Fake Degrees & Infamous Universities

Recently you might have come across the news items ‘Arrest warrant against private varsity’s chief in Meghalaya’ and ‘CID sleuths arrest CMJ varsity Deputy Registrar’. Many of us might not have taken the news seriously. But I am sure a good number of Professionals and Students from Nagaland might have been shattered by the news. The private university in the state capital of Meghalaya hit media headlines after the Governor of Meghalaya, who is also the visitor of the university, exposed alleged irregularities in its functioning. Non-bailable arrest warrants have been issued against the University’s Chancellor and many of its senior officers under penal provisions for forgery, cheating etc and all of them have allegedly gone in to hiding after the anticipatory bail plea of some of them was rejected.

The university has created a record of sorts by awarding doctorate degrees to 434 candidates in the 2012-13 academic year and enrolled 490 students for the programme during 2012-13, even as only 10 of its faculty members have doctorate degrees.I am sure that most of the awardees of the degrees might have purchased them for a good price and they should also be brought under the probe.

Few months back the above University issued advertisements offering admission to B.Ed., M.Ed. etc degree courses through distance education mode. But the B.Ed. & M.Ed. degrees offered by the university are NOT recognized by the National Council of Teacher Education and the Distance Education Council. You may be aware that B.Ed. degrees offered by universities without the recognition of NCTE are NOT eligible for getting appointments in Govt. sector. More over the recognition of the Distance Education Council is mandatory for all the courses offered through distance education mode.  

Of course one may pursue a course of his/her choice for the purpose of acquiring knowledge without bothering about the recognition by Govt. regulatory bodies. But the concerned universities/ institutions should clearly state in their prospectus & web site about the status of the degrees/ courses offered by them. Many innocent peoples may join these courses with the hope of getting Govt. jobs and would realize about the truth only at a later stage. People should also avoid  getting distracted by misleading advertisements when enough opportunities are available for pursuing recognized courses of study.

“Your Intentions Are Good ! But…. This is Nagaland” !!

Many organizations and individuals are struggling whole heartedly to make India a corruption free country and it really give us the hope that our children would live in a country where people indulge in corrupt practices rarely. At least this is what we wish to say externally. In fact most of us do not believe that corruption could be easily rooted out from our society.

People now talk about scams of hundreds of crores and corruption at small scale has become an accepted norm in daily life. The anti corruption warriors concentrate on fighting corruption at highest levels but it seems that no importance is given to clean the system at the lowest level. I personally feel that the present scenario we witness regarding the anti- corruption movement may not bring much change in our society. Corruption is now like a deep rooted grown up tree and it is not possible to weed out it by cutting few branches here and there; it has to be weeded out from the grass root level.

In my opinion the basic reason for the rapid growth of corruption at the lowest level is the change in attitude of society. Few decades back people were regarded on the basis of their goodness but now most of the people value only money and not the values. All one needs to have is wealth and no one will utter a word about the means of its accumulation. As long as the attitude of the society remains as of today, the efforts made by the anti corruption warriors will bring no practical change in our life.

When I was serving as a Teacher I wrote an article about the corrupt practices employed by a section of teachers. In that article I proudly stated I have not yet been infected by the disease corruption and my past, present and future students would be the judges of my claim. One of my colleagues congratulated me for the write up and warned me, “Let me see what you would do when you get access to money and power”. My friend was right; it was easy to keep myself away from clutches of corruption when I was a teacher. Now, I am the Principal of a Govt. Higher Secondary School and struggling to live with my principles. One of my friend recently said, “Your intentions are good; but be practical; this is Nagaland”. I am really confused my friends. “ …this is Nagaland…” What does it mean? Does it mean that honest and upright officers must compromise? Is my friend’s statement the sad reality or an excuse framed by corrupt officials for self defense?

Whatever it may be, I have decided to go ahead in the way of Truth.  The plight of the poor students coming to my school gives me the strength to discharge my duties honestly and I am sure that the Almighty would use me as a tool to help His beloved children.

