I came across this very peculiar article in the newspapers regarding funding of education for students of select communities in top international universities. The article is reproduced here:
I would like to understand the sociological context of this decision. With my limited knowledge of the intake process followed by international colleges of repute, I believe this programme will only benefit the social sub-class which does not deserve this dole, i.e., the economically well-off amongst the social sections targeted by this scheme.
Firstly, let me define the context of this note. While saying top universities, I am limiting myself, not just to the Ivy League Colleges like Yale, Princeton, Harvard, or the top UK ones like Oxford, Cambridge, etc., but also to the top 100 Universities in the World in their respective fields. For eg., Massachussets Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich among others.
As I understand, these universities have a very detailed and extensive evaluation process. They make a thorough assessment of the academic and non-academic achievement of the students before they select the students who are eligible for admission. Moreover, there are aspects like schools, curriculum followed and more importantly marks scored in special assessments like SAT, TOEFL, IELTS, etc. Middle or higher income household students from the communities targeted, will have a distinct edge over the economically weaker students from the same communities.
There are numerous instances of bright students form the economically weaker sections across all communities being involved in income generating work (to support their family) along with their day-to-day studies. Life is a constant struggle for all these students. A better scheme would have been to help and assist them in achieving this goal rather than spending good money on students who can actually afford the academic and sustenance fee involved.
A socio-politically prudent decision would have been to choose students (post a rigorous selection process) from the economically weaker sections of any community or social class, and:
- A la ‘Super 30’ (run by an NGO in Bihar which prepares students from economically weaker sections of society for the tough IIT-JEE entrance examinations), select a fixed number of students every year and help them for the next 2 years to train and hand-hold them so as to enable them to get selected. Notwithstanding the recent controversies surrounding the Super-30s, the concept is brilliant and has been successful in its attempts to help under-privileged children achieve their ambitions.
- For the brighter students who do not need help (as stated in bullet point no. 1 above), the agencies concerned can provide both monetary assistance and help in filling up applications (all the colleges have different timelines and application formats), provide them SAT training (is needed in most cases since International Baccalaureate students have a distinct advantage to clear these tests and most of our CBSE students need special training for the same) and information pertaining to courses offered, procedures, etc.
- Every year, identify students that need monetary assistance, hire agencies that have an expertise in guiding and training students for these placements, and help these students realise their dreams.
Considering that this proposal (at least the contours of the scheme) is yet to be deliberated (as per this article), I am sure that the overall final scheme will be prepared so as to benefit the students who are in dire need of this support. Else the government may find it difficult to explain to the people why year after year the list throws up names of economically well-off students being funded for their international education!
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