Open cheating in Bihar exams: Stop the outrage, feel the shame
How far will you go to get a piece of paper if your life depended on that piece of paper? That piece of paper is called Matriculation certificate. The tragedy is it is only given to those who pass the board exams. Those who fail do not get a certificate saying they failed the exams. If they did, parents wouldn't risk their life by scaling walls, standing on thin parapets to pass on chits of paper in the hope that this will get their ward that coveted chit called certificate.
The photographs of kin helping their candidates cheat in class 10 examination halls in Bihar's Vaishali district just fit the stereotype and strengthened the prejudice that has sustained for a long time. That of jungle raj, the badlands, the lawless lot. The images just settled comfortably with the popular it-can-only-happen-in-Bihar theory.
The truth is it doesn't happen all over Bihar. It happens only in parts of the state. The truth also is that it doesn't happen only in Bihar. It happens in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other states too. But the cameras reached the rural wastelands and the visuals shocked us and offered us with an opportunity to generalise. Like the Gujarat riots were the worst, like all terrorists are Muslims, like girls are only raped in Delhi, like girls are killed in Haryana and Marathis hate north Indians.
I wrote about the widespread cheating culture in Bihar Board exams here yesterday. But let us tackle the uncomfortable question where the answer lies. Why do they need to cheat en masse? Well, it's not as black and white as the quick TV news debates will have you believe. Go back to the first sentence of this piece. That's the critical piece in this puzzle. This far they go to help their wards pass the first and perhaps the most critical test in life. That certificate is the proof of existence for many. It contains the father's/mother's name. It has the examinee's date of birth. It's a government document that works as the identity for one's life. Pity, they do not give it to those who fail. The matriculation certificate is the proof of identity. In our bureaucratic setup, a citizen is entitled to various rights and entitlements and availing those need a certificate. That matriculation certificate is the most credible and universally accepted proof.
Of course, this can be acquired without cheating. But the state's education infrastructure is poor and many, especially girls, have to drop schools for economic/religious reasons. It is a well-known fact that teaching has become a part-time job where you have plenty of time to do other business and the choice of not going to the classrooms. Then there are para-teachers, technically half-teachers, unqualified and there because politics of providing employment got them there. The Shiksha Mitras are not even qualified enough to teach Class 5 students. Just Youtube and you will find hilarious videos of teachers not knowing who the prime minister of India is. For example, this video from UP.
With caste-based reservation in place, it becomes a do-or-die battle for the downtrodden to clear the exam to be eligible for jobs reserved for them (grade fourth jobs). Hence, family and friends put everything on stake to help them clear it. A good number of girls who generally do not get to attend regular schools for many reasons, appear for tenth and families don't mind helping them in the examination halls. Patriarchy and religious beliefs prevent girls from going to school daily. Girls have to run the home, cook and serve within the four walls so where do they get time to spend in books? A traditional Muslim family never allows a girl of that age to step out in the open but they all want an educated girl as bride. To make her eligible for marriage family helps her to pass the Matric in one shot. Above all, education is not a fair game in India and it is a means to access to power and command prestige more than the question of livelihood. One needs deep pocket to earn degrees from private colleges. It's not a level-playing field where only merit counts. Money does count. So, people who can't afford private schools or coaching, this mass cheating is the great leveller. People with money buy their wards seats in prestigious engineering or medical colleges. The boy who hawks vegetables during the day and can barely manage to buy course books is left behind. When the state fails to support them, their near and dear ones come out on the exam day and do their best.
If their state and their country have failed to provide them the very basics of life, it is also a failure of the state. If the state has been complicit in this despicable act, it's the failure of the state.
The students who will pass from these examination centres are not going to take your jobs or become competition. They are not in it for education. They are in it for the piece of paper that certifies they were born on xyz dates. As simple as that.