CN R Rao, former head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India had famously remarked in 2011 that, “India has no system of education, it only has a system of examination.”

In a developing country like ours, education is not just a phase of life. It is the key to a golden future, the hard-earned ladder that a poor person wants his/her children to climb, to get up the social order. The privileged amongst us get to go to a school, learn, and envision a world created by geniuses like Tagore, Einstein or Newton, ~ only to realize by the end of it that we can never exist in such utopia or with the sense of liberty that they could probably experience. The existing system slaps us in the face through the doors of numerous entrance exams.

Come April-May each year, front pages of newspapers display toppers’ photographs of various competitive exams, making every kid unlike them feel worthless. The seats for most exams and courses are small compared to the huge population of this nation, and the battle for each seat is fought with blood, sweat, heavy words like ‘dedication’, ‘hard work’, ‘killer instinct’ and of course, pocket-emptying coaching classes. The selected few get famous in their respective localities, glorified in the news, and advertised by every institute.

But what about the majority? A youth population of roughly 150 million drowns itself in the ocean of competitive exams of various fields ~ some for medical and engineering, some for CA or MBA, yet others for further studies and research scholarships, and some for the most ‘secured’ government jobs.

The same story of numerous coaching institutes and ‘toppers’ and ‘losers’ continues. A few succeed, the rest spend precious years of their youth to gear up again. And yet, the hard and harsh truth is pretty logical and simple. Even if all the aspirants put in their cent percent effort and perform in the best manner possible with the best possible luck, it is impossible for everyone to qualify. Yet, students toil day and night, panic shared with their parents, and the enormously shattered ones even decide not to live. India ranks among the top few of those unfortunate countries where student suicides stand at a high rate of around 26,000 in three years. This roughly translates to one student dying every hour each day. The recent student suicides in Kota, a prime hub of coaching classes, are a grim reminder of the same.

The question here is not just about letting the youth breathe, but also to ponder upon what we are running towards? Where do we stop and what are we achieving out of it? The statistics put up indeed a sad picture for India. India leads the group of nations that suffers the worst from everyday stress.

According to the recently released World Happiness Report by United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, India ranks 136 out of 146 countries ~ which surprisingly makes her stand far behind neighbours like Nepal and Bangladesh. This may not be completely attributed to the system of examinations, but it cannot be denied that in a struggling country like ours, education is a major pathway to enter the workforce. The adult population consists of people who have either formal or informal employment, and while formal employment gives better job security and financial stability, entering it has its own set of struggles.

Most professional courses or government jobs are acquired in our country through competitive exams, some of which stand amongst the toughest in the world (not sure if that is something to be proud of ). With the level of rigorous toughness that these entrances demand, ours should invariably be the most successful, happy, and inventive economy. But is that the case? Sadly, enough, we are not even close. Globally, only three Indian Universities have made it to the top 200 universities category as recently reported by the QS World University Rankings, 2023.

Indian research has been reported to be weak, due to the lack of patent culture and funding. Academia has become more of a degree-churning field, where rigidities suffocate the interest and enthusiasm of bright students. This stagnancy is evident as the number of patents filed by a single US firm in India in 2016- 17 was more than double of all applications filed by the best laboratories in the country, which includes labs under DRDO, IISc, IITs and six research facilities under ISRO.

On the Corruption Perception Index, released by Transparency International, India again has a shameful rank of 85 out of 180 countries, which also singles her out as one of the ‘worst offenders’ in the Asia-Pacific Region. This rank hasn’t improved much over the past many years, and it indeed questions the honesty of the bureaucracy, the public-sector and ultimately reflects the corruption amongst the citizens in totality.

This is no indulgence in pitiful self-loathing and condemnation, but it is important to introspect how other countries are apparently happier and successful without subjecting their youth to the kind of strict competition that we have. While a Human Development Index or a Global Hunger Index determines the state of the economy and its governance, it may not be wrong to say that an unhappy, corrupt and stagnant economy that these indices show reflect the qualities of its citizens, which essentially determines their state of mind.

So, what goes wrong? In a homogenous human population, adapting to cut-throat competition translates to striving to be the best amongst all, and treating everyone else as a threat. This is indeed the progenitor to the creation of a community that is selfish, opportunistic, apathetic and insecure.

And thus begins the perpetuation of a society where everyone is running, no one trusts the other, and where losing or winning becomes the defining parameter of life.

We are so busy competing that we are never at peace. And in a country of 1.35 billion people, where 356 million are youth aged between 10 and 24, a large chunk of the population ends up feeling defeated due to the strangulating competition and limited seats. They lose self-esteem and interest in the process and often underestimate themselves by accepting under-employment, and that ultimately leads to the incomplete utilization of the huge human resource capital of this nation.

As Albert Einstein rightly points out, “Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labour, and to that the crippling of the social consciousness of individuals.”

As an emerging economy that aspires to be a leader in the upcoming years, India needs to give more peace to her youth so that they can reach their full capabilities. Young citizens are the flag-bearers of a nation, and the existing system of education and employment grabs everyone by the throat and pushes them into a never-ending labyrinth of cut-throat competition and stress. After more than 75 years of Independence, the least a country can ensure is to provide a student the opportunity to pursue whatever he or she desires.

The reform in the education policy needs to go beyond the remodelling of UGC. Jobs need to be more readily available, research needs more funding and life needs to get better for each one of us.

Hence, it undoubtedly becomes the need of the hour to prioritize policy-making towards job creation in existing and emerging fields, increasing the seats of existing colleges and establishment of more colleges and universities in both professional and general-degree courses. The capital for this has to be organized with the genuine desire to give youth a better future.

The need for resource allocation for this purpose is more crucial than the immense amount of money that at times goes into unnecessary expenses. In India’s unique social situation, a continuation of the present state may even lead to the propagation of hatred and divisiveness between different communities. Such a divided young population inevitably becomes vulnerable to vote bank politics, which further inhibits them in achieving excellence or in imagining themselves as a united force to transform this country.

Policy-making should realize that intense competition ceases to be positive after a point, and ultimately results in a society affected by depression and jealousy. Education cannot be a burden on young minds, instead it should bring a desire to change things and to take charge of the world’s problems.

And if that does not happen, we just keep running without getting anywhere. Unless appropriately addressed, the demographic dividend we possess and claim to be proud of becomes less of a precious resource and more of a national liability.