MASS PROMOTIONS : THE GUJARAT HORROR STORY

Perhaps one of the most hackneyed topics in India today would be the ills of our education system. Hardly a day passes without newspaper headlines screaming about student unrest and violence on campus. The inherent weakness of the education system repeatedly manifests itself in different forms accompanied by the proverbial lamentation about the “falling academic standards”. In the light of this; the mass promotions issue of Gujarat would be seen as just another student aberration. A closer analysis, however, would reveal the deeper implications of the controversy that continues to plague the State. The roots of the mass promotion issue can be directly traced back to the anti-reservation stir that rocked Gujarat in early 1981. What began as a tiny spark at the B. J. Medical College on Dec. 29, 1980 graduated into a mighty inferno questioning the validity of the constitutional reservations to SCs. The entire State was paralyzed and all activities disrupted. Normal life was crippled as the city of Ahmedabad came to a grinding halt. The Gujarat University was not spared. The anti- reservation agitation was intensified after Jan. 7. 1981 and carried on for 3 months. In the normal course, the curricular requirements would be completed by mid-February, in time for the preliminary examinations at the end of Feb. The anti-reservation agitation upset the entire schedule of the Gujarat University. Moreover, the tense atmosphere and the inability to conduct classes put a big question mark on whether the final examinations could be held at all. To wards the end of March, as the anti-reservation stir began to lose its tempo and life in the city was limping back to normalcy, the question of conducting the annual exams in schools and colleges of the State arose. The anti-reservation stir was with drawn on April 13. 1981. But demands for postponement of exams and even for mass promotion gradually gathered momentum. At this point the University seemed very firm about conducting exams. M. N. Desai, the acting Vice-Chancellor, braved severe pressures from the students. M. S. University, Baroda, and the Bhavnagar University had already granted mass promotions. June 12, 1981 ,saw the VC finally crumbling under the pressure and declaring mass promotions. Ironically the protagonists of mass promotions were the very same people who had earlier vehemently opposed reservations.  The custodians of “merit” had suddenly done an abrupt volte face. This raises several doubts about the nature and composition of the mass promotionists. This would require a peep into the corridors of the Guj Univ. which has been a horbed of politics since its inception in 1949 .There were two diametrically opposing factions wing for control at the Univ-the govt. or the Cong. (I)-backed Guj. Univ. Area Teachers Assn. (GUATA) on the one hand, and the RSS backed GUTA and Adhvapak Sangh on the other. The students unions were totally controlled by the ABVP (RSS). After the anti-reservation agitation seemed to peter out the upper Castes desperately needed another stick to beat the Government. The mass promotion issue came as a handy weapon. Bitter memories of the 1974 Navnirman agitation spearheaded by the students which unseated the powerful Chimanbhai Ministry continued to haunt the present Government. M. N. Desai with known RSS connections along with the ABVP played a diabolical role. While condemning mass promotions in the open, they worked surreptitiously for the same. This was followed by the challenging of the VC’s order in the High Court by four post-graduate students. And the subsequent quashing of the mass promotions by directing the Univ to hold mass promotions. In the meanwhile, the new VC, Prof. Shastri, the ex-president of the GUATA, took over. Shastri’s appeared to the Supreme Court adds a new dimension to the whole problem. And the entire matter now once again hangs in the balance, putting the fate of 62,000 students in suspense Looking back on the entire episode one wonders whether the problem had anything to do with academics at all. The manner in which students are manipulated like puppets in the hands of politicians leaves much to be desired. The attitude of the upper castes fighting for mass promotions makes a mockery of their demand for scrapping of reservations in the name of “merit”. Above all, what stands exposed at the end of the story is the pathetic examination oriented education system The unconcealed enthusiasm with which the student community opted for mass promotions is a sad commentary on the increasing irrelevance of our education system.