AM I EDUCATED?

I was once proud to be born and brought up in Mumbai. After all it’s the cosmopolitan city, financial capital, city of dreams an moreover home to bollywood.Being born  here I thought is a privilege in itself, but being brought up here has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Speaking of the disadvantages as a student, the malls are a source of distraction, every style or fashion icon creates even larger hole in parent’s pockets, the education system sucks, as it is besmirched to  money vending machines. Schooling includes boring, monotonous classroom lectures with hardly any outdoor activities, because we have no space to build school grounds. Where is the most needed physical activity? Where are intellectual classroom lectures that involve intense group discussions? I know I have no right to say any of it as schools are constantly striving hard to improve their current models and are growing day by day, thanks to increasing population.Inspite of every argument I put forth, there is no quality emerging within students except the creamy layer, comprising only a few. My observation has been that generally I find, Mumbai kids suit well to the corporate culture that demands a call centre or a bpo job, few choose to be teachers, and very few choose to be doctors or engineers. They settle for early big bucks without giving a second thought to the means by which they are earning or how long will they be earning. To an extent the increasing social pressures ,desires and need to pace up with inflation is to be blamed, but on the long term perspective, rising instabilities, job sacks, dissatisfaction are bound to follow.

What is lacking are experts required for each field, but who taught us the basics when we were in school or even when we reached college that are owned by political leaders ever since. Why do I fare horrible in my viva even when they ask basic questions?Where is the source of inspiration to study while there are banners of Munni and Sheila all over the footpaths? It’s easier to obtain a pirated DVD than educational books on our stalls. So is it Mumbai’s education system to be blamed for not producing better experts? Or do we once again blame it on the politicians.

I am waiting for the day when I say that being educated here was indeed a privilege!