Editor,
The year 2019 was a special year in many ways, one of them being the introduction of National Education Policy draft aimed at universalizing pre primary education by 2025 covering children in the age group of 3-18 years. However, in Meghalaya the year 2019 witnessed a loophole in the administration of the examination system delaying the idea of providing quality education to the students. The leaking of MTET 2019 raises many questions. This was not the first time that a paper was leaked causing problems to many innocent and deserving candidates appearing for the exam. In 2013 the country witnessed a massive VYAPAM scam in MP which shook everyone followed by SSC paper leak in 2018. Every year we notice the Board examination papers being leaked for the benefit of undeserving candidates.
The case in Meghalaya is different and more worrisome. MTET exam is the minimum qualification for a prospective teacher to be eligible to teach in the formal school setup. With already low pupil- teacher ratio in schools this paper leak will exacerbate the problem of shortage of teachers.
Let’s analyse the reasons behind such loopholes. Firstly, the delivery of printed question papers is a huge logistical problem for the administration. Secondly, lack of a common technological software that’s capable of sending question papers in a digitally encrypted format locked securely with a password and thereby eliminating a huge crowd involved in the process. Finally due to lack of infrastructure in the government department, the printing of paper is done by private Xerox shops which are not reliable. They are the ones that keep the soft copy and circulate it for their own petty benefits.
Therefore the examination system has to become immune to such issues so that deserving candidates can appear and be selected based purely on merit.
Yours etc.,
Vidhi Sharma
West Garo hills
Window dressing for Trump’s visit
Editor,
The entire hullabaloo and elaborate preparations associated with the US President Donald Trump’s impending visit to India serve to illustrate something about the nature of reality.
The NaMo government is doing a significant amount of window dressing to make sure that the US President’s gaze does not fall on anything deemed unsightly during his India visit.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is building a huge wall to keep a slum out of sight of the US President. The UP government has released 500 cusecs of water into the heavily polluted Yamuna river to get rid of the smell that emanates from the river. Houses on the Taj route are being checked as part of security measures.
These drastic measures are taken as part of the unofficial Show -Trump-Only-A-Clean-India drive. These measures actually involve spending crores of rupees and upending the lives and livelihoods of people who are struggling to make ends meet.
It is ironic that the central government that is spending crores of rupees for Trump’s visit is making disastrous attempts to hush up India’s poverty and filthy conditions. By trying to showcase India as a clean country ahead of Trump’s visit , it is hiding reality and giving the image of a prosperous country to India. We need a genuine and positive image for the country, not an inflated one. Instead of trying to whitewash India’s poverty and unclean conditions, the government must show its will and commitment to change the country and it must make sustained efforts to get this task done.
Yours etc.,
Venu G S
Via e mail
Cantankerous Chinese
Editor,
It is highly objectionable to learn that China on Thursday objected to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh claiming this had violated its territorial sovereignty and sabotaged mutual trust with India. However, in an instant retort, New Delhi rejected the Chinese criticism pointing out that Arunachal Pradesh was an integral and inalienable part of India.
The Home Minister was in Itanagar on Thursday to attend the 34th Arunachal Statehood Day and launched a number of development projects for the all-round development of the state. Why does China frequently object to the country’s top leaders’ visiting the state? This is nothing but China’s desire to see Arunachal in penurious conditions so that people may revolt against India and be oriented towards China.
Chinese foreign ministry spokes-person Geng Shuang said, “The Chinese government has never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh and is firmly opposed to the Indian politicians’ visit to the southern part of China’s Tibet region as it violated China’s territorial sovereignty, undermined the stability of the border area, sabotaged political mutual trust and violated relevant bilateral agreement.”
As everyone knows, China is governed by the Communist Party. Being a totalitarian regime, it never allows personal freedom as enjoyed in a democracy. Unlike China, India is a democratic country and individual freedom, culture, religions etc, are protected. People of Arunachal Pradesh know this and therefore they choose to be with India. China, with its any extreme level of overtures cannot shake the robust faith of the people of Arunachal Pradesh reposed in our country.
It is true China has more riches and glory than India in terms of economic prosperity. But the people of that country lack the most precious thing – individual freedom which is the most dynamic, diverse and the basic aspect of any human being. The charm of democracy is undoubtedly its individualism. Thank God, we have this system and we will continue to live in this system because this system has proved to be ideal for the complete well-being of an individual. The real progress or development of a country lies in the complete well-being of its citizen, where people must enjoy freedom. The immediate action for the Indian Government now is to take the off the tag of underdeveloped area off Arunachal with the introduction of a flurry of developmental activities in the state. At this juncture, it is indeed heartening to learn that government already started the work of the airport and constructions of highways and railway are on to connect the land of the rising sun to the rest of India. Once the state is well connected with roads, railways, airways with the rest of India, people from other parts of the country would visit and start business establishments there. Thus, the backwardness of the state would recede and so too would the Chinese’s irritating statements whenever our political leaders pay a visit to that state.
Yours etc.,
TK Nandanan,
Via email