Page 114 - Education World November 2022

Postscript

Unguided Hindi missile ranked in ET surveys are presented certificates and
trophies, is fashioned on our own. But this year, Sharma
and ET have taken plagiarism to a new high. Its 2022-23
HERE’S A RECKLESS, BULL-IN-A-CHINA-SHOP awards function was held on the same date (October 11)
defining characteristic of the top leadership of in the same city (Gurgaon), in a hostelry a few hundred
Tthe ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in power at the metres down the road from Leela, Gurgaon where the
Centre since 2014. On Hindi Diwas (September 14), heir- EWISR 2022-23 awards conclave was being staged.
apparent Union home minister Amit Shah resurrected Clearly the ET leadership’s calculus was that a substantial
the dormant issue of the country’s national language by proportion of the 1,400 school leaders from across
issuing an appeal to all state governments to communi- the country who throng the EducationWorld Awards
cate with the Centre in Hindi, which in his opinion is the conclave, would drop by to collect ET awards from next
national language. This has aroused the wrath of several door.
state governments in southern India, especially Tamil On understanding that imitation is the best form of
Nadu, opposed to the imposition of “Hindi imperialism” flattery, your editors have not initiated legal action for
on uniquely multilingual India. copyright violation and passing off against Sharma and
The latest unguided missile fired by the BJP leader- ET. But one wonders about the ethics of not a few re-
ship hell-bent on promoting Hindi — the lingua franca spected school principals who tacitly condone ET’s brazen
of India’s most backward BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya plagiarisation by eagerly accepting the awards of this me-
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh states) — is to provide too enterprise. Presumably, they also turn a blind eye to
medical education, i.e, the entire MBBS programme in their students indulging in shameless plagiarisation.
Hindi with Madhya Pradesh launching first year MBBS
textbooks written in Hindi on October 16. Unsurprisingly,
the Federation of All India Medical Associations has op- Excellence disqualifications
posed this peremptory initiative, declaring the textbooks
sub-standard. IKE THE BOURBON KINGS OF 16TH CENTURY
Admittedly, there is a case for teaching medicine and France, members of the opposition Congress party
every other subject in Hindi and vernacular languages. Lrefuse to learn from history. Despite this vintage
However in a uniquely multilingual nation with 121 political party (estb.1885) being roundly trounced in two
languages and 270 mother tongues (Berlitz 2021) in successive General Elections (2014 & 2019), Congress has
which 300 million adults are illiterate in their own native rejected the party presidency bid of erudite and charis-
tongues, such monumental initiatives need adequate matic Dr. Shashi Tharoor, former assistant secretary-
and meticulous preparation. First, bilingual medical general of the United Nations and author of 21 books
graduates highly proficient in English and Hindi need covering history, sociology, divinity among other subjects.
to be identified, incentivised and commissioned to write Tharoor’s defeat in the first internal election of the
the necessary textbooks, a task utterly beyond Madhya Congress party in 22 years, is bad news for all believers
Pradesh or any other BIMARU government, whose in democracy, because it ensures the Nehru-Gandhi
universities routinely certify graduates who can’t write a family’s domination of Congress, which until it was
coherent paragraph in any language. routed by the BJP in General Election 2014 and again in
Regrettably, there is a distressing tendency within 2019, ruled India for over half a century. After the BJP
the BJP leadership to launch initiatives of great pith and swept to power a decade ago, although Congress has the
moment without adequate preparation and deliberation. largest number of opposition seats (53) in the 543-strong
Think demonetisation (2016) and the Covid national Lok Sabha, it has been reduced to a shadow of its former
pandemic lockdown with four hours’ notice to the public. glory, with an exodus of leaders and members shifting
Now, the latest revolution in medical education. their allegiance to BJP which with its Hindu majoritarian
agenda seems set to win the next General Election
New plagiarism high scheduled for 2024.
At a deeper level, reluctance of the Congress to change
the status quo — the mild-mannered Mallikarjun Kharge,
LMOST A DECADE AGO, ONE ANIL SHARMA, elected president, is likely to be an obedient rubber stamp
a general manager of this publication, resigned of Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi — reflects the
Aand started a rival magazine under the name and anti-intellectualism of the political class which has ruined
style of Education Today . Initially published as a print post-independence India’s high-potential economy and
magazine in which school principals and leaders wrote deeply divided the country along caste, class and religious
their own encomiums, it currently bills itself as an educa- fault lines. A three-term MP who retained his Lok Sabha
tion portal. However, its main business is publication of seat despite the BJP's countrywide sweep in the past two
school rankings and presentation of awards to leaders in general elections, Tharoor is not a political novice. But his
K-12 education. Yet it is plainly evident that the param- disqualification is that he is highly educated with excel-
eters under which schools are rated and awarded scores lent command of the English language, and is a globally
in Education Today are exactly similar to the parameters acclaimed former diplomat and writer. In the arid politi-
ideated by EducationWorld over 15 years ago. Likewise, cal landscape dominated by leaders with minimal or faux
the design and format of ET’s league tables have been education qualifications, Tharoor’s excellent education
blatantly plagiarised from this publication. and proven erudition are disqualifications. The tea leaves
Similarly, the awards function at which schools highly don’t read well for 21st century India.

114 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2022