exams at GEC, take a look

like every planned procedure, exams in education system demand a well planned execution which is expected to complete with minimum errors. if possible, none. and after going through such a process and being a part of it, i have lots of things to say about it.
i knew i had been assigned the task of supervision as i had signed the sheet with my name and date mentioned on it. the task being very first of its kind for me was enough for the thrill.
the princi, (principal) is a very responsible person in such sort of matters, he always has to be around. he is the guy whose presence powers the dim bulbs to lit enough and rectify the hazardous panicky bulbs so as not to get short circuited.
the exams have the very classical procedures like signing the answer sheets by supervisors and checking the identities of students and of course, not allowing them to cheat, who ? us ? yes, us means the education system here, you see, we lecturers represent a very large community that imparts education to next generation and thus we see ourselves as one who ... . .wait a minute... its not 'we'...i think...its me who sees the things this way, isn't it !
i still cant understand one thing though, the head of the institution communicates with students to instruct them about not taking mobile phones and bags near the exam hall, but why cant he yell at his own staff that when they are supervising, it is their responsibility that the student finishes his exam nicely. and i have seen a few instances where that yelling would prove good for the system itself.
contrary to my perception, a certain section of staff that even includes non teaching staff had no manners on how to even conduct an exam. what they were concerned about was just the 'remuneration' !!
what seemed to be languor was actually the laziness that creeps up every government employee as time goes. the tag of being a permanent staff of state government allows them to prioritise their own comfort compared to their duties.
here is a scene i still have in my mind. an exam hall is full with students with half time remaining, the well prepared ones are busy finishing one section and going to another. the paper was descriptive and lengthy. a student sitting far left stood up. his left side had no space to go through as the bench was laid touching the wall. so he requests the equally busy neighbour to stand up, he does, with pen held in hand in same angle as placed on bench while writing, as the student gets out of bench, the disturbed neighbour immediately sits and races his pen to finish the answer. the student who came out of the bench goes to centre stage, where the junior supervisor is already signing a supplementary answer sheet for him, the student waits for a second or so, then returns with his supplementary to his bench where his neighbour has just been able to finish a sentence, again he gets out, the other one gets in then he sits and then the other one sits.
all this to get a supplementary !!
and the junior supervisor sit on his chair to see all this !!
and 50% students turn up to get the supplementary ! count the total time wasted ! and take into account the number of times a student has to get up !!
still, the "chalta hai" works here. its sad. i cannot criticise or point out even a solution for anything like this, i am just showing you the real picture. i am concerned. i want to be the change. and my attempt to make you see the things is first step towards that change.
many times i want a student to shout aloud and claim his right to sit on his bench and finish his paper. but that never happens. i am a part of same system. but i try hard not become one of them... or better is, i have enough example of what not to become.

the first day at work

The nadiad-modasa local bus was nearing the modasa town,i came to this conclusion by looking out of the window to see a few boards titled some high school and few collges name ending with modasa. it was my first day at work as lecturer at govt. engineering college,modasa.the streets, the one that took us inside the town were designed correctly as two lane road, but were interpreted incorrectly by the occupiers. the hawkers must have thought that one of the lanes on either side was meant for them.so the bus had to move only through one lane. the fact is, this 'misinterpretation' was preplanned. you see, the planners actually knew this, that if they build only a single lane road on either side, there would be a problem. so they went for two. the bus driver are really experts, seriously, they drive the bus a few centimeters from passers by on road. and we are also so used to overtake the bus by walking on such roads,we dont have to worry but, the bus drivers takes care of all this. he has to. if he doesn't, it is he who has to face to consequences.so as if a big whale makes her way through small fishes and finally comes to open waters, the bus driver took the bus through traffic and brought it to 'home sweet home' bus stand.small town, small bus stands. well well alrite, it was expected you see, i expected all this. so i was not surprised at all. the town is a typical small town.nothing so special.but now i had to reach the palce i came for. my college.i had asked many friends back at ahmedabad and nadiad, they told me the college is few kilometers away from town,so i will have to take 'chhakda' ride.so in 5 rupees they pick me for 5 kilometers ride and drop me there.literally. sometimes if you dont have the place inside to sit, you have to hang on the backside.the vehicle chasis are re-furnished and welded to make such rides comfortable.you know,there are few things one should do atleast once!! this is one of them,travel by hanging yourself,you can sing a song too.
the chhakda i took had some space so i adjusted myself within. the chhakda moved out of the town a few kilometers on a state highway that connects this town to gujarat border and hence to nearby state rajasthan.as i was feeling this nice clean air on my face and taking it inside my lungs,assuming they would enhance my brain functioning on my first day of work, the chhakda slowed down, and finally stopped. the driver in his grained voice shouted 'kKolege' and i understood that my place has come.i stepped out and paid him and he chhaked away his chhakda.i saw the road ahead had a turn and disappeared between two small hills on the either side. i was all alone,yes thats what i thought until i saw a board that almost had disappeared because of its faded color and rust on it. the board read. sarkari iiejneri kolege, modasa.and i turned my head towards the way that leaded to a building. god !! a big one. but i could see that it was pretty 200 meters i still had to walk to reach there. it was friday,but still i cross checked myself, hey viren, its not sunday right ?? it was not. i was at the right place and ofcourse it had to be the right time.
i started moving towards the gate and the noise that my shoes made rubbing against road was the only sound i heard.i like such places.hey!! i had already started liking this place !!now not only this, i really liked the air around me.i was just about reach the gate and that was when the new characters came in. the bufallos !! yeps !! the big black ones.they were there, i was not alone. these bufallos always have a company, the white storks. yes, the symbiosis is that these bufallos carry on with their eating stuff and these all milk white-no spot storks pick small insects moving around them. they even pick tiny ones from within the tial hair and from the eye brows. they are allowed.they sit on the neck too. they even try while half flying, half standing. nice na!! if we were so commited, there would have been less problems.
so i reached the gate finally and kept walking to finally reached a map! which at that time didnt make much sense. so i went on, to finally reach the computer department. pleasant welcome it was. i just had nothing much to do on the first day. so i relaxed on the moving, revolving armchair and planned my return trip to home.

