Paper leaks a result of flawed education, growing unemployment

A total of 23,33,162 candidates competed for 1,08,915 available seats in NEET-2024 held for admission to medical courses.

In Jharkhand, over 4 lakh candidates applied for 583 posts of excise constables. In UP, 3,700 PhDs applied for peon’s job in the police department, although the eligibility was only 5th standard.

In Rajasthan, a former member of the State Public Service Commission was arrested in connection with a question paper leak, and for helping his son and daughter secure top ranks among selected candidates. This was followed by the arrest of 66 other suspects in the scam.

Question paper leaks, no more a surprising matter, erupted following the NEET exam this year and ended up in the apex court, with no clear solution forthcoming even after the court judgment.

These instances are indicators of two phenomena: competition and corruption — severe competition for admission to professional courses and jobs and indulgence in corruption to achieve one’s ends by any means.

At the root of the problem lies a deeply flawed education system and the growing and gnawing issue of unemployment.

The current education system has strayed far away from the stated goals of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, according to which “education must build character, enable learners to be ethical, rational, compassionate and caring, while at the same time prepare them for gainful, fulfilling employment”. This sounds grandiose but totally unrealistic in the present scenario.

The reality is students are focused solely on examinations: getting through 10th and 12th standards and then competitive tests for admission to their favoured profession.

Even while at school, students are being driven to coaching centres to prepare for the exam that will determine their future careers. There is competition even within the coaching industry to attract students and competent teachers. No wonder the industry has a staggering annual revenue of over Rs 58,000 crore, which is more than the annual state budgets of smaller states in the Northeast such as Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur or Goa in the west.

Both education and employment are fraught with serious problems with no easy solutions. It is not that we are bereft of ideas; educationists, economists and other experts are being engaged in extensive deliberations.

Action, however, lies in the domain of the government, the institutions concerned and the private sector. Considering a few seminal issues, I would suggest the following measures.

Regulate the coaching industry: Mushrooming coaching centres have in a way rendered school education irrelevant and increased the burden on students and parents. Students have to attend both school and coaching classes, adding to their stress, physical and mental, with hardly any time for other creative activities.

Parents are forced to spend considerable time in choosing a coaching centre, mobilising funds to pay fees for both school and coaching and then monitoring the progress of their kids, while keeping a tab on their health. Increasing number of student suicides, particularly in Kota, the capital of coaching centres, is a cause for serious concern. According to estimates, about 30% of medical students suffer from a mental health issue, with over 40% experiencing stress.

An ideal solution would be to make coaching centres irrelevant, which is not likely until the education system itself undergoes major reforms. Hence, it is imperative to regulate the coaching industry by prescribing certain guidelines aimed at preventing them from resorting to exploitative and unethical practices. They charge exorbitant fees and admit students without any limits, knowing full well that not even one percent of them can make the final cut.

Reform the entrance test system: The centralised entrance testing system has created more problems than it has solved. I know of a case where a girl from a relatively poor family from Karnataka, who secured admission to the medical course, was allotted a seat in a remote place in the Northeast, making it extremely difficult for her to join the college.

In a large country, with each state having its own language and varying standards of education, it is essential to adopt a decentralised approach. A more viable alternative would be for the National Testing Agency to confine its domain to the institutions coming under the central jurisdiction such as AIIMS, JIPMER, etc. and leave the rest to the states. 

The examination pattern also needs appropriate changes:  consider paperless online test, which can eliminate question paper leaks, confine questions to school syllabus and avoid super-intelligent queries; ultimately, the number selected will be limited to the number of seats available for a particular course.

Increase job opportunities: Whatever the academic course a student may choose, the final aim is to find a job with a decent income. Opportunities in technical professions being limited, it is important to diversify the employment sector to enable those failing to secure admissions to professional courses and those qualifying in other disciplines to find suitable jobs.

With growing unemployment (37% in June 2024, up by 7% compared to May as per the latest CMIE report), and youth involved in economic activities declining to 37%, creation of new job opportunities is one of the greatest challenges the country is facing.

Realising the importance of skilled workforce, the Union Budget of 2024 announced a centrally sponsored scheme to skill 20 lakh youth over a period of five years and upgrade 100 ITIs. Apart from developing skills, we must learn to appreciate ‘dignity for labour’, which is very much lacking in India.

This negative trait is preventing many skilled youths from accepting available jobs; instead, youths wait for jobs they consider ‘dignified’. A change in attitude is required to overcome this problem, which should be imparted in schools and at home.

Bridge the gap between elitist institutions and others: The cost and quality of education between elitist, government and ordinary private institutions is huge. Some of the elite institutions, located on the outskirts of cities, look like large luxurious estates, while within the city, where space is short and costs are high, students are huddled into small classrooms.

More important is the quality of education. Private schools and colleges are turning out to be commercial enterprises rather than centres of learning. Some of them showcase their achievements through huge advertisements, exhibiting the names along with photographs of top-ranking students, without realising the adverse effect it could have on a large number of their counterparts.

On the whole, healthy competition aimed at promoting quality and excellence is yielding place to unscrupulous and unethical competition; maximising profit being the sole motive and means gaining priority over ends.

The entire issue needs to be addressed seriously by the government, society and private sector leadership.

 (The writer is a former chief secretary, Government of Karnataka)