MAFIA IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

           I never thought my satirical note ‘Facebook Vacation’ will, in this pachydermic academic world, sting someone. I come to understand that it did. Though it is a story of a single mosquito biting an elephant, it has some lessons to teach. After the bite, the metaphorical elephant seems to have expressed its anger furiously trumpeting that in another ten days it will do away with the mosquito.

         If I must use plain speech, a Principal of a college after reading my quip, swore in front of his cronies that he will do away with me in 10 days. He is furious at me for exposing his fraud under RTI. Three days are already gone. Just seven more days to live! Isn’t this fatwa issuing Principal, an interesting joke?

   Then, what is the lesson we learn from this mosquito-elephant story? Why a professed academician must in the first place commit a fraud? Why then when his critic uses his pen, he thinks of using his gun as a response? He can jolly well use the social media or tell the Information Commission/Court the plain truth and establish that he has not committed any fraud.

        Dishonesty, corruption and violence associated with education, have a long history in India. Today, however these felonious elements have joined in different permutations and combinations to completely undo the system. They have indeed crossed certain threshold level. The present stage of decay I would call as mafiaization of education. Before I explain my concept, let us take a look at how the decay happens at different levels.

LEVEL-1: ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

       This is an ever present malice in the system. This ranges from classroom plagiarism and copying in assignments to producing cut and paste PhD theses. Internet has now created tremendous facility for this. Indian universities and colleges till date have been quite insensitive to this issue. India ranks highest in plagiarism. No university has effective code to contain this.

LEVEL-2 ACADEMIC CHEATING

       This is about several forms of examination malpractices which involves both teachers and students which range from copying in exams to award of marks/degrees by teachers and administrators for pecuniary consideration. Many universities turn a blind eye to this as many of its own faculty and administrators are part of the racket. Today, PhD guides in several universities run ‘cut-and-sell’ PhD shops where a thesis sells anything between Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 100,000/-. They are prepared to give any kind of certificate on payment.

LEVEL-3: COMMERCIALIZATION AND PROFITEERING (Systemic)

       When India did not manage to put up an honest, clean, accountable system of education in its first 50 years of independence, the neoliberal policies opened the floodgates for private operators to develop education as they did with Highways, coalmines and failed public sector industries. All kinds of black money flowed in as capital. Black money earned by corrupt politicians, real estate sharks, apkari contractors, even corporate houses entered education with motives which were totally inimical to educational objectives.

       Compare this with the nationalist minded philanthropists, private operators, caste/religious associations who started private institutions before and after independence.  If this yester year private operators were committed to some social/political cause, the present private operators are committed to only one cause: MAKE SUPER PROFIT AT SUPER SPEED BREAKING THE VERY ETHICAL FOUNDATION OF THE NOBLE SYSTEM. Unlike in the past, where even when philanthropists made huge personal investments in education, they treated education sacrosanct and left its management in the hands of educationists. They never seriously interfered with the work of Vice-chancellors, Principals and Headmasters they came to appoint.

       Now, every joker who puts in money wants to be a Pro-chancellor or Director or in the broad sense, wants to be a kalvithanhai. Big capitation fee, corruption in placement, appointment of sub standard staff in order to make profit and absence of academic ambience have come to rule many campuses. We also shamelessly tell ourselves that less than 20% of our graduates are employable.

       We are happy as long as we can buy and sell education and stakes related to education. We, without any qualms tell that a college lecturer’s job is available for 30 lakhs and Vice-chancellor’s job for 1 or 2 crores. So, education has become an easy source of money making. Corruption in education is the order.

LEVEL IV: MAFIAIZATION OF EDUCATION

       Many of us did not think seriously about commercialization and wholesale corruption in education. We simply gave a broad brush treatment that corruption in education would promote only mediocrity. Neither did we try to understand the meaning of mediocrity nor the systemic damage it would bring.

        Corruption in the first place brings unqualified/ undeserving/fraudulent/ average and below average people into the system. As long as mediocre persons are less in number, they try to hide themselves and find their existence in the margins of the system. When the magnitude of corruption increases, the number of mediocre persons increases in terms of every rank and position. Then they capture the system forming a network or syndicate.

        Since mediocre persons develop a strong sense of intellectual inadequacy and inferiority, their first attack is on the order of merit in the system and therefore, anyone standing for merit. As a logical corollary, they de-sanctify the system and dismantle its institutional fabric. Freedom, democracy and individual dignity become serious casualties. They increasingly use extra constitutional means, the logical extreme of which is violence. A college or university becomes a system of servitude and evinces only the silence of the grave on real issues.

        Use of violence is possible only when these men and women in power form an unholy alliance with corrupt politicians, policemen, and underworld goons. They silence their opponents within the academia by not only using vindictive administrative measures like denial of promotions, suspensions, dismissals, foisting of false cases etc. but also by employing criminal intimidation and violence. Anyone who gives public support from outside is also handled violently. Madurai has good number of examples.

        A system that works on the mafia logic is established within the academia. Another tragedy is that a section of students and faculty are drawn into the fold of this criminal syndicate of the academia to be used as agents and informers on the basis of petty benefits. No wonder, Vice-chancellors and institutional heads are implicated with charges of cheating, fraud, attempt murder or murder these days. Corruption charges and CBI inquiries are mere mosquito bites for them.

        But the question remains; can an elephant kill a mosquito? Will my friend in town learn the lesson? Seven more days!

                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                   25.06.2014

CHINNARAJ JOSEPH