the dumb submissions -1

the question why the submissions are getting dumber and dumber should be the chief concern of all the individuals who are responsible for heading an organization.the picture that is always in front of these so called responsible individuals is the onethat shows the output. the output of educational system they say, the placements. yes, how many students are getting placed. mostly not even the quality of placements.the picture that shows the output is just a result of whole process, that fact is, it is the result of how system has performed.no one pays much attention to the process itself.the term work is the work that a student puts in, the effort that a student puts.the student has so much of energy. its so exiting to get along with such amount of energy.really. it is the 'dumb submissions' that breaks them down. you have to agree with me on this. almost each and every student is concerned about his future.whether he tells us or not he isconstantly thinking about it.and during the most important period of his life,what he faces is the 'dumb submissions'.why cant the submissions be more interactive and more exiting for the students? why cant the personal interests of any student be satisfied along with his academic interest?there are a lot of questions like this that must be asked by us.the people who are at a responsible positon,who can take steps. make a change.

respect the institution atleast

one thing that i dont like, the most, is the disrespect the students show towards their own education system. the matter gets serious when they do same for the institution. then they come down to some individual who is usually a responsible person of that institution. it may be the principal or the teacher itself.
the reasons for this are simple. from the very first day they are shown the easy way to go through the system. there are always easy way out. but then they are not the best ones.

Our Education System - the dumb submissions

If your brain has send you a signal that has prompted you to start reading a blog with this title then the probabilty that you have been through this process ( of dumb submission) is highest. tell me now, who else would be interested ? and if you havent been through this process, you are here to know what it is actually, and why its so dumb.
when i say "our" education system, i am ofcourse pointing to the system run by us, the people.
and i am not pointing my finger here, i just want to show you the picture. in my series of education system, i would like to discuss various phases of a citizen of this country. i have not travelled places to show you the whole picture, but even if i am adding a pixel, i will be happy to contribute to complete picture.

THE SUBMISSIONS.
THE VIVA VOCE.
THE EXAMS.

The jamuns

Nadiad. The place well known for poeple's faith in one common place. The Santram Mandir. And that place i should say holds them together too. I am a part of it. Yes. It's like when we say 'jay maharaj' to each other irrespective of any place on this earth, it brings us together. Well, this holds true for every faith, i agree.
The mandir is always with visitors, the more appropriate words would be, 'the blessing seekers'. May be not all of them, but a few, yes. They always have something to ask for. Not only this, they send their children to place the 'ballpoint pen' for the blessings of maharaj , to write with it in exams the following day. Surprised !! No. It doesn't happen only in India. I am sure it happens somewhere else too, because its a matter of faith.
So, this mandir has a large compound outside, the place that is a setup of very fresh, big and busy 'sabji market'. And this is the place where i often accompany my mother. The day is always saturday. No specific reason for that though. And i always see the things around other than learning to buy perfect vegetables, i see people. Not just see them, i see them. Its always refreshing to see how a busy bhaajiwala is trying to do away with last few bunches of bhaaji, how a boy of age 10 successfully handles 5 customers with different demands of ginger, lemons and turmerics all with different proporitions, how a 70+ old lady manages to sell aways a basket of papayas. Everything.
Well well. On that day we had everything in our bags with 'bhaaji' hanging out that was placed hastily by bhaajiwalla over pieces of 'suran' and with sweet gaurds and cucumber and drumsticks sticking out like missiles on launch-pad truck. It was turn for fruits now. And we just passed a jamunwalli masi. The jamuns were quite 'healthy' i would say. Almost of full grown size and with shiny dark purple color the sweetapples were marketing themselves leaving very little for jamunwalli to do.
And so we stopped and mom asked the price. I have forgotten completely what the price was. But it was like spending 20 rupees would give you mere 5 or 6 sweet apples. That was the price. And just when we were being delivered our selected jamuns, a woman passed by with her little daughter catching hold of her mothers saree corner, the one effective way of not getting lost in a cowded market. The little girl had just crossed the jamunwalli and her small twinkling eyes were on shiny black jamuns. She didnt took her eyes off easily. I saw those eyes. And thats when she shouted for her mother, followed by the word 'jamun' with her little finger pointed at the basket full of jamuns. The mother came back, to pull away the little girl. She just caught hold of her arm and tried to make her walk with her. But the eyes. Even she saw them. They were on jamuns. She had to sit there, to take jamuns. She knew they were costly, but she had to ask the price. She did. And while the jamunwalli was finishing her money transaction with us, the little girls mother took a jamun in her hand. She took it in her right hand with her girl standing on left of her, expecting that she was going to get that one to eat. But the little one was not even a bit aware of what was going through her mothers mind at that moment, with a jamun in her hand, and moving her thumb up and down over it, turning and again rubbing it. She just kept looking at the jamunwalli who had already refused to give them for anything less. The little girl still had her eyes on basket of jamuns and the mother still had that jamun in her hand. I dont know what happened then. May be she was able to negotiate and get them for low price, as we had left who might have bought them for more. May be the one jamun that was in her hand was then enjoyed by her daughter. And maybe all these 'hopes' are wrong. May be.
But still, i have that 'faith' i talked about.