Comment Pieces

Corruption in the Classroom

C. S. Lewis , the famous Irish writer once said that “ The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.” Try telling that to all those who begin to feel their blood pressure rise at the beginning of each school term, and need to take a stress test at the end of it. The endless lines outside the administrator’s office, the waiting nervously for results, the uncertainty of admissions and finally – the capitation fees are certainly not for the faint hearted. But while these hallowed halls of intellectual pursuits impart and insist that its inhabitants follow principles of noble conduct and impeachable virtue, the truth is altogether different.

Since this is the season for admissions, ipaidabribe.com suddenly received a deluge of Bribe Reports related to the education field; 247 in all. The breakdown of bribes per transaction is as follows :

“I was recruited for teacher training in Deoria district in 2010 and when my certificates were sent for verification there was some minor error from the concerned department issuing the certificate. I was asked to pay Rs 5000 by the head clerk in order to correct the error and he suggested that if I don’t listen to him and if the matter goes to the BSA office it will turn into lakhs! So I was forced to pay Rs 5000 in order to carry out my training smoothly.”

Teachers open the doors of our minds. They create the foundation for intellectual capital that our society and our future rest upon. When Victor Hugo said, “He who opens a school door, closes a prison”, he was definitely not referring to the following stories, where the school door itself becomes a prison – there is no one to appeal to here and no one who will come to your aid.

“I got my number in a B Tech college in Jind, Haryana, but did not want to go there. Then I tried second counselling, but did not get my name in the list. I then went to a private counselling in a college in Sohna, Haryana, but got Electrical Engineering, in which I was not interested, so I dropped that thought. Then I thought I should go for coaching and try next year but came to know about this college, in Gurgaon. I paid Rs 50,000 to get admission there and made a point to myself that I had given this amount as the hostel fees, as this college was near my home.”

Paying for admissions forces us to recognise that even though eligibility for many professional courses comes under the Common Aptitude Test scores, the final decision is still determined by a transfer of notes. But having to pay for marks you rightfully deserve trivialises the value of merit and sincere, hard work.

“During my engineering days, we had to work in the shop. Some of the students including me had worked on the metal welding project etc. ourselves. Some of them got it made from outside shops since it was easy and well made. The workshop instructor used this excuse and said he will fail everyone unless everybody paid Rs 100.

Here’s another story.

“I had a botany practical exam in my 12th board exam. The peon of the lab had asked me to pay him Rs 50 or otherwise he won't give me the good quality of specimen.”

Imagine taking advantage of hapless students to fill your pockets! Evidently, something is terribly wrong with the education system. But it doesn’t stop there. It seems that each and every process has a price.

“In 2005, I was applying for a Scholarship from the Teacher's Benefit Fund, as my mother is a government teacher. The form required the sign of my Principal. So, I approached the Principal's Office (Government Engineering College), where the person who attended to me asked me to collect it after one hour. Later, when I went to collect the signed form, the attendant refused to give the form and asked for bribe. It had been just 2-3 days I had joined this college and I knew no one over there. So, I had to pay the attendant 50 bucks to get the signed form and finally submitted the form to the Teacher's Benefit Fund Scholarship”.

“I couldn't attend the convocation to collect my engineering degree certificate, so after 5 or 6 years I went to the university to collect my degree certificate. I applied for my certificate and the clerks tell me to collect it the next day. The next evening when I went to collect my certificate, they played out a drama by saying that the office superintendant/registrar are busy and that they would send my certificate by post. I felt it was ridiculous as I went all the way to the University, travelling 1500 km just to collect Degree Certificate. After waiting for a day, I did not want to go back, empty handed. I paid that guy Rs 500 to get the Registrar's signature. I went along with him to the Registrar's office and in two minutes, he got the signature.”

But the next story illustrates that no one is free from this dark shadow. Teachers, students and institutions are all caught in the complex web of corruption.

“I had to pay a bribe to get sanction for my institute which was legally correct but no person in the Education department in Mantralaya works without a bribe. They openly ask for money and take money in the office itself and shamelessly call if you do not pay on time as promised. The entire DTe department is corrupt. Check their bank and house. You will find crores.”

Circumstances such as the above produce people who end up disgruntled with the system and in turn pass their frustrations on down the line, becoming not positive influencers, but negative game players. We have all encountered some of them in one educational institution or the other, haven’t we?

Since times immemorial, teaching has been regarded as one of the noblest of professions due its capacity to change the lives of millions who benefit from the advantage of enlightened guidance. Education, in turn, is meant to illuminate our minds and make better human beings out of us. It is therefore all the more tragic when institutions that are meant to inspire us to higher levels, themselves wallow in the mire.