Bangalore: Nowhere the terrible mess created by our rulers is visible as clearly as in the education field. This is evident from the following report from here: The principals of many colleges admitted that copying is going on in their colleges and they pleaded their inability to restrict students from copying, said the Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University, Mr.K. Hanumanth Appa. He himself was shocked to see students with textbooks at the examination hall in some colleges, he told the Senate today. (Hindu Nov.12 92).
Copying is rampant not only in colleges here but all over India. The Vice-Chancellor has no answer to prevent copying because answering this question is disclosing the basic malady of our education system. What is that malady?
Role of memory: India’s education system is framed by the brahminical social order (BSO). This system stresses “passing the exam in which you have to write the answer on the basis of your memory. That means our memory has the central place. Those who have the memory alone can pass. What is the meaning of this? It means exams test not our knowledge but our memory power. What does it mean? It means the exam – which is the corner stone of our education system – test only the student’s ability to memorize things.
Information not knowledge: Memorizing what? Memorizing information.
Does information constitute knowledge? No. Information is a small part of knowledge. Upper castes pack lot of information inside their brains and vomit them at appropriate places and call it ‘knowledge’.
What is important therefore is not information but knowledge which alone can transform a thing, including our society. Information will not lead to social transformation.
Since the BSO is not interested in transformation but status quo, it stresses only information, popularly called “general knowledge”.
How to become VC: Hence, exams become a vital part of our education system. As long as the BSO continues to rule, exams will also continue. And as long as exams continue, copying will also continue. But to test true knowledge we need not ban copying. Students can take books with them to the exam hall. But this means the existing memory- oriented, BSO-imposed exam system will have to go. Poor Hanumanth Appa, a Backward Caste VC, perhaps does not know this or even if he knows it, he has no courage to say it. Because he has become a VC because of the blessings of the BSO.
