The great Indian Illusion

The Rat Race of becoming an Engineer or a Doctor -  The great Indian Illusion

Coaching Class

The number of engineers India is producing every year outpaces the populations of many small nations. There is no such standard qualifying bar today. Anybody can become an engineer or a doctor if not with IQ then with money. 

How did medical or engineering become the top most illusion in India?

The answer lies in the Introduction of English in our education system by the Britishers way before independence. English was introduced in India by Thomas Macaulay, British secretary in 1830. Britishers required clerks and interpreters to run their administration. They wanted an education system where kids become obedient and not intelligent. So, they enacted a system for their own benefit by forcefully introducing English as a compulsory subject in schools. Other languages that were already there were Sanskrit and Arabic. Under this system, no importance was given to regional language, intelligence and creativity. But the focus was only on English and obedience. So intelligence didn’t develop but due to English knowledge the students got prepared for US and European job markets. Unfortunately this education system still prevails in india. The results of NEP 2020 are yet to be realized. 

Cold war and liberalization

During 1960 to 1990 India was a socialist economy. There were restrictions in doing business and because of high taxes on imports, exposure to western world was totally blocked. Due to frustrations because of the restrictions, Indians were ready to go abroad. 

Amidst the Cold war, Russia launched the Sputnik satellite. To beat Russia, the demand for engineers increased in the USA and they opened the economic road to foreigners. Because of English speaking and writing knowledge, Indians got freedom and opportunities to work with the USA. 

In 1991, Manmohan Singh's Policy of liberalization threw away all restrictions and joined the Indian economy to the global economy. Soon, Indian Start-Ups were successfully able to complete some big projects for the USA. So many western countries started outsourcing huge amounts of work to Indians. Consequently the requirement of engineers and foreign going opportunities increased.

The multi billion dollar coaching Industry

A benchmark was created that if 10th board results are good, the student will take science. Another benchmark set was if the student happens to be a male, he will go for engineering and if a female, she would go for medical. These requirements gave birth to a new phenomenon in India- ”The Coaching Industry”. Parents, Coaching and IITs - These three words washed away two to three golden years of many students after 10th. It is not restricted to IIT alone. In fact the list is long with the NIITs, Government Engineering colleges, Private Engineering colleges in a down the order sequence. This “multi billion dollar coaching industry” was formed due to the intense competition and societal pressure. Now, you know what lies in the formation of this big industry. The greatest irony is, many students till date couldn’t sort out the difference between tuition and coaching. 

When it comes to the coaching industry we hear names like Aakash, Kota, Bihar’s Super30, Career Point, Rao Academy, Bansal Classes etc. All of them have their own stories of establishment and growth. Business is not a bad thing but business at the cost of students' valuable years is really a very bad thing. The bad thing is to hide the truth that led a strong human resource to go for big hoardings (using one fish to attract some more fishes) instead of seeking true knowledge and wisdom. The truth that was not revealed because of money. The truth could have saved valuable time and money for the students and parents and Vision 2020 of APJ Abdul Kalam could have been realized some years earlier.

The IITs were started by Jawaharlal Nehru. 4 IITs in four corners of the country. IIT Kharagpur, first IIT in India was made in a Britishers’ detention camp. IIT Bombay with the help of UNESCO and Russia. IIT Kanpur with MITs assistance and IIT madras with the help of Germany. 

Reputation and Quality of IITs is world famous. The number of seats in IITs and other Government colleges of India is very less in comparison to the number of aspirants that apply. Further the reservation has made it tougher to get a seat in the IITs and the medical colleges. Less seats, reservation and parents' dreams made IIT admission a war for students. Preparation began to be started from class 10 onwards and this situation snatched those two beautiful years from their life. All the credit of this rat race goes to the Indian Education System. With such a mentality, our nation will never become a superpower. There will be brain drain and an intellectual void will continue to exist in most sectors to be dominated by other countries. 

99% is not our applied knowledge but an imaginary number constructed by our education system. We can’t say that our education system is on the right track after 2020 because Arts, Creativity and Sports are still considered extra co-curricular activities. The obedience to parents at the cost of your dreams is fake obedience which is a social creation. Parents have a negative attitude to their child’s creativity in most situations. They too are victims of fear, shame and guilt. The result is that a student is unable to take his or her future career decisions and put himself or herself in the rat race of becoming an engineer or a doctor. 

Now, an interesting phenomenon has been crafted in the process. After becoming an Engineer or a Doctor, they realize what they really wanted to become. You can read tons of such stories on the internet where a doctor ended up becoming a politician, an engineer ended up becoming an actor. I would rather name this phenomenon as- “Four or five years of irrelevant information loading”. 

Test the diverse career fields from the very beginning and know your passion as early as possible. Especially middle class parents must take the risk of encouraging their children to go towards diverse fields. Don’t become a victim of this obsession. 

Nowadays almost all the professions are tied up with coaching. From IAS to TET, B.ED to Law entrance everywhere there is coaching programs. Just a graphic design and some digital marketing and parents are ready to send them. But the question is - Is it really necessary or we have fallen into the chain of this illusion.