Mohammed Issam Siddique
There is a growing demand for engineering studies. This has only increased the number of students hoping to make it into the country’s premiere institute — IIT. At least 400,000 students fight it out for the 4,000 seats available in the seven IITs.
The IIT system dates back to 1946 when Sir Jogendra Singh of the Viceroy’s Executive Council set up a committee whose task was to consider the creation of higher technical institutions for post-war industrial development in India.
The result was the genesis of IIT which was supposed to be the epitome of science and technological advancements. The committee wanted such institutes to not just churn out undergraduates but produce world class researchers and scientists.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, had summed it up beautifully during the first convocation address at IIT kharagpur: “Here stands the fine monument of India, representing India’s urges, India’s future in the making. This picture seems to me symbolical of the changes that are coming to India.”
The future it sure was. Having churned out some of the best minds of India ever since its inception, it set its own standards for other institutes to emulate. An admission to any of the IITs was the dream of any parent and student — more to the parent than to the student sometimes. With the growing population of India, more IITs were set up.
Coaching centres
The count now is seven and the number of students aspiring to get into them is a few lakhs. It was obvious that not all could make it. To catch up with the best, you could enrol into many of the brilliant coaching centres which started sprouting up in different parts of the country. It was only in the metros that such centres survived. With growing awareness among parents, they would enrol their child either in the 9th standard or in the 11th.
The child would have to sweat it out in these years to come up to the IIT-ian standards. At the end, it is obvious that not all can make it for the seats are just the same. And in the process you end up losing on something precious called life. In the name of coaching and tuition centres, the life of the child just revolves around home and such study centres.
All this is being done not for any lofty reasons. Much of the craze is only to ensure a secure future. Secure because the lads coming out of such prestigious institutions are obviously going to be kidnapped by firms ready to drape them in bundles of dollars.
Seldom can one find a dedicated soul entering the premises of IITs for satisfying his thirst for knowledge.
It’s a pity that something that started off with such lofty purposes got reduced to a mere money making machine. I am not against the IITs, nor do I doubt the genius of the pupils entering the IITs. What I am concerned about is the attitude of people regarding the IITs. They should stop seeing them solely from a financial angle.
The IITs instead should focus on developing innovative ideas and products which can take the world forward. Rather than priding ourselves on high paid jobs, we should encourage income generating ideas. We need entrepreneurs who are daring enough to show the world the new way.
And coaching centres are no way to get into such places. Only pure brilliance and unfettered dedication will let you survive inside the IITs.
Then why burden the minds of your children and your own pockets with unnecessary ideas. Children instead should be playing their heart out in their schools. Schooling is something which should bring pleasant memories once we are out of it. And for God’s sake, let’s stop killing young minds with poisonous thoughts. You don’t cease to exist if you cannot make it to the IITs.
Taken from http://www.hindu.com/op/2008/05/25/stories/2008052551931600.htm
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