Naked Truth

Can academics deny following stark realities?

· Mass copying is of common occurrence in examinations in rural areas. Girls do not lag behind in copying at the examinations. Invigilators/Supervisors and the College Management, frequently, ignore or at times support copying at examinations with a view to getting better results of their colleges.

· Many rich students of professional colleges, without actually working on the assigned Projects, purchase ready-made Project Reports.

· In few Universities, there are agents who manage to prepare, at a price, a Ph.D. thesis for a Ph.D. student and who further manage Referees also to clear Ph.D. degree of a student, again at a price.

· Data in many Ph.D. theses is imaginary, incorrect, manipulated, false and flawed.

· Many Diploma and Certificate Courses of the Universities do not impart real substance to the students. They are in fact hollow in delivery of knowledge and skill. The students obtain these diplomas just to add one more tag of diploma to their existing degrees to make the suffix of degrees more decorative.

· Principal of a college may not hesitate or feel shameful to ask his subordinate lecturer to favour a student, who may be Principal’s relative or close acquaintance, by giving him more marks sufficient to pass or to get first class in the University examination. Code Number assigned by the University to the answer-paper of such student can be decoded without much difficulty, if one has proper connections with the University staff.

· Local Inquiry Committees (for recommending granting or continuation of affiliation of colleges) of few Universities have become additional source of earning for the teaching staff. Members of Local Inquiry Committees are commonly given money packets during their visits to colleges!

· Members of the Professional Bodies, while inspecting professional colleges, for granting new college or continuing its affiliation reap profits like anything. The members of the inspection committee can be managed easily by better hospitality and handsome bribe.

· Appointment of Teaching or Non-teaching staff is rarely on the basis of merit. Nepotism and corruption is common. For being appointed as a lecturer, clerk, peon price tags are fixed by many educational institutions. For the selection of Principal of a college as well as Vice-Chancellor of a University, same thing may happen. Religion and caste considerations of the candidates do matter in selection for the post. There can be negotiation also for the price. Many a times, interview is an eye-wash and a farce, as candidate to be selected is already fixed; and interview becomes only a necessary ritual to be completed for procedural requirements of the University.

· Many lecturers fail to complete the assigned syllabus by the end of the academic year. Many lecturers instead of delivering lectures give dictation in the class.

· Lecturers while assessing answer papers hurriedly go on tick marking each page of answer paper. They do not read, and cannot read because of the time constraint, even 10 percent of the text in the answer paper. The students believe that the examiner gives more marks if there are more supplements to the answer paper. Many students with a view to increasing the bulk of the answer paper do a trick; they write only three or four words in one line, put unreasonably large margins on all four sides, keep many lines blank, write in bigger size handwriting and thus artificially swell the size of the answer papers. The students sarcastically say that the University keeps weighing machine and marks are assigned on the basis of the weight of the answer-paper, rather than on the basis of its contents.

· Few educational institutions, to attract the students and to increase the strength of the students for admission, give assurance to them that the institution will see that they will pass in the examination or will get B+ at post graduate examination. Unhealthy competition!

· Full time Teaching Staff in majority of non-grantable colleges is paid monthly remuneration of Rs. 5000 i.e. less than minimum wages payable to unskilled worker.

· Qualification of ‘Ph.D. Degree and fifteen years teaching experience’ for the post of Principal/Director of a college is of secondary importance. His Primary and more important qualification is he should be pliable and yielding to the Management in implementing all fair and foul, regular and irregular decisions of the Management.

· In working of the University, many irregularities are committed unknowingly and sometimes knowingly also, to favour or disfavour somebody. Statutes, Regulations, Rules are frequently flouted ignorantly or consciously by the vested interests.

· Examination system of the University has lost its credibility and has become a hub of mistakes. Hall Tickets (Admit Card), at times, include subjects which students have cleared and do not include subjects for which they are appearing; wrong centre, mistakes in names are of frequent occurrence. Many funny things happen in the examination section of the University. A student who did not appear for the examination is declared ‘pass’; a student who appeared for the examination is declared ‘absent’. Marks of one student are mistakenly transferred to another student. Packets of Question Papers may not contain the same Papers inside and create the problem at the time of commencement of examination. Delay in declaration of results due to various reasons is not uncommon. If students commit malpractice at the examination they are punished, if paper-setters or examiners commit mistakes in their work, they are penalised; but for all these innumerable mistakes of the University staff, neither members of the staff, nor Controller of Examination seems to be accountable or ever known to be penalised. May be, the University Act grants total immunity to them!

· Barring few Institutions, Educational Institutions, in general, have become commercialised in their approach. Their ‘Vision and Mission’ statement is simply a camouflage.