This seems to have become an epidemic, and it is hitting our own education system hard. In fact, the number of students enrolling in pure science has dwindled worldwide, but here we have to deal additionally with the exodus. I know personally a good number of those leaving this year. They are good students. Some are after high school, even before they reach the age of 18 years! That is too young, to live long term in a foreign country. They are often just not ready. I read that about 2.7 lakh students went to the US alone this year and this number is expected to surge to a million in the coming years. These are mind-boggling numbers! And that is just to the US. You need to add the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada, and other places, like China & Ukraine. Our students are going everywhere! . It is a serious matter that desrves more discussion. Because along with loss of money, we are losing talented energetic young people. Our demographic dividend is not working or working in the wrong way.
Why? The simple reason is that the university system abroad, especially in the US, UK, and many countries of Europe is more simple, transparent, attractive, and less troubling to students than what they face in India. The teaching also appears to be better and done seriously. There is of course the lure of a much better lifestyle, more scope for growth, etc. In India, real things have not improved much. Here the academic system is clumsy, to say the least. We are in a time wrap. Many aspects have remained the same.
I also went abroad to do my PhD. Those days, it was a heroic act from my family background, an anomaly. I was the only one in my batch to go (some others followed me later), also the only one in my locallity Bally (however amazing it sounds now), and also only one among my relatives. It was a hard act. I was 22 years of age, but still suffered greatly.
But why did I go, leaving a very comfortable home, relatives, bunch of good friends? Socially, I really was occupied. I had no idea whatsoever about the US, really… I did not know their flag, I thought Harvard was in Texas….. I had the choice of doing PhD in good places in India. But ….. our batch lost almost two years because of political violence, (Naxal movement when our college, the Presidency, suffered the most) and the utter indifference of everybody towards us, whether they were professors, ministers … everybody….. we did not matter … nobody cared for us…. it seemed then was enjoying our predicament, even slow destruction. It is surprising that some of us actually survived… whatever that means. I had to escape.. I still can recall the oppressed and stressed atmosphere… the struggle day in and day out. In fact, I think I settled here at a much lower level because of my eventual return.
Back to the central theme. Frankly, I think that the students are not doing anything wrong. The world is a cruel place, unforgiving. What chance do students, pursuing a general line, have in India? Here engineers and doctors are doing okay … this is a country for professionals. General-line students are looked down upon, and ridiculed. Students see the justification of that act (of leaving) in the teachers who teach them….. very few inspiring teachers around. And of course, if one pursues an engineering degree abroad, the chance of doing well increases many-fold.
Is there any way to counter this trend? Who can help? The simple answer lies in our teachers. But they need help themselves. Their noble profession is now looked down upon.
Let me tell you a story. In one evening around 1976, a family friend visited our home. I was talking with my mother. This lady-friend had tea and then started talking about finding a suitable groom for her daughter. At that time my mother was also looking for a girl for my elder brother who had a teaching job. My father was a teacher, and my mother was a part-time teacher. This lady was going on babbling, but suddenly something she told caught my attention. She was saying, “I do have a young man who is good in many ways, but how can we marry our daughter to him? He is just a teacher. Who will marry a teacher?”
I still remember the grim face of my mother. Her husband and son were both teachers, and she was a part-time teacher herself (in addition to having BA(Hons) and MA degrees)
Teachers are a much neglected and humiliated component of our society, particularly in high schools, also in primary schools. We have made it so unattractive that no good teacher or rather who could have been a great teacher, joins the brigade.
Another story. We were spending a year in Madison, Wisconsin, and our sons were going to the adjacent Eagle Heights Primary School. The teachers were mighty proud and happy responsible bunch. The salary of the Principal was 75K, while that of as Asst Professor at the Univerisity of Wisconsin was 60K. I knew these personally. Primary teachers were/are more important than Asst Professors. While the last statement is more true in India, the salary of a school teacher is one fifth that of an Asst Professor and probably one tenth of that in industry.
And in our higher educational institutions? We do not even use the best teachers. Here the most willing teachers are also the worst ones…. these people have something to prove their worth. Problematic. At Brown, we had four sections in Freshman Chemistry which we used to TA. Each section had 125 students. They were taught by the four best teachers. I was a TA under Professor Edwards and Professor Mason. They were fabulous teachers. I learned a lot doing this TA, by attending Chem 003.
In India, we have an anti-quality attitude. In our department, I knew that a professor who was perhaps the worst teacher, taught year after year, and would not let others teach the course he used to teach. Nobody could stop him. It was important to him. Period.
In fact, our time situation was better because we have many great teachers in whom we found role models. But I am not so sure now.
In such a situation we cannot really blame our teachers and professors at schools, colleges, and universities although they are partly responsible for the exodus. The years between 18 and 30 are precious in one’s life. We learn the most during this period. When Peter Wolynes used to tell me stories that he took courses from N Bloomergen and other great teachers at Harvard, I realized what we missed.
On top of all these, we now have a larger (much larger) and growing number of English medium schools. Our young generation, especially in cities are all English spoken. They speak English fluently and with little accent They read Indian epics and stories in English. I now know many Bengali students who cannot read Bengali, so Rabindrnath, Bankimchandra, Sarat Chandra … do not exist in their life.
These students already look forward to leaving the country, even at 10-12 years of age. They see no heroes in society other than in movies. Yes.. in crickets, but that is played increasingly less in the world. Not played much even in Australia and also less in England. A laughing matter. I am the king of all I survey!
Another important issue is that there are so few good jobs that ( the situation has become appalling), we probably have lost the moral authority to ask the students to stay back…..Even Europe and Nordic countries offering better possibilities, not to speak of the US.
I am usually not a pessimist, but the situation in Indian academics, especially in Chemistry where the situation is probably worse. All the students aspire to go abroad. And soon there shall be fewer meritorious students. And we have mostly ourselves to blame (which is most often the case anyway). Interestingly, the people who were responsible for the system were not repentant at all. These people remain happy with their children settled abroad.
But…. what will happen to the students when the exodus will also cease to bear the desired fruit? In the meantime, our own academic system is entering a perilous state. Fortunately, to end the story on a happier note, I find our PhD students getting jobs in industries. I hope that avenue grows. It will be great if we can help in any way.
Biman Bagchi
27-04-2024, Bengaluru.
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