#OccupyUGC must change the way we think about education
George Carlin, the Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, philosopher had said once "Scratch any cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist". Close to home, we have a similar saying: "You have to be a good cynic to be a good professor". Many decades have passed by waiting for meaningful changes in the higher education policies; the gloomy expression in the older generation professors who are fed up of the bureaucratic sloth is an example. Today, everyone in and out of the academic circle (whether interested in research or not) will ask you in refrain "Have you cleared NET?" Much before you can reply (God save you if it is negative!); this question is followed by, and is fast becoming that odd autocratic question "What are your marriage plans?" However, you will seldom be asked about your research interests, your ideas, your fieldwork, your limitations, your midnight thesis writing and your research-laden dreams and anxieties. NET affects not just the student community but beyond that as well, it is like a sacred vow.
Last week on, there is an ongoing student struggle outside the UGC premises in New Delhi post the Ved Prakash statement of scrapping research fellowships. Although very cleverly, the committee has now stated fellowships would continue, there has been no transparency about some of the other pertinent issues like increase in NON-NET Fellowships for MPhil/PhD, extension of fellowships to state (regional) universities etc. With the ABVP and some Smriti Irani fans applauding this continuation (5,000 for MPhil and 8,000 for PhD), many fail to realise these "Straw Man" arguments made by the HRD ministry. In the midst of this fiasco and panic, they have further sealed their comfortable chairs. They have turned a deaf ear to the demands of the older teachers/students before and they will do so now. But among the loud voices that we hear about discriminatory fellowships, we need to remind ourselves that this NET exam is also a form of discrimination. It puts the entire academic community into a vicious cycle - the once rebellious ones become cynics, the diplomatic ones aren't affected by the UGC whims and fancies and then, there are those who get their slice of cake out of the system and never, ever, ever, bother about education.
In 2009, there were huge debates about whether PhDs be considered an eligible criteria for teaching, and the threat still continues as far as the career of research fellows are concerned. The lack of interest in higher education is best reflected in its examination questions, and I'd like to take the example of two such questions asked in the General Aptitude Test (Paper I). In the first, you are asked what quality in the teacher does students like most. The options were: a) Idealist philosophy, b) Compassion, c) Discipline and d) Entertaining. In another, the examinee is asked which of the options is appropriate for a teacher-student relationship. The options were a) Very informal and intimate, b) Limited to classroom only, c) Cordial and respectful and d) Indifferent.
Pick your choice, gamblers!
These kinds of questions pretty much sum up the kind of educational interest the UGC has shown over the years. You must know anything under the sun, from the occupation of a dramatist's distant relative to the year when he got his divorce and the exact synchrony of his performances. And what about questions that demand subjective reasoning? Only the UGC knows. In the mask of objectivity, however, bizarre questions like those mentioned above, are asked every six months. From time to time, there are rumours that the objective format will be converted to subjective, which may not turn out to be a blessing either. If your examiner thinks a teacher-student relationship must be limited to classroom only, and you think it's not, and you write an original essay challenging that, chances are that you may even score a zero.
The #OccupyUGC movement is a good starting point to ask why this examination should even be a judge of academic rigour. Fellowships aside, even NET-cleared candidates have a cut-throat contest for teaching jobs, so if this examination is failing to meet employment demands of students/teachers, why have its sanctity intact in the first place? What the UGC-NET is trying to do is to tap all kinds of teaching/students into one club, and the quality of questions substantiates this. True, we must fight to increase fellowships and grants, but we must also question the premise of such exams which discourage researchers from continuing in this field.
What would be even better?
A continued solidarity from all older teachers, established or otherwise, cynics, diplomats and the idealists till the UGC takes the career of research scholars seriously. I believe they will do well by joining a struggle which was once theirs too.