Lindsay Pereira: We don't need no education

A protest at Mumbai Universitys Kalina campus over the delay in results File picI was a student of the University of Bombay for a long time I dont look upon that period of my life with fondness because like millions of students before and after me there has never been much to look forward to in any of its buildings Dont take my word for it though take a walk through its sprawling haphazard campus any day of the week and see for yourself Stop by any of the classrooms peek into the bathrooms if you dare or better still try engaging any member of the administrative staff for some help on how you can apply for a degreeThe careers of over 4 lakh students are at risk this year after Mumbai University skipped a number of deadlines for announcing results Of the 477 courses offered the results of 212 examinations were yet to be declared by August 5 According to media reports many answer sheets were pending evaluation Naturally university officials blame technological glitches because as everyone who has ever dealt with the highly educated men and women who manage the place knows there is never any room for human error when things go wrong Admission processes in most colleges are already complete which means thousands of graduating students may simply have to suspend their careers for a yearOne of the universitys respected faculty members recently described it as a spineless system run by stooges He referred to the awful condition of the libraries its inability to pay bills the poor state of its hostels low funds for research and lack of housing facilities for the staff The people who run the university arent bothered of course because they understand the fact that these glaring problems are less important than the need to open offshore campuses in Dubai and the United States There was even an amusing world tour mentioned earlier this year in order to set up a campus in AmericaI think its unfair of us to blame the university though because no one I know has ever expected it to be efficient on any front Try calling any of its helplines for instance Do it for a laugh Try any department or the office or drop by any of the 100odd rooms on campus for help with anything related to any degree and gauge for yourself if this is an institution that takes education seriously The fact that no one has been sacked for ruining the lives of thousands of students is proof of how seriously the government takes the place tooThe National Institutional Ranking Framework recently ranked universities management medical and technical institutes on the basis of teaching and learning resources outreach graduation outcome inclusivity research work and perception MU was placed somewhere between 151 and 200 Apparently university officials were disappointed with the results but couldnt really explain why their performance was so dismal They could ask any of their students for clues if they chose to but the only time the university listens to its students is when the latter happen to be children of influential politicians trying to get some attention by banning a book or somethingThere was a time when the university was not the decrepit rundown depressing place it is now when qualified teachers still roamed its corridors and education was more important for its managers than photoops with politicians or study tours that yielded nothing tangible The fact that it refuses to acknowledge how deeply the rot has set in shows it may never climb to those heights again which will be a tragedy for everyone who was once proud of a degree awarded by the institutionMaybe we should relieve MU of its misery at some point and encourage our children to study elsewhere preferably at places that value education encourage and support great teachers and pick managers on the basis of merit rather than political leanings We should encourage our children to study at places that value them as students and realise that they exist because of the students not despite the presence of themOr maybe we should abandon the idea of higher education entirely Our government doesnt take education seriously anyway and we live in a country where being educated has nothing to do with being put in charge of the education system itself In fact it is often people who dont bother getting an education at all that end up running our country of a billion peopleWhen he isnt ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereira Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom