Tracing back the money we pay!!!
Have you ever wondered
what is the true meaning of “EDUCATED ILLITERATES”???
We often boast ourselves
that we are educated and that we have the royal taglines of MSc, MTech, MPhil,
PhD and so on. Most of us even mock ourselves that whatever we learn in these
professional degrees or not but the taglines will surely come in handy during
marriages. Is the education only limited to a match-making ceremony or just to
create an image in the village that we are studying more than others???
Its so unfortunate that
we grow to have the degrees in hand but still fail to understand the true meaning
of education. So, what is the true meaning or purpose of the education???
The irony is - we know to
read but don’t know what to read., we know to write but we don’t know what to
write. We are blessed with learnings of ABCDE but are cursed with the lack of
knowledge how to use them.
Why am I saying all
these???
Just a single day of
oppression and inequality can change the way we think. But does every student
face this injustice in the colleges they study?
Most of the times the
injustice is at the peak but we the students fail to understand that we are
being cheated by someone. We fail to understand that we are being looted by our
own money in the name of running organizations and institutions. Do you know
why we fail so??
There is a term called
“EQUAL and COLLECTIVE SUFFERING” which is being used in a very wrong way by us.
Let it be students, taxpayers, or any person who pays money for a service. I
believe that most of you will agree if I give an example. Suppose that an
institution that you are studying raises the semester fees by 1000rs. Now as an
individual you come to know that this money isn’t for a good cause and is being
looted by you. But at the same time, you also look around and see that every
student is paying the money and then you decide that anyway everyone is paying
so why think more about it. Be honest and agree that haven’t you thought this
way???
Now in this situation even though we know it’s a bad thing we step back from questioning the authority. Why do we neglect or step back?
1.
We don’t care where the money goes. We
only pay the fees and finish the college.
2.
It is not our own money or the money we
earned, so why bother so much.
3.
I am interested in knowing where the money
goes but still not willing to ask by myself.
4.
I am ready to make a group to question the
authority but not so daring to talk face to face.
These are the few
thoughts that come up only if we think about the money we pay.
In an institution, 30% of
students are from reserved castes who get the financial support from the state
government to pay for the Semester fees and hostel mess fees. Now among the
left out 70% - around 50% of the students get one or the other state sponsored
student scholarship. Among the left out 20% students 5-8% students have a
financially stable family.
Now with so many people
benefitting from the State government in one or the other way financially, whom
do you think would dare to ask for the money they pay to the college???
This is a very serious
issue that is being exploited well by many institutions all over
the country. We have become so dumb and numb in this western education and
classroom education that we have failed to ask for our own rights and our own
money that we pay for the institutions, let alone be the human rights that we
talk as a whole country. When we are faceless to ask for our own rights in a
small institution then how can we expect people to question in a country. We
same people who fail here still aim to build back a nation in a much greater
position. Do you really expect a change with such young students like us who
have failed to ask for our own money and our own rights?
Generally, in an
educational institution we have college fees and hostel fees. The fess
structure is broken down into different components where the money is being
channelized. We are also given a copy of the fee structure for our information.
With all these in hand, why do we still fail to even look those fees at once???
Because we are the
educated illiterates…
I believe that most of
the students in every college has no idea about where his money goes and how
the college is using it. It’s a shame on our part to be so much reluctant to
know what it is. And its not even our own money to be careless, we pay from our
parents’ money.
Until and unless we
question boldly for what we are supposed to get, we are never going to get it.
The world is always opportunistic, if you fail to safeguard yourself one day
the people will eat you up. It’s our responsibility to know what we are paying
and what is being done with the money. There is no harm in questioning and it
is never a bad thing.
We have been suppressed
and oppressed by many learned elders saying that we should be in a civilized
way. We are so dumb that we have misunderstood the civilized way to be something
without questioning the authority. Great leaders in our country didn’t fight
for our freedom to see us still living in a slavery. Every student, every
taxpayer and every single person under an administration has every right to
question and ask for what he pays.
Don’t be a slave, be
righteous and question for the truth everywhere…
There is a lot to share
in this aspect but sometimes its better to keep some pages empty while you
think and rethink to fill those pages by yourself…
-
Abhishek Hirewodeyar