Education leading into a blind alley

The shocker today was the news item that 3700 PhDs and M.Phils along with 28,000 other post-graduates had applied for the jobs of messengers or peons in the UP Police….. jobs that required a qualification of Std V pass plus the ability to ride a bicycle.

On the face of it, this appears to be an issue….. a massive issue of unemployment. Everyone yearns for a Government job and such jobs are obviously limited. Look at it the other way, is it a case of disguised unemployment where such highly qualified people do not get a job befitting their qualifications and hence apply for such lowly jobs?

My view is that this is not an unemployment problem but more of a problem with our education system. Clearly a vast majority of these PhDs, M.Phils, engineers, etc are UNEMPLOYABLE. They have the qualifications without earning the qualifications or the skill-sets needed to succeed in their chosen areas. Education has become a money-spinner with graduates, post-graduates, engineers and doctors being churned out mindlessly. Even a foreign degree is not such a valuable or coveted qualification anymore. If one has the money, admission abroad is a breeze. This is not to belittle the really talented students and the colleges in the top league, but this reality does prevail.

Coming back to UP, the current government is stated to be reviewing the performance/ caliber of government school teachers who were appointed by previous governments. There is a  video doing the rounds which shows a teacher trying to guess the spelling of January and finally spelling it as J U N G U.So much for the quality of this teacher. However, this should not degenerate into a witch-hunt merely for political reasons. If the government is really serious about improving the education system, the first step would be to look closely at the PhDs who had applied for the messenger posts. When and where did they acquire their doctorates? What was their thesis about? Who were their guides and who were their examiners? If the government goes behind these details, it will surely shake up a portion of the education system and bring to light the prevailing bad practices. Of course, the larger action needed would be shut down all the educational institutions run by politicians of all political parties without having the basic infrastructure or qualified and experienced teaching staff.