scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeIndiaEducationFrom daily wager to academic chaos in Bihar to JNU via CUET,...

From daily wager to academic chaos in Bihar to JNU via CUET, a student’s journey

Like 22-yr-old Adarsh Kumar, hundreds of students from Bihar's Magadh University remain without a degree even 5 yrs later. Kumar, has now taken the CUET route to study at JNU in Delhi.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

New Delhi: Nervous yet eager, 22-year-old Adarsh Kumar has his bags packed, ready to make the journey from Bihar to Delhi.

He will start as an undergraduate in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University next month after having qualified through the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) this year.

But Kumar is not fresh off high school like his classmates. He has already studied around five years as an undergraduate student of Mathematics at Bihar’s trouble-torn Magadh University.

But even after putting in about half a decade of work, Kumar and his batchmates remain without a degree as the university has practically shut down after its vice-chancellor (VC), pro vice-chancellor, registrar and other top officials were arrested for financial fraud of Rs 30 crore.

To add insult to injury, Kumar has never attended a single teacher-taught class in the state university. Students in the state, some confided, mostly attend private coaching classes, or self-study and attend universities only to write exams.

Hundreds of former students from Magadh University are like Kumar, without a degree and looking for alternate options. The 22-year-old himself has had quite a subject detour — from Math to Japanese Studies.

But Kumar is optimistic. Speaking to ThePrint from Bhojpur, he said: “I will be in Delhi on 21 November. In 2018, I worked in Delhi as a daily wager, but now I will be a student of a reputed central university in Delhi. I feel I am one step closer to my dream.”

Kumar was among lakhs who appeared for the CUET in August this year and managed admission for a Bachelor’s degree in JNU.

From a farmer’s family in Bhojpur — with a monthly income of less than Rs 10,000 — he could only afford to take the Japanese language course in JNU.

‘Poor students pay for colleges and coaching classes’

Kumar enrolled in the Magadh University for a B.Sc in Mathematics in 2018. He wrote the first-year examination in January 2020. The second year examination took place in October 2021, and over a year on, only the results of the 2020 exam have been declared.

After spending over four years on the rolls of a state university, hundreds of students like Kumar still do not have an undergraduate degree.

After months of street protests, being beaten up by the police and several other setbacks, the journey for quality education has finally begun for the Bhojpur resident.

Kumar said: “We spent the past few years either protesting or planning a protest. On some days, a graduation degree seemed like an unattainable dream. As students, we completely lost hope. So many of us wanted to appear for the civil service exams. But even if we cleared it, we would still not be eligible for the lack of a Bachelor’s degree.”

The student had appeared thrice for the Indian Air Force exam and once for the Agniveer recruitment test. “I always ended up clearing the written part but failed in the interviews and group discussions because of my poor command over English. Not having a graduate degree was another factor significantly hindering my selection,” Kumar said.

He also said women classmates got married because their families would not wait longer for them to complete the course. “Some of my seniors are now married and have children! We spent hours every day self-studying, but it only led to disappointment,” he added.

The poor state of Magadh University is symptomatic of Bihar’s sad state of affairs in education, sources said.

Professor Subodh Kumar, who teaches in Delhi University and also serves as the national spokesperson of Rashtriya Janata Dal, said: “There are about 262 constituent colleges in Bihar, each of which must have 10 to 12 departments. The average number of students enrolled in every college could range from anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000. This means there are about 30 lakh students on their rolls, and the number of teachers, therefore, should be 3 lakh. But the Bihar government has sanctioned 12,500 teaching posts of which only 5,500 seats have been filled.”

The rest, he said, have been lying empty for years. In addition to these vacancies, is the shortage of non-teaching and examination branch staff. Classes not being held is a very common phenomenon in the state.

The professor added, “Students have no option but to go to private coaching classes for their college education. Poor students have been paying for colleges and coaching classes, and despite that they can’t secure a degree even after five years.”

JNU was not first choice

Kumar wanted to study journalism at Delhi University. He wanted to become a voice for the poor and marginalised, like him, he said.

“We kept protesting but nobody in the state or the centre paid any attention to our plight. We are not rich like those going to Ukraine or privileged like those getting through IITs. Bihar has a bad reputation and the apathy just makes it worse,” said Kumar.

But he could not afford the fees. He had almost given up on a degree when he figured that fees at JNU were nominal. He joked, “I had heard politicians criticise JNU students saying they got ‘muft ka khana aur muft ka rehna (free food and board)’.”

Kumar even gave tuitions to Class 10 students to pay his phone bills.

CUET, however, opened up his world. Called “a level-playing field” by academicians, the test converted Kumar’s 60 per cent in Class 12 Board exams to an opportunity in JNU. Previously, he could not have qualified for Delhi University due to its sky-high cut-offs.

“When I got to know about CUET, I realised I could apply for central universities in Delhi,” he said. “I had come to the national capital in 2018 to appear for a competitive exam but ended up working in a cloth factory on a daily wage. This time I knew I had a real chance.”

The problem with Magadh

Established in 1962 by then Education Minister Satyendra Narayan Sinha in Bodhgaya, Magadh University is a notable institution in Bihar that counts big names among its alumni. It is the alma mater of current cabinet ministers Giriraj Singh and R.K. Singh, and of popular actor Pankaj Tripathi.

However at present, four key positions — that of V-C, pro V-C, registrar and finance officer — have officials with additional charge. Incumbent V-C Rajendra Prasad has also resigned following vigilance raids at his office and Gorakhpur residence in 2021 in a case of alleged financial irregularities.

Examinations in the university have not been held for over a year and students say they will have to reappear for the 2021 examination. A student, who did not wish to be named, said: “The examination contractor hired by the then V-C was in cahoots with him. When he did not get paid due to the arrests, he took off with all the student data.”


Also read: CUET prioritises learning by rote, skimming texts. Knowledge cannot be just skin-deep


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular