Throughout my academic journey in India, I was determinant to achieve excellence in my student life. I was pushing myself too hard for tasks that were elusive. Ultimately I was discontented with myself for what I have become. I was resentful on where the course was taking me, somewhere I didn't want to be and where I didn’t belong. That’s when I decided to be a rebel, but it was too late. Nevertheless, I wanted to resolve this problem that was faced by almost every Indian student. I begin to inspect all facets of Indian education system. Education plays a vital role in social, economic and political development. So it is important for us to comprehend the influence of education in our society. Indian education has roots from our ancient period but has evolved into more complex system that we know today.

Since the beginning of Indian civilization till contemporary times those in power have directed the course of education but it was only with the advent of modern times that a scientific approach began to be adopted. In the ancient education system, during the vedic period, the prominent sources were the Rigaveda , the Aryanakas, the Upanishads , the Epics and Purans. Ancient Indian thinkers regarded education as a tool which guided an ignorant person on the path of an intellectual, progressive, moral and ethical course of life. Students were required to study the subject not only from the perspective of making themselves capable of handling life but also from the point of view of engaging in research and work towards creating an advanced body of knowledge in that area. This is when the glorious period of Gurukulam was eminent.

Over succession rules in India by various empires, education became more religion- centric. Brahmanism tried to reinforce hierarchies in education. Thus, for many centuries education continued to be monopolized by a few groups, with ‘caste’ and ‘gender’ determining both access and utilization of educational opportunities. Perhaps this is why reservation system prevails in our society yet, as reparation to the victims of injustice.

The introduction of western education has great historical significance for the emergence of the modern education that we follow today. Before the introduction of modern education, opportunities for learning were generally restricted to a very small portion of the population. Those from castes and classes placed lower down in the social hierarchy had hardly any access to education. The pioneering work in the field of education under the British was done by missionaries. They did take efforts in spreading the modern education but often motivated by the desire to spread Christianity among the natives of India.

During this period did the British realize the need for a standardized language to educate Indians who were linguistically divided, thus making English has the common medium of instruction. This gave British to exploit us eternally. They required man force in the lower levels of administration like clerks who would blindly obey the orders from the senior superiors. So they made an education system that prepared Indians to work as labourer under the colonial rule, curbing the freedom of thinking novel ideas. The dark truth is, we are still confined to this education system without any major reforms even after post independence.

After independence when everyone was rejoicing their freedom, a new covert race in the society begun through education. Education was used as a tool in determining the social status and development of an individual which was enforced on them over ages of caste and gender discrimination.

The Indian Education System should be probably renamed to Indian Examination System. Basically, it advocates the need for testing the knowledge of a student through examinations. Everybody is a born genius. But if you are to judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid. This is what the Indian education system is trying to accomplish. It fails to discover the skills of the student instead concealing them. We are compelling our children to get good grades, go to college, work hard in order to be successful but we fail to understand that no one has ever changed the world by doing what the world has told them to do.

The system is feeding students with facts and expecting them to reproduce it in exams which I feel is futile especially in today’s world where students can easily google the facts they want to know. So what is our system trying to achieve then? Education is not the learning of facts, but training the mind to think. It also makes students believe that mistakes are not allowed. By doing so, students are not only restrained from making a mistake but also afraid to fail. If they don’t make mistakes they will never learn, if they never learn they will never improve.

Is this what we want for our children?

Both the system and the society has to change in order to resolve this issue. Publishing the result of board exams is more like public shaming of students which I personally feel should be revoked and also parents comparing their child’s performance in the exams with the so called achiever students should be stopped. We fail to realize the amount of ‘Psychological Stress’ all these inflict on the students. What every parent has to realize is that their children are not a symbol of their social status where his/her value is assessed by the exam scores. Art and humanities subjects are slowly dying because of this reason. Instead of just focusing on Engineering and Medicine we should allow our children to diversify and explore the vast opportunities.

At this point, you would have a question in your mind. How can I blame the Indian education system when most of our dynamic minds have landed up at Silicon Valley? Well, the answer might be skeptical for you. One thing the Indian Education System has thought us is to work hard despite any obstacle. After all the exams that we come across as a student in India, we are trained to work hard at any cost and learn something even when we don’t understand it completely. The world adores these qualities of Indians, that’s why we are outsourced throughout the world specifically in Information Technology field.

India has many glories which include finding the number zero; hosting noble laureates like Rabindranath Tagore, C.V.Raman and various other prodigy mathematicians; holding the world’s oldest university and pioneer in Ayurveda. But yet, it has failed to bag a single noble prize in the field of science and technology or literature post independence. India has won only 28 medals in total since its participation from 1900 and ranked 67th in the 2016 global Olympic chart. Where has India failed? Is it the tedious education system or the apathetic society? The average age group of an Indian is estimated to be 29, but the average age group of the cabinet ministers in India which is always above 50. Comparing these figures, where and why does the difference arise? Where are we leading the youth generation? Most of the elite educated people fear to be part of any politics due to many unethical reasons. How many parents encourage their children to take polity studies for their bachelor degree? Even though we had many commissions and reforms after post independence they all were focused on giving education to every citizen of India by making it one of the fundamental rights and providing reservations for underdeveloped citizens but failed to focus on its delivery system. I believe that there should be a radical overhaul of the existing framework of the education system incorporating methods to improve the intellectual, cognitive, athletic and academic ability of a student both at the school and university level. Our education system should teach how to think instead of what to think.

India from being the pioneer in arts, medicine, mathematics, science and technology we have become labourers in this modern world losing our own identity over the centuries. At least now, let us all realize our blunder and take appropriate actions in fixing the nation. Let us create opportunities for ourselves in our own nation instead of imploring for it from other countries. What I hope is not just some reforms but a revolution. Let’s MAKE INDIA GREAT AGAIN!

Arun Ragavendar

Executive Director

Youth Empowerment Society

India is the largest and prosperous democratic country in the world. During its independence in 1947, no one believed that the process we adopted can work. All the other countries around the world were eagerly waiting to see India fail in the functioning of our government. But yet, we survived and it has been seventy years of dynamic governance. The reason for their speculation may be due to the fact that India hosts diverse and multi-linguistic population; follows a multi-party system and is a secular country. How was it even possible to run a stable government with these many factors influencing the daily functioning of the government? How was administrating a highly populated democratic country possible? Thanks to the efforts of our great leaders who shaped our legislation so as to provide a system that can counter these factors by instigating the bureaucracy as the backbone of our independent India. In a climate of quick political and social fluctuations, the bureaucracy lends the pretense of stability and permanence to anchor our democratic government. Bureaucrats are the main instrument of policy implementation as well as aiding in policy formulation. But in recent past, there is a nexus been built up between politicians and bureaucrats which prompt the criticism of bureaucracy being overly politicized. This raises the important question of whether the steel frame of Indian administration truly successful in its functioning or is it a deceptive process?

We supposedly follow the white hall model of bureaucracy that India adopted from our colonial rulers, in which the role of bureaucrats is clearly defined as an apolitical, dispassionate and unbiased style to imbibe the administration with credibility and objectivity. Bureaucrats know the rules and regulations; all that has happened in the past and what are its precedents; what has been implemented in a particular policy and its consequences; their important role is to give objective advice to the political leaders. Simultaneously, the final authority is vested upon the politician who is the duly elected representative of the people. It then becomes his/her duty to implement with all integrity and honesty whatever directions are given, therefore the bureaucrats have to serve the political master and whoever might be the political master they have to serve the person faithfully. In an ideal textbook situation the bureaucrats and the politician are expected to remain within the domain and as long as they do so the normal dynamics of the government functions smoothly without friction, fear or favor. But in reality, they are actively participating in alleged nexus with the politician and the businessman to promote specific corporate interest because of the immense pressure from their political masters.

Over the years the change in the government, especially ones involving a change in the ruling party has seen the ritual of an administrative musical chair where there is the mass transfusion of the old bureaucrats. The reason behind this exercise is to locate and reward the beneficial bureaucrats. For most of them, it has promoted a culture of victimization and rehabilitation, in an extreme blatant form it has been a dubious exercise often culminating in mass transfers. The seniority and merits are often disregarded in these transfers and they transmit disturbing signals down the rank and damage the morale and confidence of the bureaucrats. This is more evident in the state level government, where there is a substantial political interference in posting and transfers. Most of these decisions are explicitly influenced by caste or personal considerations. At the state level, the pressure is much greater and the consequences are more direct where they make it very obvious that a particular bureaucrat is being punished for resisting the political pressure by unceremonious transfers or death threats.

Bureaucrats are the safety buffer between the unlimited aims of the politicians and the rights of the citizens. They are the ones who actually know the policies and their practicality. An elected politician for the people is just a public figure of the government. The real administration is done by the bureaucrats. The elected member might have the vision but it is the bureaucrats who validate its viability. They are easily politicized because of this very system that makes them the nexus between the politicians and the public. This has lead to the lack of confidence among the public and the administration.

