Isn’t education a little overrated?

It’s strange that students at Allahabad University are protesting against a 400 per cent fee hike instead of simply quitting

A few students allegedly attempted to immolate themselves a few weeks ago, after Allahabad University decided to increase its fees by 400 per cent for every course taught. I was glad I stumbled upon this story even though it didn’t get a lot of attention in Bombay’s newspapers. I noticed the rest of the country not paying much heed to it either, which was rather heartening. I think the tepid response to the plight of these students stemmed from the possibility that we have finally turned a corner and begun to acknowledge how unnecessary a university education really is.

If young students are protesting, we should just let them. If they say society is being unfair to them, we should ignore them because they’re probably lying. And if they insist on unnecessary things like affordable education to better themselves and their rural communities, we should ask them to wait until our more important urban needs are met, such as that Bullet train between Bombay and Ahmedabad. It’s all about priorities, and I am strongly in agreement with the government of India’s refusal to give education too much importance.

I believe years of watching our elected representatives on television and seeing how they interact with leaders abroad have finally taught us how overrated these degrees really are. Why do we need them? What good do they do in the real world? Some of our most respected politicians can’t even spell words like ‘strength’ but that doesn’t stop them from being high-functioning individuals. Why do we force our children to waste time in college when they can simply choose careers in politics that involve no hard work or intelligence?

The last time someone checked what Maharashtra’s cabinet looked like, 43 per cent of ministers had declared their educational qualifications to be between Standard 8 and 12. This was a couple of years before the recent period when we had no cabinet at all. Among our latest batch of representatives, 40 per cent have declared educational qualifications between Standard 10 and 12. Then again, 75 per cent have also declared criminal cases against themselves, so maybe these statistics aren’t the thing to focus on. It’s interesting to think about what these upstanding folk are placed in charge of though, and how their lack of any qualifications whatsoever never gets in the way of them discharging their duties and making decisions that affect every aspect of our lives. It’s probably why our country functions as smoothly as it does.

Having said that, I must admit to a bit of hypocrisy here, because I spent a few decades working towards and obtaining a few degrees. They helped me gain employment, some financial security, and the semblance of a career. They also equipped me with tools I continue to use while trying to make sense of life, but I suspect I am a minority given how so many people with no education will turn India into a superpower any day now.

The nicest thing about a government that has no respect for education is how it can utilise taxpayer funds in the best way possible. It’s why I applauded the recent move to scrap more than 300 awards for scientists from the ministries of science, space, health and family welfare, and earth sciences. I have always felt that Indian scientists are overpaid and should be treated on par with more important contributing members of society like watchmen and hairdressers. I think the decision to create a single Nobel Prize-like award called ‘Vigyan Ratna’ is a step in the right direction because India could have won a few hundred Nobel Prizes by now if it weren’t for discrimination from the West and the possible influence of our unfriendly neighbouring countries. There is a risk that our very own Nobel Prize may encourage more students to study beyond Standard 10, but that can easily be managed by turning the prize into a lottery and charging the winner a significant amount in GST.

I also believe one of our senior politicians should be awarded the first Vigyan Ratna, not only for their understanding of complicated subjects like cloud technology, but because this may inspire a lot more people abroad to respect India the way they once used to when we had a genuinely well-educated leader in charge.

The aim of making the award selection process transparent is also commendable, because if there’s one thing our government does better than most other governments in the world, it is the way it operates in complete transparency.

When he isn’t ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.

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