Like most of people of similar age and background like me, I am also not a bit supportive of the caste based reservations being provided and recently even increased to Other Backward Castes by the Great Mr. Arjun Singh. The implication of increased reservations in IITs and IIMs is going to really dilute the brand image as well the performance of the institute. In a pretty decent and educated cabinet lot of Dr. Manmohan Singh, Arjun Singh is like a scar who does not know anything beyond caste politics. Anyways, this is not the stuff I am talking about because it could lead to long, hot and endless discussions.
What I am talking about today is looking at the reservations strategy and its perceived benefits from a different angle. It’s from the perspective of those category students who have got admission in IITs and IIMs and who are treated as ‘benefitted’ from the system.
Are they really benefitted? Or do they suffer from the "Winner’s Curse"?
The official data from various IITs and IIMs on the academic performance of these students over their stay supports the latter. The majority of students in the lowest 15-20 % of students ranked according to their academic performance in both of the prestigious institutes are from the category students in every year. As an example, in IIM Calcutta, students of CGPA less than 4.5/9 are told to repeat their first year and failing to improve their performance in the second year might lead to their expulsion without the degree. Atleast three out of four students in this list is from the reserved category. It not only leads to those students’s loss of precious two years and a huge amount of money but also reduces their confidence to a large extent. Similar examples could also be taken from other IITs and IIMs too on request.
The selection which was thought to be a boon for those students and was supposed to create equality increased the rift in reality. The biggest reason for this situation is that the academics in IITs and IIMs are quite hectic and are maintained at international standards. The reservations are only to provide an easy way of entrance to the category students and did not apply to their studies inside the institutes. The result is those students getting flunked and not been able to cope up with the system. I have seen those students totally depressed and clueless on not being able to perform like other classmates despite trying hard.
There are multiple faces of this controversial issue.One face is very precisely unveiled in this blog. Even once you start looking on reservation from the angle of social justice and include empirical evidences in your research you will end up with many contradictory yet shocking revelations .
ReplyDeleteThe matter of such students not performing up to the mark also depends on the kind of support that the institution is ready to give to them.
ReplyDeleteAffirmative action shouldn't be limited to just giving admissions. Some IITs and IIMs have special classes to make such students better prepared to compete with others, for whom the world ends at their JEE ranks or CAT percentiles.
Before writting such kind of blogs you should go and read some history books bcoz unfortunately at IITs nd IIMs u learn only those things which they want u to teach so tht u bcm their standard product .Life is not only about Science or Management , it is much bigger than this . Their are many castes in India who didnt give up their rights against foreign rulers like Mughals,British so they were deprived from their basic rights for centuries. Why it is very tough for India to get a single medal at Olympic bcoz those who have access to facilities dont have capabilities and who have capabilities dont have access to facilities .I can write lots of things but neither I hv time nor its a perfect place to write. Anyway read some books on genetics also and please dont think about what will happen after 20-30 year , think beyond this, in history this is very small figure .
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteYou can please reveal who you are, coz you talk only agony which does not makes sense at all.
The issue being taken up over here is that even those who do get access, do not perform well..
I am strictly against caste based reservations. Those who get the benefit of this, gets it in every aspect. It starts from the cost of the form, which is way too lower than that for general category. Secondly, they get admission even on lower marks. Even if that's not enuf, thay get to enroll for a so called PREPARATORY COURSE, designed specifically for them. And, above all, during the whole tenure of study, they get to pay a lower amount of fees.
See. There's no scope of further advantages to them. They have already got them in plenty. In spite of this, a majority of'em fails to prove themselves.