[Reader-list] 'Open School'

[Ravi Agarwal]

Hi Ravikant

when one reads this, one realizes that this is true. In a cynical way,  
one can say this was expected, but am not sure to what degree we can  
'expect' things like this. One is not sure what is the extent of this?  
One went to 'safe' education, where things were more strict than  
strict, but another level this is not true, and there is a class  
divide. On the other hand, it will be interesting to explore what  
advantage such a degree gives to the peon you mention. What are his  
compulsions, and how is the system set up to encourage this kind of  
demand for a useless 'formal' education need. Where there is  
opportunity they will be innovation of the type you describe.


best
ravi


On Jan 28, 2008, at 3:44 PM, Ravikant wrote:

Here is a piece, 'another product of a lazy, hot summer afternoon! The  
events
are true', in author Shobhit Mahajan's words. I certainly enjoyed it.

Ravikant

Not so long ago, on long walls of moffussil towns, there were two  
preponderant
kinds of advertisements for people who were on the brink of losing  
hope. One
kind  publicized  quacks who had a cure for “Gas, Namardi, Dhatu Rog,  
etc.”
These were usually smartly attired, healthy looking men who visited  
the small
towns on fixed days of the month to provide succor to various  
suckers!  The
other kind of advertisements gave hope to students who had failed  
Class 8-
they could now directly give the Class X or XI exam and pass  
“privately”.

The private “college” industry was a very lucrative one. A neighbor of  
ours
had done yeomen service in ensuring a school certificate for  literally
thousands of unfortunate kids in the small town where I grew up. The  
modus
operandi was simple- you registered with this college and during the  
month of
May or June, you would be taken to places like Gwalior, Bhopal etc. to  
‘sit’
for the board exam. And lo and behold, you would come back with t
certificate. The choice of the city or board was dictated presumably  
by the
ease with which such humanitarian ideal could be achieved. Our neighbor
became prosperous in this business till the eighties when he moved  
into the
other “sunrise” industry- that of naturopathy, magnetic healing and
acupressure!

Sometime in the eighties, the government decided to get into this in a  
big way
and the Open School was started for students who had not completed  
formal
schooling. The idea was a good one- a lot of school dropouts pick up  
jobs
before completing the secondary school. Give them an opportunity to  
get a
certificate by passing a standardized examination. A huge   
infrastructure and
bureaucracy was put in place. Books were written specifically for the  
Open
School- books whose quality was usually not very good. Nevertheless,  
the idea
of bringing some level of quality control in this booming private  
sector was
admirable. Or so I thought till the other day.

A peon in our office  applied for leave for 15 days to appear for the  
Class
XII exams from the Open School. I thought this was very creditable  
till I
learnt that he had never even seen the books or the syllabus! On my
persistent questioning on how he intended to pass the exams, he  
sheepishly
told me that everything has been “set”. Apparently, the supervisor  
ship of
the examination centers is a very lucrative business. There are people  
who
will ensure that students are given all the “assistance” for clearing  
the
examinations. These range from taking the papers out to be solved by  
“tutors”
to leaving the paper blank for someone else to fill it up! In one  
case, the
invigilator worked out the paper on the blackboard. Of course, all  
this comes
at a hefty fee of about Rs. 1000/- to Rs. 2000/-  per student per paper.

All this was not happening in some way out place like Basti or  
Monghyr. It was
in the heart of the capital of India! I must confess that I was a bit  
shocked
by the ‘openness’ and brazenness of this whole modus operandi. But on
thinking about it, I realized that this is how most things end up in our
system. Any kind of regulation in any sphere by the government leads to
certain vested interests prospering in cahoots with easily corruptible  
public
servants. This goes on till someone in the government realizes it is  
time to
replace one kind of regulatory system with another. Within a short  
time, the
smart operators figure out a way around this new system. And this goes  
on
till the next change! The survival of the fittest in the face of  
evolutionary
pressures in a true Darwinian sense! Fortunately, the other  
advertisers on
moffussil walls, the purveyors of masculininty  don’t seem to be under  
any
threat from any regulation!
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