Education in the light of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) Categories: Cries of Students

Education - Something, that all of us care about, that all of us wish and think about, that all of us dream about for ourselves, our mates, our children. It is something, that is considered the most important and compulsory thing in the whole world. Now days, even the health of a child is not so important as education is. Earlier, 50-60% marks holders were considered toppers and 70% would have been a dream, but now, if, by any means, 100% marks are secured by anyone, it is still unsatisfactory and needs improvement. And you will notice at the end of the report card of a 100% marks scorer, Got 100%, but Keep It Up!. Funny, what more would he/she keep up to. Anyways, in short, life has become a race, the competitors of which are in billions. And what we are racing for is EDUCATION. And why not to race for it? Educations is truly worth all this. It is said that, Education is a light that shines over the fate of its holder forever. The Holy Quran speaks about education both as a vision and the power. Personally, what I believe is that Education is a strength to overcome failures, a will towards victory, a thirst of success and a dream of prosperity. A man without Education is truly dumb. He is simply Ignorant. Prof.RNK Bamezai, VC of SMVDU Katra, in a recent Inspire camp at KU speaks about education as, An Educated person in an uneducated family is like a Lotus in a hell of rubbish. However, my point here is not Education. All of this above was an overview of how important education is? Now, another important point worth mentionable is, if Education is so important, then how fair and transparent, the methodologies of giving education must be? It is beyond imagination. What I am trying to figure out is one of the most dangerous and most common threat to the transparency and honesty of our education providing Policies. I am talking of the reservation quota for Scheduled Castes (Sc) and Scheduled Tribes (ST. The Scheduled Castes (SC) also known as Dalit, and the Scheduled Tribes (ST) are the groupings of historically disadvantaged people that are given express recognition in the constitution of India because of their Financial Importability/Crisis. They were earlier known as the depressed classes. I am not against the reservation for those people who strive hard for their bread and butter every single day and sometimes fail in doing so, but I am surely against those people who use this category to exploit the reservation, kept by the Govt. for depressed people, for their own selfishness despite being in a healthy financial position. The govt. has kept reservation for those people who are weak and backward financially and live in far far areas. But, not in any of the constitutional books have I found that this categorical reservation should also be offered to the people who have uplifted their status and have migrated from their earlier residences to proper towns and advanced cities. If they could easily afford, living in cities and porch colonies, receiving education from expensive tuition centers and top institutions, then on what damn basis is the category offered to them?

I was not much shocked when I saw that, 5000th rank holder in an entrance examination secured 130 marks but the 2000th rank holder secured just 60 marks, because the later had used SC/ST category, BUT I was deadly surprised when I came to know that the later person was my school mate and he was in a hell of healthy financial position and incidentally I never knew that he had a SC/ST category. This is definitely a serious matter. What exactly I mean that, there must be proper verification of the financial status and family background for those candidates who apply for SC/ST categories in far flung areas. It must be completely verified that whether the candidate applying for SC/ST is truly currently residing in a far flung area and whether he/she is truly having difficulties in receiving education and financial facility. I mean the procedure for getting a SC/St category must be the most difficult and complicated, even more difficult than applying for a passport wherein a hell of verification and clearance certificates are required. Strictly speaking, presently, the people living in porch colonies and having high govt. approaches and even having gazette posts get SC/ST categories for their children despite of the fact that they are not only Above poverty line (APL) but fall under VIP and above than APL category. So, there arises a question in my mind which Id like to pose to the Honble Minister of Education that, How do the people living in cities , receiving education from top institutions and expensive tuition centers get a SC/St category Certificate and hence forth qualify AIEEE and JKCET when these categories are meant for the people who have a dire wish to study but cant manage due to their financial importability?

P.S: My intention of writing this article is not to question the SC/ST ownership of those students who are truly worth it, but is definitely to question those people who, despite of being the Riches of Riches, use these Categories for Exploitation.

Written by: Ateeb Ahmad ateeb23ahmad@gmail.com +91 901 8863300