100 per cent failure

The marking system is dead, long live marks. But the cut-off crisis in DU spotlights more cracks in the edifice. The obsession with the elite college itself is a sign of a massive skew and supply gap in Indian education. Around 3.5 lakh students applied for 70,000 seats in DU colleges this year, setting thousands of students up for failure and anxiety. Beyond these shiny icons of “excellence” scattered in Delhi and some state capitals, lies the vast, un-lit wasteland of higher education, both private and government, which doles out a half-baked learning experience to the majority of Indians. For those hobbled by inequalities of caste, gender and class, such bad colleges push them further into a cycle of deprivation. The National Education Policy has suggested a common entrance system for university admissions as a way out of this crisis. Such a system will also call upon colleges to have the freedom and resources to engage with applications on an individual level — and not just reduce a student to her marksheet.

The government must find ways to push school boards to inject a dose of sanity to its marking system. But, even so, only a reimagination of education and a greater inclusivity of opportunity can rescue it from the obscenity of the 100 per cent cutoff.