," quality of the remaining 80 per cent of students leave much to be desired,"
This statement came from Infosys'
chairman emeritus, Mr. N.R.Narayan Murthy, and was received with a thundering
applause by a Pan IIT audience. The first thing which struck me was if not in
IIT's, where are these bright minds, as referred to by Mr. Murthy
going..?It further intrigued me that what suddenly made him come up with such a
'sweepingly high handed' remark. After much pondering I contemplated that the
number of IITians joining Infosys must have been considerably rising..:P
On a serious note, according to
Mr. Murthy, the mushrooming of coaching institutes is a deterrent to the
quality of students qualifying for arguably the toughest exam in the world. But,
I would like to ask him a question, ‘Do you think the current curriculum
followed in any of the higher secondary boards sufficient to crack JEE?’ The
students go to the coaching institutes because they produce results and they
are pretty much visible. As they say seeing is believing. As a matter of fact 95% of the students clearing the
JEE have reportedly been taking coaching in some form or the other. I believe there is nothing wrong in
it, obviously if one strives to be among the best he would not care for the
means, and he shouldn’t either. With the framework of the education system
entirely dependent on rote learning, there is no way one can have the cutting
edge without some extra guidance. Ultimately it all comes down to the vicious
circle of the education system, coaching industry and the Joint Entrance Examination,
with the IITians becoming a soft target now and then, more so, in the recent
past.
My point here is that why take a dig on
the students, rather than doing something to restructure the current education
system to prevent the so-called influence of the coaching "mandis" like Kota, who just help the so-called not-so-good students with
the so-called pattern recognition techniques and make them clear the exam. On
the retrospect I believe even if such not-so-good students are able to clear
this exam they are probably much smarter than the bright kids and are able to
find the loopholes in the system, optimize their efforts accordingly and cash
on it..! Why make a fuss over it…??Don’t we believe in getting the smart people
on the table!! I know it sounds a bit rhetorical but then, do spare a thought.
Good research in India is as scarce
as hen’s teeth and in this context I would like to put this question to Mr.
Murthy, an IIT alumnus himself, why don’t you come forward and invest in
quality research. Why do you need to ask the government to fund it? When you
are setting your sight on making the quality of research in India at par with the MIT’s
and the Harvard’s, why don’t you yourself take a stand as the Googles and the Microsofts?? Moreover in India a PhD. student is looked down upon by the
undergraduates and most corporate do not even recruit them. How are you possibly
going to change this prejudiced mindset, another impediment to quality research work in
our country?
Some understandings I generated for the falling standards
are: the increased quota system (I didn’t want to bring it here, but then
had to), the no. of attempts for JEE going down to 2, since 2006, the
increasing number of IIT’s, the decreasing number of world class faculties, all lend a hand to the declining standards of IIT, but the bottom line is: Come what may, they are
still the best!
All said and done, I want to know
why Chetan Bhagat (another IIT alumnus…sigh,,!) cannot mind his own business (if
at all he has any) and has to poke his nose in every other news relating to
IIT, a publicity stunt?? I hope not, but sounds very probable considering his
new book release was on the cards. I just hope he doesn’t sit down on a fast (which
seems to be the coolest thing today) next time someone takes the IITians to
task! After all, after Sex and SRK, the new phrase is Sex and IIT’s sell. On
the hindsight I also expected Mr. Jairam Ramesh to come up with furore against
Mr. Murthy, but sadly he did not.
Finally, a man of the stature of Mr.
Murthy, having all the resources at his behest, should probably come up with
measures to ensure that only the best passes through this filter of JEE, and
rather than demeaning the efforts of the 17-18 year old kids, should be focusing
his energies on nurturing these minds to put India higher on the global map.
Signing off,
A non-IITian, who would have liked
to be in an IIT, even if it meant to be a part of the remaining 80%.
P.S: I just hope CB doesn't come up with a loooooooong post in this Sunday's TOI editorial.
P.S: I just hope CB doesn't come up with a loooooooong post in this Sunday's TOI editorial.
