What is merit?

Most of us associate merit with the marks a particular candidate scores in an entrance exam or the boards. is this measure true? Can a student who has studied in rural India with no coaching centers and high profile schools be compared to a student in a metro with best of facility and schools? To certain extent it’s not just the caliber of the student that accounts for the performance in the exams, it’s also the support he gets on the way that determines the scores. Hence we should not use the scores as the only way of judging students caliber.

I support providing equal opportunity to all students, but restricting the argument only to colleges such as IIT’s and IIM’s is not fair. What about the schools and primary education? Do the students with best caliber get admissions into the best schools, economic status determines which school a student studies. Even in colleges I don’t see any of these activists protesting against college selling seats in the name of “Paid seats” across the country. Why should only rich kids get the opportunity to study?

Also to the so called meritorious students who in the institutes claim that the standard of students will come down and hence the reputation of the institute, how are you contributing back to the nation that has provided you this education? Students who study on government subsidized loans finally end up flying out of this country or many of them join organization that have no direct link to improving the current state of affairs. Paying tax is not a favor we are doing to the government, if we demand a certain level of life that’s the cost we pay for!

To conclude, this debate on premier institutes hardly affects a few thousands every year and to make a fundamental and lasting change the quality of education needs to be improved from bottom –up. Let’s make the schools good, provide each child equal opportunities to grow and learn. Reservation on caste can be avoided as it proliferates a divide in the society that was determined by past. But it’s foolish to believe that it can be taken out of the society at one stroke, as it was fundamentally determined by the kind of work people engaged in history. Unless equal opportunity is provided to all people and the divide based on years of deprivation removed, it is difficult.

So lets not get caught in a initiative that will touch a few thousands of people. We have a billion people in our country and I would assume around 200 to 300 billion students, lets develop a strategy for equal opportunity to this pool. Let not vote bank determine the initiatives. Visibility should not drive such issues. To this extent media and eminent people in this regard need to cognize for the magnitude of the larger issue and focus on the overall education system.