Pressure on Students

The editorial “Are Competitive Examinations Ideological?” (EPW, 29 September 2018) tries to portray, sympathetically, the issues surrounding competitive examinations, and the consequent pressure they generate on students, parents and the immediate families of those appearing for them. It also attempts to link competitive examinations with employment prospects and the attendant alternative opportunities that students have, should they fail to make the cut.

India, as it stands today, is characterised by too many students chasing too few opportunities. The hordes of students graduating from universities, technological institutes, and even medical colleges often lack the intellectual wherewithal or the skills that their contemporaries elsewhere in the world possess. The reasons for this sorry state of affairs are many: low standards at entry levels, meagre salaries doled out to professors and research scientists, and the lack of merit in staffing these institutions.