Respect and Dignity for Women

“There is a pressing need to bring about a change in the mindset of the society so that women are treated with dignity and respect”, President of Republic of India said on 10^th Feb 2013 at New Delhi. When our country is shattered by news of frequent occurrence of rapes, the words of the President has to be looked very seriously by the society.

Women had been suppressed for centuries throughout the world and to a greater extend in our country. Today, education and employment has reduced the plight of women in our society considerably. The mindset of a good percentage of Indian males has also changed from the traditional aggressive ones to that of understanding life partners. But unfortunately majority of the women in our country still continue to suffer at the hands of arrogant men. If women from the lower sections of the society are physically assaulted by men, women from the middle class and the upper class are subjected to undefined mental tortures.

The plights of many working women in Indian society are horrifying. Very few of them have understanding family members and majority are compelled to bear the stress by them self for the sake of children. It is not possible to describe the hardships faced by women at work place in an article like this and I would share my views about the state of affairs existing in the two most important sectors of the Indian society.

In our country the professions of Health Care and Teaching are considered as noble professions. One takes care of the wellbeing of body and the other of mind. I sincerely believe that the services rendered by the professionals of these two sectors play an important role in shaping the future of our country. Unfortunately, the state of affairs going on in these sectors is highly discouraging.

A recently published research report regarding the status of Nurses in the private sector describes the horrifying conditions under which majority of our Nightingales are serving. Few months back some of them in the South India raised their voices against the ‘Crorepati’ hospital managements but political parties and numerous associations of our country had No time to extend their support to the suppressed employees. It is highly regretted that none of the Doctors or their Associations uttered a word of support to the exploited nurses. It is a well-known fact that no doctor would be able to exhibit his/her talents without the dedicated support of the nurses.

The entire nation use to greet the teachers on Teacher’s Day and praises them for their dedicated work in shaping the future of our nation. But conveniently we all forget that the private school teachers are the lowest paid professionals in our country. Most of the private schools prefer to appoint women teachers mainly for two reasons. One is for their patience and proficiency in teaching and the other reason is that comparatively it is easy to change the disadvantaged women in to perfect slaves. Teachers are called the builders of nation but it is a sad truth that they are unable to build their own life in the way they wish.

I would honestly say that most of the women employees contribute their best to the employers in spite of the hardships faced by them at home and work place. But unfortunately women in our country continue to live as a suppressed class.  If we need to bring change in the mind set of the society, the Health Care and Teaching sectors should be the first to begin with because they take care of the body and soul of our nation.              

EDUCATION IN NAGALAND

At the outset I would like to caution my readers that I am not going to highlight the positive aspects of ‘Education in Nagaland’ in this article. I prefer to focus on the negative side because I consider this an opportunity for introspection that may help to bring changes in the minds of at least few people. As it is not possible to analyze all the aspects of a complex issue in an article like this, I would restrict my views to few important problems encountered by the student community.

I had my education from the primary level to the post graduate level in Govt. / Govt. Aided average schools and colleges situated at the southern villages of Tamilnadu. When I compare the facilities I had in my schools and colleges before 30 years with those available to today’s students studying in Nagaland, I would say that majority of the students of Nagaland are underprivileged.

Nagaland is one of the neglected North Eastern states of India that has got many disadvantages / restrictions imposed by nature itself. To add salt to the wound, the conflicts of armed struggle deprive the children of Nagaland from the congenital environment necessary for the fullest development of their potentials. In spite of all the disadvantages, the children of Nagaland adapt well to the ground reality and their talents and skills are not inferior to that of anybody else in our country.

The psycho fear of majority of students for the subject mathematics is well known to us. People generally may shift the blame on the students. But, the root cause of this problem lies with the schools. One could joyfully learn mathematics if they understand the basic concepts well. Unfortunately, most of the schools do not have qualified mathematics teachers and many schools even encage teachers from arts stream to teach mathematics. Thus children do not get proper foundation in mathematics and face lot of difficulties in understanding subjects like Physics, Chemistry etc at the higher secondary level.

