Probably the most unfair thing about our education system, and much debated as well, is the reservation of seats for "Special Category" students (i.e. SC/ST students) in Government institutions. (I'd like to think of SC as "Special Category" rather than "Scheduled Caste" so sue me if you don't like it)
Sadly, whether we like it or not, the best higher education institutes in the country are undoubtedly the ones that are run by the Government - An irony by itself because I distinctly remember my dear mother threatening me several years ago when I was in half pants, with "If you carry on like this, I'll enroll you into a bloody Government run municipal school...."...I wish she would say that now. Because if she could have enrolled me into a Government run (B) school, I would have been the most mischevious bloke alive so that she could keep her promise!!
Why I brought up this topic is as follows.
When I was in school, I had this friend.... or let me say acquaintance (I will not name him). He used to live next to my house so we would board the school van together. He was a smart bloke no doubt.. but all of us in school had been trained to be smart! (ahem ahem).
So as the years passed by, we would make the usual "in-van-polite-chitchat" everyday. Once we had outgrown the school van, we would make the usual "in-public-transport-polite-chitchat" to pass time. Other than that, I would have no social contact with him (In school or at home). Soon, it was time to give our boards (10th Standard) after which I continued to do my 11th and 12th in School while he disappeared (I later found out that he did his +2 in St. Josephs...A decent PUC college in Bangalore) So I lost touch with him.
When I finished giving my 12th standard boards and the Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission into engineering colleges in Karnataka, I managed a rank of 2300 odd and this got me admission into the Mechanical Engineering Branch at MIT Manipal. It is then when I met this chap again. It was in a bus, so it is norm that you do "in-public-transport-polite-chitchat"to pass time.
Here is how our conversation went.
Me: "Hey dude, wassup? How did you do in the CET?"
Bloke: "Hey, pretty ok man. I got a 1500 rank..." (No "what about you?" mind you...Seriously, did this guy even study in FAPS?)
Me (Burning a little.. I thought I was better than this guy) : " Oh.. cool man. Good for you... So you must have got Mechanical or Electrical in an average college in Banagalore only right?" (This because I thought he wanted to stay in Bangalore)
Bloke: " No dude, I got KREC -Tronics"
*very long pause... My jaw has hit the ground by now*
Me: "WHAAAAAAT... HOW THE....?"
Bloke (very proudly at that): "I come under SC/ST quota man"....
Ok... Now for a little background. KREC-Tronics refers to Electronics and Communication Engineering (EnC) at the Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC, now NIT-K) which is probably one of the best institutes in the country to pursue an engineering degree (On par with the IITs and BITS Pilani). It is the best of the RECs (or NITs) and arguably as good as any IIT. During my time, one could get admission into KREC giving CET. Through CET, if one needed to get into KREC EnC, the person's rank should have been better than 30. (I know a friend who had a rank of 33, who was on the waitlist but eventually converted the seat). To give you a perspective, the year I gave CET, all the "decent" branches (i.e. EnC, Comps, Mech, Electrical and Civil) filled up by Rank 550.Our man had a 1500 odd rank and he had waltzed into the place!!!!...
He was proud of it. Thats what bugged me the most.
We, i.e. those who have been brought up in FAPS (Frank Anthony Public School) believe that all are equal irrespective of our backgrounds. You may come walking to school or may be chauffered to school in a Benz; you might be a Mallu from Kerala, a Gult from Andhra, a Konde-mama from Punjab or a Kannadiga localite; You could be fair, dark, white, black blue or (in some cases) yellow.......... But once you enter the gate, you are no different from the next chap. Hence.. the uniform! Now THAT is something to be proud of. Which is one of the reasons why I love my school so much. Nobody cares whether you were in the "General Category" or a SC or ST. The only time you had an edge while getting admissions was if you were an Anglo Indian. That too only a small teeney-weeney edge. But hey, its a private institute and believe me, THEY ARE GENUINELY MINORITIES (and class acts at that). Besides, once you were in, you would caned if you did anything wrong irrespective of your caste, creed or sex. (Gosh.. I miss school :(... )
But this is STILL not the reason for my writing this article. The other day, when I was joblessly orkutting (yes, its a verb now!), I chanced upon this above mentioned acquaintance's profile. When I saw the pictures in his album, my heart sank. He was now in IIM A (I know I'm being a bit unfair to him by not giving him enough credit... After all, he might have got in by merit right?.....!!!!!)
It is a sad thing this caste system. If only my fore father's fore fathers had not indulged in bullying people of allegedly lower castes, I might not have blogged today...
7 comments:
Well I do empathise with you. It seems G K Uncle is inspiring your thought process :P
hehehe... thats his only contribution to this course man!!!
dude.. i empathize with u.. agreed the way the biz of reservation goes about in india is not fair.. but (on the risk of sounding like a reformist) wht we see is the urban picture.. but the reality in the villages is still quite horrifying.. n they def need tht helping hand..
Come on Vinay... Even you will agree that anyone who studies in FAPS doesnt really need that edge man. We've studied in a school which imparts (if i have to say so myself) quality basic education.
Going into the good institutes through a sports quota is understandable. But this is downright unfair.
And yes. I agree. For the people in the rural areas I can definitely understand.They do need that helping hand. Those who make it from there are usually the best as they have seen the real hardships.(I'm deviating now)...
I believe that they should have this quota system for people who actually need it. (though the logistics of making this happen is almost impossible)....
Whatever.. Ive taken this to heart now!
This is quite sad u'know. I ain't against giving a helping hand to SC/ST/BC... but it isn't fair if they get admission just because they belong to certain "special caste/sect". why can't they introduce merit system even there? I mean, one of my friend had good percentage in HSC, but was hanging on to get through in Engg college, since SC/ST ppl had already had got in with as low as 40-45%.
and there was yet another case, where this guy belong to the general category. Since he couldn't get admission through this, he got himself a BC certificate and then got admission.
Jay... Cant agree more! I also get that feeling at times ... and I think that this whole reservation thingie is a sham!
As some smart bloke once remarked, "All men are born equal, some are more equal than others..."
It pains me to see a poor priest unable to get his son/daughter basic quality education even if he/she were deserving of it and a bloody MP or a babu getting his son through to IITs/IIMs/RECs because of their "low" caste... I just wished our politicians had the guts to correct this social malaise OR the brahmins and the high-caste well-to-dos had some unity to build quality education care ONLY for brahmins and other non-SC/ST/OBC...
If the IT revolution hadnt happened, you and me would be working in sulabh toilet workforce da...
Post a Comment