Politics in education

There is a college is one of the small towns of Odisha and it holds the dubious distinction of its students never passing out. The college was set up in 2007 and since the first bath enrolled in 2009, not a single student has passed out. And you guess it right – it is a Govt owned college.

The college, located in Jeerango in Gajapati district was set up in 2007, with funding coming in from the Central Govt and this was to facilitate education of mostly Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) children.  14 students had taken the exam in 2009, which was its first batch  but none of them passed out. In 2010, 5 students appeared for the exam, four in 2011, 6 in 2012. Things got better in 2013 when 20 students appeared for the exam but none of them passed.

The pathetic state of the college is responsible for the waste of tax payers money and the future of these students. The college, since its inception has no permanent teaching staff. Only the botany and math professors come regularly and that too is thrice in a week. There are no teachers at all for physics, chemistry, zoology and English. Many rooms have been built but it does not have basic necessity like power and not to mention, no laboratory despite being a science college.

Setting up the college using Govt funds for the SC/ST would have surely been a political score and once that has been settled, cares if the colleges have power or no or whether there are lecturers or no. A science college with no lab? This can truly happen only in our Incredible India! Politics and corruption in education is the death knell of any society.