Give them the right to compete and grow!

I recently read a column written by a fellow blogger bikramjit. it was about reservations based on castes. it made me angry and and hence i’m writing this post.

I have nothing new to say but to stress on the one thing:

Do not reserve seats on the basis of castes instead train the students to compete with the rest.

Reservation just disheartens and smashes the hopes of many. There are students who crave for seats into many prestigious institutions but just end up with nothing or some thing less than what they worked for. The hard work the students have put in for the single seat at the institution goes waste. What is the point of all the hardwork then?

I can quote my example for this. Three years back when i sat for my counselling for college admission i had got the course i wanted but not at the college i aimed for. I felt bad and blamed myself for not securing enough marks. Sometime later i saw that another guy who had the same cut-off as mine had got the same course at the college i very badly wanted. It made me feel that there was no point in preparing hard at all. Was it a curse to belong to a class that has no reservation?

I also have quite a few friends who have written their boards this year. They had got cut-off of 189 or 190 out of 200. Any other day it would be a wonderful score and would be celebrated. Come on 95% is an awesome score. But i see that these people have seen the last year seat allotments and decided that they wouldn’t get into the top colleges with this score and have “bought” seats under the management quota in different colleges.

The ranking based on castes is even more interesting. Marks come into play first (thank god!). Based on the marks the students are grouped. Among the people of same marks they are then ranked based on castes then individual subject marks and then the date of birth. If you think thats all then wait to see that the allotment also goes caste wise. First every one can claim seats under open category then its only the backward people with the chance.

But i want to say that even they are equally competitive! So they don’t need all this reservations. They are equally smart and can prove their mettle given a chance to compete with everyone. That would only boost the competition among students and in the process the standards of Indian students as a whole would increase! I have even seen people who have say that they don’t really need the reservations and that it makes them feel subordinate sometimes.

And the worst part is that most of the seats reserved for these students go waste sometimes with no body ready to take it or qualified to take it. This happens when there are thousands waiting to get that seat.

Instead the reservations systems could be used in training the students for the various exams. The students with limited resource can be given preference in getting trained for this exams and hence be made capable of  competing like every other student and proving his caliber. That will increase his self respect and make him feel confident of himself. There is no point in reserving a particular number of seats for any group and providing a separate competition among themselves. Sometimes students are sure that they would get a seat at the engineering college thanks to all this reservation and don’t put in fullest of their efforts. I mean give them a chance to grow! let them compete and increase their standards!

I can show you an example that all they need is proper guidance. This week the IITJEE 2011 results were out. I read an article in the newspaper that a physics professor had selected 30 students from the economically backward class and trained them rigorously to take the IITJEE this year. And 24 out of the 30 students have secured ranks. need i say more?

P.S: If this post has hurt anybody i apologize. It was just the flow of thoughts from someone who has been so much angered by this bias.

Thanks,