The twain shall not meet: Of champs and cheats
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 25, 2012 -
One side tells the story of what champs are made of, of human endeavour and the vast pool of human resources of the place.
The other side tells the story of a bunch of crooks who will go to any length to stretch the boundary of cheating, all for a consideration. The twain shall not meet.
This does not however guarantee that the latter category has not succeeded in defiling and defacing youngsters and the youth who had the potential to belong to the first category.
Even as the State newspapers went to town heralding and acknowledging the stupendous performance of Khumanthem Diana Devi, who topped the BSc examination in Physics Honours, Delhi University besides setting a record in securing 94.5 percent, the merit and diligence Brenda Latsaheb who topped the PMT in NEIGRIHMS came the news of how some schools in cahoots with some well placed individuals had doctored the documents to let numerous students pass the Class X examination under CBSE without even sitting for the examination.
Remarkably ingenious, if one may add.
But in making hundreds of students possess Class X certificates without even making them sit for the examination the schools here have not only manufactured fake students but have come dangerously close to unleashing a trend where the bottomline would not have anything to do with merit or diligence but having the right connection.
This is unhealthy and can spawn a culture where merit can be deemed as a commodity which can be bought over the counter if one quotes the right price and knows one's way around.
A situation where the dividing line between success achieved through one's honest endeavour and 'success' which can be bought at a price becomes extremely blurred.
The threat to a society becomes that more real when a situation is created where it becomes extremely difficult to separate the grain from the chaff. Already Manipur is reeling under the impact of 'jobs bought' rather than being earned.
This has already kicked off a vicious cycle wherein those who have bought the jobs are now in a position to sell the same. The cascading effect has been scary.
To even think that a culture which was only associated with' job hunting in the Government Departments should now percolate down-To the level of Class X certificates is indeed frightening, if what the Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur has had to say is anywhere near the truth.
The reality may not be far from a nightmare. Turn the focus onto a larger canvass and this reality can be seen in the emerging trend of people worshipping false heroes, people whose only claim to fame lies in their nuisance value being accorded special space.
Government holding political parleys with people with dubious antecedents and with no one really knowing on whose behalf - the talks are being held. Seen against this backdrop the emergence of the champs and the performers who have demonstrated what hard work and diligence can deliver is all that more appealing.
The twain will not meet, but the hope that the champs will have a far greater impact than the cheats, the pretenders, is perhaps what makes the people to continue to stand without caving in.
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