A boy coming from a very poor background and cracking a very high end competitive exam, getting admission to a prestigious institution of the country is a news that makes us all very happy. The news of our boys and girls doing well in different exams and making it to prestigious institutions is always a relief because they are finally collective assets. They sets a benchmark for the students who follow their footprints. This year also we have had a good number of students coming out with flying colors in different competitive exams. But there are some questions that we need to ask ourselves as a society, and also put before the authorities who administer the education sector in J&K. The first and the foremost is that the education is fast becoming an enterprise in capital. We have regular education institutions who charge huge money and that is not affordable for a middle class family, not to speak of poor parents. The second concern that closely follows the first one is that the books and other material that is required in such schools is priced high.
Given these two impediments, are we not making our schooling subservient to the economic status. In this way we exclude a large number of good students from getting admission to decent schools. If it makes us jubilant that a boy from a poor family is cracking a competitive exam what of those hundreds of poor children who could have performed well but this system has no space for them. The condition of the government schools is such that it is not even the last choice for the parents who are serious about the education of their children. Apart from this, our schools hardly invest in teachers who are the backbone of the education. It is finally a teacher that fires the imagination of students and empowers them with the skills to crack exams. In the entire schooling system the most neglected part is the teachers. Neither the government nor the parents hold the school administrations responsible in this matter. If we can reform our education we can have more students joining premier institution, not just within Indian but globally as well.