Kerala- withering away of an educated society

By D.Dhanuraj

This year also, as per the custom, Minister of Education announced SSLC examination results in Kerala. He announced the results and took the credits away from his counter parts of the previous years for the highest pass percentage in the history," 94.17%". 

Looks like 100 meters race where the studies have shown that the world record in 100 m would be difficult to be broken as it might be a humanly impossible task. But at times, I tend to think that in Kerala, SSLC results may even touch 100 % unlike the impossible 100 meters sprint record. But then, what would be the implications of such a record breaking pass percentage?

I see a Tsunami waiting for Kerala in another 4 to 5 years. It would be largely because Kerala is producing a dishonest new generation who does not believe in merit as a virtue. Passing SSLC through learning is no more their concern, its a matter of pride for the Minister of Education and he will do his best to make sure that he announces the highest pass percentage every year.

I don't believe in the figure 94.17. I dare to challenge; how many of these students know how to read and write in Malayalam? How many of them know the elementary Arithmetic? 

The political leadership find their satisfaction in the highest percentage they attribute to SSLC results every year. I am surprised when Education Minister himself announces SSLC results every year as a ritual. Why should he? I strongly believe that we are over emphasizing on SSLC exams results by the similar kinds of actions mentioned above. In fact, if that was the case, it would have been the Union HRD Minister to announce CBSE and Prime Minister to announce UPSE results!! 

Kerala Government should be proud of producing NASA scientists and not SSLC pass percentage.

What is the end result of such a poor policy of generating high pass percentages? Merit and dishonesty are the values inculcated in the future generations. They become lazy and expect freebies and moderation from the State every time. Though these are the long term impacts, there are immediate end result in the higher education. 

Having 134 Engineering Colleges in Kerala, everyone will be aspiring to become an engineer. In this case, most of the engineering students in these colleges would end up either failing in the exams or grab a B.Tech degree even without minimum high school qualification. 

This will show the engineering stream of Kerala in a poor light. This will have an impact on the long term survival and sustainability of the private engineering colleges. 

The society may lose their interest in these colleges and that will compel them to shut down these shops. Most of the engineering colleges in that scenario may become Beer Parlors and hotels. This would be the case with other educational institutions in higher education. 

The economy and market revolving around these higher education institutions will burst. 

Teachers in all the categories will suffer as they struggle to get equipped to teach the future generations. Many among the teachers themselves would not be the fit for the profession as they belong to the 95 % pass percentage category mentioned above. 

Private companies will not recruit from Kerala as they find only misfits here. This will have a negative impact on the investments in Kerala. 

Keralites going abroad for jobs will shrink as they will be incompetent on job. This will have a serious repercussion in the remittance economy that has sustained Kerala for many decades. There will be a distorted market of the skilled, semi skilled and unskilled professionals from Kerala finding it difficult to living up to the reputation of the past.