In Bihar, the vice principal and hostel superintendent of St Joseph's School, Father Swaminathan Christudas, was paraded naked on the city streets by an angry mob, bleeding and with his face blackened.Taslima Khatun, an atheist in West Bengal, was denied admission to a government-run college in spite of standing first in the entrance test. Her crime? Not stating her religion while applying.On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti this year, the Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) asked its students to join in the march or shell out a fine of Rs 1,000.We may have made progress in sundry fields over the last 50 years, but Independence has paid no dividend in terms of education. The halo around the teaching profession has lost much of its aura. Today, teachers are in the game to make a quick buck. And their real sphere is the tutorial class, rather than the classroom.Education is now equated with schooling, obtaining degrees and perhaps a few medals. This serves two very important functions. The better one's degrees, the better one's prospects in the marriage market - at least for the male species. After all, how many men would want to risk tying the knot with an `over-qualified' bride? The other function of a good education is to qualify for high-paying jobs. Life in our consumerist society demands more than the old roti, kapda aur makan. You also need a car, a washing machine, a colour TV, an air conditioner to ensure your material well-being. They are also signs of arrival, especially if they come with a foreign label. Another sign of arrival: vacations, preferably taken overseas and at least no nearer than the Seychelles.But talk about donating a little time, energy or money and on come the sulks. Of course, the tendency towards parsimony is not always because one does not have the heart to part with money (though the head-count of the generous does not inspire confidence). But one is beset with suspicions about whether one's money will reach the deserving. Worse, one is left wondering whether one's benevolence will invite undue attention from the income tax officials.Today's professionals are diehard careerists with scant time to indulge either their feelings or their ethics. Swami Vivekananda's definition of education as the manifestation of perfection that already exists in man got lost somewhere along the way.Dr Armaity Desai, chairperson of the University Grants Commission, has reportedly lamented the fact that teaching has become irrelevant thanks to lack of contact with micro groups, while research work has become more and more stereotyped. Curricula, apparently, need to integrate field action with community outreach programmes.It speaks volumes that the Government of Maharashtra has had to introduce value education and general knowledge. And the class IV history syllabus has remained unaltered for two decades in the state despite the National Education Policy specifying changes to foster a sense of national unity.In any case, there is no guarantee that a good education will translate into good marks, or that a degree will open the doors to the job market. Other skills have to be acquired, for a consideration. Meanwhile, the consumer courts do not entertain pleas against the universities. All we have to show as 50 years' progress is the old promise of making education a fundamental right. This government finally put it on paper, but there is no guarantee that the next will make it into law.