Shortage of trained qualified teachers in subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at the higher secondary level is a major cause of concern for many students of Nagaland. Getting a full time regular teacher in the above mentioned subjects now become a tough task and many schools are at the mercy of ‘Guest Teachers’. We can easily understand what quality education would be imparted by a teacher when he teaches in 2 -3 schools. In my opinion, the school managements should be blamed for this crisis. Most of the teachers from private schools are underpaid and with lot of opportunities available in other parts of the country, talented teachers do not prefer to serve in Nagaland. If the schools pay reasonable salary and offer facilities such as quarters, EPF, gratuity etc, I am sure that schools in Nagaland would definitely get qualified regular teachers.              

Another disturbing factor of today’s education system is the prevailing of corrupt practices among many teachers. Teachers are the lowest paid professionals in our society and many of the underpaid teachers involve in unethical practices. In the materialistic society teachers alone cannot be blamed for the menace because they too have families to look after. Generally, the managements turn a blind eye to the wrong doings of the teachers in this regard and make the innocent children as victims of corrupt practices at the young age.

How many students have the confidence of securing good marks without taking private tuitions from their own school teachers? Of course everyone from a class may not have the same ability and few slow learners of the overcrowded classes may need special attention. Such children may take private tuitions from teachers of their choice. But unfortunately, the concept of private tuitions has also been changed radically. Teaching in today’s tuition classes are in no way different from the regular class room teaching. Here also the 30- 40 students are accommodated in a class and the students rarely get individual attention. The only difference is that the teachers will solve the home works they give in schools and the students will get a preferential treatment at the school.      

      

The problems faced by the students of Govt. schools are off another type. Lack of proper infrastructure facilities is a major constraint for the students of Govt. schools throughout the state. Most of the Govt. school teachers are well qualified but less motivated. They also need to overcome the characteristic lazy syndrome of Govt. servants. Dearth of quality in Primary education, transfer of teachers at the middle of the academic year and the practice of engaging Proxy teachers are some more shortcomings of the Govt. sector.

          

We could definitely overcome the above described shortcomings by undertaking few corrective measures. First of all, the society should become aware of their rights. Secondly, teachers should realize that they are entrusted with the noble task of moulding the future of children and they should be the role model to their students. Above all the school managements should realize that they play a vital role in shaping the future of our country and the slaves working in their schools would never become role models to our children.

Teacher Jailed For Punishing Student

“Teacher sentenced to one month imprisonment for punishing school girl for hair style” was the flash news in many TV channels on 17^th July 2012 in Tamilnadu. I was so curious to know about the details of the case as a concerned teacher and a parent because the incident is an indicator of the change in attitude of the society that every teacher and parent must realize. Let me narrate the incident in brief.

Suja ( name changed ), a fifth standard student, daughter of a laborer  was studying in a private  school in Coimabatore , Tamilnadu. In the year 2008, one day she had turned up at the school without double plaits which was against the hair dress code of the school.

The Physical Education Teacher of the school scolded the girl and made her stand outside the class. Not satisfied with the punishment given, she took the girl to her room, caned and reportedly cut her plait much to the embarrassment of the child. Based on the complaint from the mother, the Police arrested the teacher and registered a case against her. The Magistrate who heard the case found the teacher guilty and awarded one month imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1000.

The questions that come to my mind are :- Generally parents first approach the Principal / Headmaster in matters related to their children and resort to further course of actions only at a later stage. In this case, why did the mother straightaway went to police and didn’t complaint to the School Authorities? Did the girl’s mother over react? Why was the teacher too harsh on the girl? Was the Courts verdict too harsh towards the teacher? Whatever may be the case; Teachers and School Authorities as well as Parents must realize the changes taking place in the society and should try to avoid the occurrence of such ugly incidents.

Teachers are entrusted with the difficult task of not only teaching the students but also protecting them from the evil factors of the almost corrupt society. A humane approach to problems / mistakes would bring better solutions. Equal treatment regardless of what the socio-economic back ground is very important. The parents of the child in the case given are laborers and their nature of work might have not permitted them to ensure that their child strictly adheres to the dress code of the school. Whether the teacher acted on her own will or obeyed the instructions of her superiors, punishing a child cruelly for the inability/negligence of parents cannot be justified in a civilized society. It is a sad truth that the affectionate relationship that existed between teachers and students is slowly disappearing from the materialistic society.