Peddling knowledge or marks : Shopping for students
- Sangai Express Editorial :: July 03 , 2013 -

Merchants of education or educational institutions.

It is their season, that time of the year when they come down to Manipur and of course other smaller cities or towns across the country, hawking their goods, which may be read as highlighting the quality of the faculty, the lush campus, the job placement figures, the courses offered, the hostel facilities, the performances of their students in the past, in fact all the different aspects that are associated with educational institutions.

Nothing wrong with this but the important question is, how well informed are the parents, the guardians and the students in making their choices.

This poser is all that more important in the face of the growing trend where education is increasingly being packaged along the line of commercial commodities.

This is not to write off the credentials of the institutions which come to town, but it never hurts to be extra careful and be in the position to make informed choices.

With a number of dubious characters entering the fray and reducing education to the status of a commercial commodity, the need for the parents, guardians and the students to be well informed and be aware of the happenings around the world and the country cannot be overemphasised.

Things have taken such a nasty turn that it is no longer a question of just landing at a below par institution or shelling out more money than necessary, but also about students ending up with fake certificates, even fake PhD certificates.

Meghalaya Governor, RS Mooshahary has already blown the lid off the private university, CMJ University, which has come under the scanner over allegations of issuing thousands of fake PhD certificates.

That the Vice Chancellor of the said university has been on the run for more than a month now, should tell a story, a story that it never hurts for parents and the public to be cautious while opting for an institution.

The merits of long distance education or correspondence courses cannot be over ruled. Flexibility being one of its USPs.

Yet it can be a double edged sword, best exemplified by the CJM University fiasco.

To make informed choices, it is then important for the parents and guardians to be clear on what they actually want for their children.

Marks are no doubt important and as things stand today, this seems to be the only indicator of the proficiency of a student.

A look at the cut off list for admission to the Four Year Undergraduate Programme at some of the better known colleges in Delhi University this year is in line with this observation.

Yet it is also important to draw a line between chasing after the perfect 10 or 100 percent and gaining knowledge.

A thin line, no doubt, a line which is difficult to draw and demarcate but nevertheless important for the young students in the long run or in equipping them with the needed life skills for the future.

The point is when the understanding of education gets blurred in the mad rush to score and score marks in the examination, the chances of dubious institutions and characters entering the fray and pulling wool over the eyes of the parents and guardians become all that easier.

An important point which should not be overlooked at any cost. Packaging is important, but when education is packaged along the line of commercial products then some thoughts need to be given to this.

Important to note the difference between churning out end products from the assembly line of an industry and making a child a student when passing out from an educational institution.

This is the bottom line.