Begin removing bribes from Indian Education

Transparency International India carried out Indias largest ever corruption survey two years back. Result was that Government run schools up to XII standard with Rs.4,137 crore in yearly bribe money topped every other sector of Indian public life including Indian Police force figures for which was Rs 3,899 crore .

As per reports Rs.4,137 crore does not include corruption of government aided private schools. Most private schools receive their secondary and higher secondary school teachers' salary plus administrative expenses from government. Figure certainly does not include bribes teachers have to pay to be hired in school, percentage of salary eaten up by the school managements in league with Education Officers and their political masters, nor does it include private tuitions school teachers force on their pupils during 9th to 12th standard or bribes parents pay to secure higher grades for their children in Board Examinations.


Please read Corruption Catalogue of School System at http://www.livemint.com/2007/05/02165316/5DC18025-9127-4A90-AEE9-D425E25EC7CBArtVPF.pdf


Total yearly bribes in Indian public life comes to Rs 21,068 crore that is over five billion US dollars. Please read http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/114625/1/85 & http://www.infochangeindia.org/features287.jsp


If over a hundred years old British made law is scrapped bribes from Indian Education can begin to get removed.

The law requires a student to come to higher education through head of a government-recognised school.

No such law exists in UK, USA, France to my knowledge. In fact in USA children of Indian immigrants often make news for performing extraordinarily in academics without ever enrolling in any government or private school there. Their parents coach them at home until they enter college or university.

Why not allow students in India to sit at higher education entrance tests even if instead of having been enrolled in a government recognised school they have prepared themselves only through coaching classes or with help of anybody or any tool such as Internet?

Bribes in Indian education breaks spirits of generations after generations of educated Indians.

Please get the British made law scrapped to let Indian youngsters taste honesty in the life building process of learning from their teachers.

I have written to every one in Sam Pitroda headed and Dr. Manmohan Singh government set up National Knowledge Commission http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/, as well as to Mukesh Ambani and Kumarmangalam Birla of Special Subject Group set up by Vajpayee government to receive reform advice on education http://indiaimage.nic.in/pmcouncils/reports/education/, and of course to number of Prime Ministers and Presidents including the current ones.

Obviously there being no response I request every one of you and your contacts to join me in this petition by signing it, also please get this petition publicised in whatever media you can.

Scrapping the unnecessary law in first instance will remove the children of better off Indian parents from bribes in education. They will no more be forced to attend classes in schools wherein teachers twist students so they get trapped in their tuition classes outside of school hours. These students already attend private tuition or coaching classes. They do want to be exempted from school classes where teachers do not teach.

More such students start abstaining from school classes; corruption of schools will start getting into focus. On one hand schools will have to improve and on the other hand enterprising teachers will begin to run their business of teaching away from government-subsidised schools.

If other professionals are free to run their professions according to market forces why prevent teachers from doing the same?

Scrapping the law, besides liberating young Indian spirits will show the direction to free up India from culture of bribes in other sectors of Indian public life.


Dayashankar Mohanlal Joshi Ph. D.(Pennsylvania USA 1969)
20 Gayton Court, Gayton Road, Harrow, HA1 2HB, United Kingdom
[email protected]