Education System Touching Low-ebb

University and College teachers’ appointmentprocesses and interests
have changed beyond recognition in the last four tofive decades. My father-in-law Dr Sabhajit Mishra, a retired Professor and Headof the Philosophy Department of Deen Dayal Upadhyay University of Gorakhpur,says that in the seventies the salaries of university and college teachers werenot as lucrative as they are today yet the desire among good students to becomeuniversity teacher was very high. The yearning to learn more and excel intheir fields was unbeatable. Dr Mishra tells the story of a Professor atBHU, who used to commute from his home to the university on a cycle because hecould not comfortably afford any motorised vehicle, however, his enthusiasm topurchase books was seen to be believed. It was generally seen that aftercollecting his salary every month, the first thing that he used to do was to goto any big bookstore to purchase the new arrivals of books. See the contrast, in present times theteachers spend little on books and they spend more time on the sale andpurchase of properties.
No wonder that in Delhi, most of the government schoolteachersare found to be busy in property dealings. They devote little time to teachingthe students but more to property business or tuition. The situation, however, isnot so bad in colleges and universities but it is certainly not very conduciveto learning and imparting good education. It does not mean that everything was hunky-doryearlier, but it was definitely not as bad as it is today.It is openly talked about that money plays an important role in the appointments of college and university teachers.
It is not a secret at all that the rates have been fixed for posts-wise. Speak to anyUniversity teacher and he/ she will admit that even in the appointments of theVice-Chancellors and the Principals, money changes hands. Some say thateven high-ups like Governors and Ministers do accept bribes for theappointments of Vice Chancellors.This situation, if not stemmed, maylead to unfathomable degeneration of education in the country. While copying inthe examinations by the students in cahoots with unscrupulous teaching staff has already caused enough damage, bribery in the appointments of teachers andVice-Chancellors is bound to irredeemably shatter the system.
The government(s), the public and the educationistsmust all  have to wake up to the realityotherwise education is bound to  go intothe hands of mafia dons