The inexorable rise in cut-offs point to the fact that the higher education system in India is breaking down, if not already broken. It needs urgent repair. At the end of the day, minus quality human infrastructure, there is no point in developing physical infrastructure
Come June-end and the social media is all abuzz about the college admissions procedures. Several of us — now in our thirties, comment about how we, with our marks in the 1990s, would not have secured admission in the prestigious Delhi University. This year, in many colleges, the marks required for admission touched the mathematical impossibility of a 100 per cent.
Of course, this is due to the 2.5 per cent penalty that the students have to suffer, if they change their stream from what they had in their higher secondary school to what they want for graduation. It is also possible that the cut-off marks will fall subsequently, but the fact is that the students who wish to gain admission into a premier Delhi University college will need to score stupendously high in their board exams.
And here is the strange thing — the reason why the cut-offs have risen inexorably is due to the constant increase in marks that the students have been receiving in their board examinations. A decade ago, a student who got 90 per cent and above could easily secure a seat in one of the best colleges of the Delhi University. But today, scoring as high as over 95 per cent cannot guarantee admission into a top-notch college.
For example, there is a one-in-six chance of being admitted into St Stephen’s college (recently voted as India’s top Arts and Science college by India Today magazine) as it would require a general category student to score more than 97 per cent for the desirable English literature course. Fifteen years ago, the marks required to qualify for the interview for the same course was as low as 80 per cent. This columnist remembers it because he had applied for the same course and was subsequently admitted to the same.
The cut-off marks for Delhi University considers the average of a student’s best four subjects in his/her board exams (out of a minimum of five) with a few riders, depending on the course — students applying for English literature have to include English as one of those four subjects.
In the case of switching streams — if a Biology student wants to take up Economics for his graduation, he or she will have to take a penalty of 2.5 per cent. Concessions are given only to the students who belong to the reserved category. Even worse, the cut-offs for the reserved category students exceeded 90 per cent in many colleges. The only exemption is for the students with physical disabilities.
But as Reverend Valson Thampu, the principal of St Stephen’s, has pointed out, this year the college has been inundated with a record number of applications, at 32,100. This, while there are only a maximum of 400 seats in the college — an average of 80 applications per seat. For the ‘in’ subjects like English literature, where there are only 30 seats, there were 200 applications per available seat.
In addition to the rush of applications, there is yet another fact — Delhi University sources have pointed out that there are over 5,000 students who have applied with marks that exceed 95 per cent.
So, there is a multiplier effect. First, there is an increasing number of students graduating from higher secondary school nowadays, particularly in urban centres such as Delhi, which has seen a dramatic population increase over the past two decades. Second, this fact is made worse by the increasing numbers of students who do extremely well in their board exams. Or is that actually the caseIJ
There is a clear case of ‘grade inflation’; subjects that had a subjective element have become increasingly objective. Strange as it might seem, it is possible for the students to score full marks in the language subjects as well. Scoring a maximum of 100 marks was always possible in subjects like science and mathematics, but this is inexplicable for the language subjects. There are students, plural, who today score 100 per cent in their best four subjects, including English. Grade inflation has clearly got out of hand.
In addition, there is also a fact that has not been dealt with. We have not been able to create more institutions of excellence like the St Stephen’s, the Hindu College, Shri Ram College of Commerce and lady Shri Ram College for Women. This is replicated across the country, the same premier colleges keep topping the charts. Although many private universities have made their mark across the country in certain disciplines, but much remains rotten in the state of higher education in India.
A recent Reuters report has pointed out that there are tens of medical colleges in India that do not adhere to the norms. In many private engineering colleges, seats remain vacant. The Government’s solution, both the current Government and the previous Government was to indulge in brand-extension by creating premier institutes like the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Management.
Yet, some of these new institutes are finding it difficult if not impossible to find faculty, others have been run out of rented and unsuitable accommodation for years on end. Nothing has been done for the Arts and Commerce section, even as many promises were made by various State and Central Governments. Sadly, there is a stunning lack of educational facilities in India and this is due to years and years of inaction.
If India is to truly harness the power of its young people, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often said, it should find a way to educate the young people properly. If it cannot find a way to educate the youth, the youths will leave. like in the past, some of India’s best and brightest will put their considerable talents to work for other countries. But this will not be because of a lack of economic opportunity in India but because of a lack of quality educational opportunities.
India’s higher education system is breaking down if not already broken and it needs urgent repair. Because at the end of the day, minus quality human infrastructure, there is no point in developing physical infrastructure.