Another real issue that hinders the function of the bureaucrats is the Red-tapism. It delays the welfares in reaching the people by including many intermediate process and approvals. This system gives more power to the already congested hierarchy structure and promotes the culture of nepotism due to which the government schemes/welfare/funds reach the common man saturated because of corruption by the authority. This makes the entire chain of command corrupt even if one single bureaucrat from it is shady. On the flip side, when the complete chain of command is corrupt an ethical bureaucrat becomes the odd one out and is despised. In both cases, a virtuous bureaucrat becomes a victim of tyranny.

So who is to be blamed for the current state of affairs? There is a certain framework with which the bureaucrats have to function, compared to a politician who doesn’t have a framework, so why do the bureaucrats allow the politicians to exploit them? Is it because they fear the consequences, like in the case of Ms.Durga Sakthi Nagpal, of opposing their political masters. Her story is the frequent case of many bureaucrats almost in every state which is untold by the media. A bureaucrat is a tool; they can be used for doing good deeds or for doing bad deeds. The responsibility is with the politicians who they have to work under. So why not pin the blame where it belongs.

The people have evolved drastically over the past 50 years and there has been a massive change in all the sectors over the years, but the bureaucracy remains unchanged and serves a dubious purpose. Constitutionally there is a power asymmetry created and we have to address it by setting a regulatory framework for the politicians who abuse their power. We should adopt a process that is fast and transparent. We have to acknowledge that the bureaucracy is the pillar of democracy that ensures the continuity and stability of the government. They are the backstage workers who give the front stage to the politicians, but for the system to be successful, they both have to give in equal effort and commitment to accelerate the phase of growth in India. All that I want to express is that bureaucrats should be given the respect and recognition they deserve.

Arun Ragavendar

Executive Director

Youth Empowerment Society

Alpha Wisdom Vidyashram is one of the best schools in Trichy. The school focuses on each and every student to ensure the complete physical, mental and social growth of students. It is recognized for its dedication to academic rigour and for its vigorous activity programmes in sports, arts & cultural learning; Alpha thrives in its culturally diverse community. All these qualities are provided in a nurturing educational community which values global citizenship anchored in Indian values.

I had an opportunity to train the students from this school who were attending IIMUN Madurai Chapter. MUN is a global platform for students to debate on an international scale where they exhibit their debating and communication skills at their best. Its main objective is to develop awareness among students of both school and university on international polity which will help them understand the problems that the world faces today and arrive at an appropriate solution to overcome it. It is organized at various places throughout the world as a major event having delegates from across the world. IIMUN( Indian International Model United Nation) is one such event which is organized at India in certain important cities. Recently, IIMUN was organized its Madurai Chapter at KMR International School from 29th July 2016 to 31st July 2016, where almost 200 students from numerous schools like Sacred Hearts, Corpus Christi, Lakshmi School, Seventh Day from south Tamil Nadu participated as delegates representing different countries. The councils that were stimulated were, United Nations Security Council(UNSC) , Historic Security Council(HSC), World Health Organization(WHO), World Trade Organisation(WTO), International Maritime Organization(IMO) and Indian Cabinet on agendas like Reforms for Security Council, Cuban Missile Crisis, Legalization of Marijuana, Dependency of the world economy on US dollars, South China Sea Dispute, Corruption in India respectively. 26 students from Alpha Wisdom school who we trained by us from 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grade participated in it as delegates of various countries and also as International Press. They had participated with full enthusiasm and effort to compete with students from high school in all the councils. It was their first-time participation in MUN and they all had a good experience in being part of the IIMUN. They got an opportunity to interact with students from diverse schools and learn about their culture and principles. It was a three-day event in which there was a social night conducted on the second day, where all our delegates were asked to dance and sing so as to ease out the tension during the council session and to socialize with each other. Five of our students, Kavya Shree(Minister of Education, Indian Cabinet) from 9th grade, Lolitha and Kiriti (UNSC-Delegates of Japan) from 8th grade, Subiksha and Naveenavani(UNSC-Delegates of France) won medals for their remarkable performance at the councils.

The training sessions at Alpha Wisdom Vidyashram was a great platform for me to address students on what MUN is all about and why it is important. I had a great time with the students throughout my training sessions. In my training with the students, I observed that most of the students enthusiastically participated in the MUN. I was also amazed that parents showed comparable interest in learning about MUN and were eager for their children to learn about it. They were keen on knowing the process of MUN and were delighted to be a part of the world events. The students are determined to learn more and to mould their skills by being part of MUN. As a mentor and trainer for the students, I observed that most of them had good potential and confidence. I am sure they all will learn more with consistent effort. I have also observed a drastic and progressive change in the students during the training sessions. I am sure with appropriate training and guidance they will reach great heights. Overall, it was a very valuable and satisfying experience for all the students who attended the IIMUN. Students are looking forward to participating in various other MUN’s.

Arun Ragavendar

Executive Director

Youth Empowerment Society