Education- Service or Business?

“Rahul has scored 89% in his higher secondary board exams. Wonder how much did Mrs. Shanti's daughter score? Listen, we must apply for admission for our son, before it is too late. They might say there are no more seats available. But if we give them some 'gifts', many seats will start appearing out of nowhere. We must get admission for Rahul in a top college. After all, we have our reputation to take care of. What will others think of us if after earning this much,  Rahul studies in some small institution?” 

Don't these lines sound familiar? Though not exactly spoken 'word to word' like this, the substance of these words are something that one would normally hear at the end of every summer each year; when the board examination results are announced and the rush to procure admission forms begin. Each family begins to worry about the institution and the course that they will enroll their child in. 

But shouldn't they rather be concerned about what education their children get and not where they get it from? Then why do they think in such a manner?

• Why are they worried about what others would think and not what their own child thinks?
• Why are they so concerned about how much their neighbor's daughter scored, when they should congratulate their own child for passing the exam in the first place?
• Who influences them so much, that the way they educate their children comes from a third source? 

Unfortunately a child's second home which is his or her school or college is most responsible. This brings us to the purpose of this article. Is the amount of education more important or the location of being educated more important? There are several educational institutions today, generating a high literacy rate in the country. Among this, some of them are internationally recognized and have world class facilities, thus attracting foreign students too.

But what about the rest of the colleges? Are they just colleges for namesake? If they were recognized by an educational board, they probably should have had some merit in the first place! Many colleges claim to be the top in their respective state or city in the country. So who actually is? And what makes them better than the others? They teach the same subjects of the same curriculum, and the teachers of all sorts of colleges are equally qualified in their respective ways. Of course, some leading institutions offer free educational trips abroad, visits to professional institutions and 'state of the art' lab facilities. 

Then how do you explain the fact that most successful businessmen, doctors, engineers, scientists, lawyers and other professionals graduate from these so called, 'small institutions'?

The former president of India, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam is a good example of this. He was a renowned scientist of international fame, and the main catalyst for India's quest for nuclear energy, before he became the president of the country. But where did he graduate from? He graduated from a government college of science and technology in Madras, now named Chennai! He couldn't join any of reputed private institutions, as he hailed from a normal middle class family. He couldn't get free trips abroad, wasn't able to use 'state of the art' lab facilities and didn't have internationally qualified teachers as many private colleges claim to have.  

Another point that can be observed from this trend, is that almost all students who get admission in these reputed colleges are from families of high financial status, who can afford to buy an entire city if they wished to. Then what about the rest of the students? Don't they have a right to get educated? They too are human beings and share the same abilities and strengths as their counterparts of well-to-do families. So don't they too have a right to get free trips abroad and use the top-class lab facilities? Why is their talent being ignored? 

That brings us to the crux of this article. Are educational institutions actually created for raising people's educational levels or is education merely a tool for making money? Many institutions keep propping up and claim to have years of experience, by the end of just 1 year after their creation! They attract students by displaying a 'hi-fi' campus, promoting a lot of socio-cultural events and inviting several celebrities to their campus. 

But amidst all this, they forget to do something that was the original intention in the first place; they forget to educate. But they never forget to collect tuition fees, fees for books, uniforms, special trips and more fees in many disguises. Recently many deaths have been reported in schools across the nation, all arising out of corporal punishment and humiliation of these students, thus leading to their suicides. Why? Because they didn't pay their fees! 

The original purpose of education is to grow  your minds, to question, to invent, to innovate and explore the world so that you can learn more and more. But today, the purpose of education is to grow your pockets so that your children can earn certificates from colleges, and then make much more money later on in life. Education has become a kind of commercial investment for the future. Today, education has ceased to be a service and rather become a business. 

Yasir Sulaiman

Author| Content Specialist| Poet| Consultant| YouTuber

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