A COMMODITY CALLED EDUCATION

Solidarity in society is dangerous to the authority. The first thing a government in collaboration with corporate structure and there inculcated greed does to a society is to break solidarity in the society. The reason for it is to make walking zombies of the humans with no concerns about their brothers and sisters and only hunting for consumption and surviving in the society as commodity fetishists. That’s the only role a ruler dreams of who is too mighty headed and wants everybody to look away when they are out there to turn the society on its head as per there unilateral view of it. The first step to break the society’s solidarity and mutual concern for it is PRIVATIZATION OF EDUCATION.

In any group with mutual empathy i.e. a family, friends or a team, special care and utmost attention is given to the people with special needs. In better-developed parts of the world, preferential access to public spaces and transport to the people with special needs is a norm. That is how empathy evolves. If a child in the family is less healthy than others, parents care more about that kid’s nutrition and health. A trekker struggling to cross the loose-roped bridge is helped and many times carried by his comrades, that is how all of them reach the destination and achieve their goal.

However, the public education system in the country like India fails this logic. The public institutes of primary education are worst for weaker economic and social sections. Even the public education systems get better in the major cities and towns. This, whether a planned or unplanned practice; leads to total negation and repudiation of the already downtrodden. It turns education into a privilege and a commodity of desire rather than a right and it produces job-searching hounds rather than pupils and seekers who ask questions.

 The society built on this educational model treats intellectuals, thinkers, researchers, the people who want to dedicate their lives to study and engage in the attributes of human species that separate it from animals, as freeloaders. The same society, however, respects and admires MBAs and bankers whose sole education is basically financial manipulation and no rectification for human life whatsoever. This is the reason why we see a very minuscule number of science students from high-schools getting into actual scientific study and research in their post-secondary education.

When education costs so much, the pupil then doesn’t want to remain a pupil; rather they wait impatiently to turn into a professional and pay off those high education loans. In these modern. State of the art higher-educational institutes, a maximum number of students is either from a hyper-privileged class, who are just earning social acceptance via a degree or middle-class children aspiring to become a part of the privileged class. In institutes like these, you hardly ever see political student bodies or socially motivated activities.

  The problem arises when there are still institutes in the country that were created in a different time with a different aim that still provides quality education and their tuition fees allows pupils to remain pupils and have a mind of their own and after completing education take some time to introspect and think about the quality rather than quantity of their work.  These institutes have been nurturing  immense talent since many past decades. The students, as well as teachers in such institutes, have a passion for education.  

These are the kind of institutes whose students from any background can make experimental work and publish research papers and create new dimensions in their field because the government and society share responsibility so that they better society in some manner. In India, these are the institutes like NID, SPA, IITs, JNU, AIIMS, FTII, JJ institute etc.

In past years many times different governments have shown the desire to privatize some of these institutes as they are “lacking the ability to churn profit” and “turning into a liability”. If giving affordable education to the youth of the country is a liability then what is the “duty” of the government? If a government cannot provide equal education, equal healthcare and equal justice to all citizens then what is even the purpose of the government and what is the idea of a nation?

When a responsible and dutiful parent educates their child; they give her/him the best opportunity as per their ability. They don’t ask for profits. They want them to be a better human being who can take care of themselves and when capable even stand up for their parents as well. If the governments and state pretend to be parents and guardians , then why aren’t they ready to take up the responsibility and act like one?