Monday, April 10, 2006

Reserve me a place...

Do they have to corrupt everything they touch?
They are like the Type - A viruses, touch it and you are infected and probably dead in coupla days. I am talking about our lovely politicians of course, I generally don't comment on all the crazy things these guys do. But this time I think they have gone too far. Then again should I be surprised by a government that has Lalloo as the railway minister?

It’s the OBC reservation on all central universities that has my blood up and that too a total of 49.5% (22.5 % + 27%) reservation :-o.

What kind of a system lets a person fly through with hardly a pass mark into all kinds of reputed institutes because of the luck of their birth? Compromise on the money, but how can they compromise on the standard of education?
Even places like IITs and IIMs have not gone unmolested. Luckily they have already started their admission procedures and therefore have escaped this year.

Its like saying if u are born in one of the backward classes, then you will be a dumbo and cannot compete with the other classes, so we will let u go easy. Is that not an insult to the BC people too?

An old friend, who had studied in Orissa, tells me that unless I actually see the people in places like Assam and Mizoram and how they suffer I would not be able to understand how the reservation system helps. I still cannot agree with him.
I am very sympathetic towards their plight. But if the govt wants to help them let’s waive the fees for the students in poor financial straits (NOT based on class but their income) and give them free books etc to bring them on par with other students, but they should also write the entrance exams and get competitive scores to be admitted into any reputed institute.

NDTV (a channel that’s fast becoming my all time favourite) interviewed some 12th class kids. This kid sez that he used to study 14 hours a day when he was in 11th and now studies 16 hours a day, all this for the IIT entrance exams. How will this kid be affected if he loses (God forbid!!) by a point or two while a reservation candidate with hardly any score to speak of breezes through?

We are talking about life altering studies such as Engineering and medicine. Seriously, how much can we trust our lives with a person who never had to strain his brain to learn anything and is in a high post coz he was born in a backward class?

Says Bhim Sen Singh, Principal, Kirori Mal College.
"If the implementation of the quota system makes a difference for the children of leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan, it is obviously not a good move. But we have been given orders and we have to follow it,"

Read the full article here…


Is nothing sacrosanct in this country anymore? Has merit no say? :-(

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good insight into the prevailing education system. Y youngsters move to foreign countries to study??? Y there is a brain drain...Inspite of such huge population and mass of inspiring youngsters we still are not able to become competitive in the world...

Anonymous said...

Today I skimmed over open letter by Vasanth Sathe(semior congress leader during 70s & 80s), mentioning how Rajiv Gandhi opposed Mandal commission. Unfortunately he was assassinated in chennai, something many of the chennaiites would be repenting. If he was alive things would have been altogether different.

Sanjana said...

I am told that Dr.Ambedkar intended the reservation system to be in action only the first 5 years after independence and then it was reluctantly brought up to 10 years. But somehow after more than 5 times the time later we still seem to have it. :-(