There is a saying in Bihar - when a child starts Montessori, the first alphabet taught by his parents is UPSC in stead of ABCD . Perhaps, this is the reason quite a few of them find it too demanding to answer the ABCD questions of UPSC . Like most of us, I too had this bug bite while studying in college but sooner than latter realized that this is mammoth and I may not see the light of the day, if I get capitulated. But the love was never lost and three letter word still mesmerizes. The hot debates and discussions on CSAT pattern still made me to wonder , what actually it is ? This was not there while we were dreaming to have the three letters in the end of our name. Tried to do some study around this new introduction, and now I wish, had this would have been there in those days, my dreams would not had the untimely death.
So, why so much of hue and cry? What is making the ministers shiver ? The country which has been at cross fire of reform vs populism for last so many decades has again found a topic which can tilt the balance of power. The politics of language is again taking some shape in Hindi heartland and no political power has the ability to out-rightly reject or accept it.
The CSAT exam carries questions on comprehension; inter-personal skills; logical reasoning and analytically ability; basic numeracy; decision-making and problem solving; general mental ability; and a bit of English language - This is absolutely fine. All the best exams in the world SAT, GMAT, GRE etc has these as part of their selection process. I imagine , this should have been there much before 2011. A administrator is expected to be analytical , having great comprehending ability and last but not the least - be good at the joining language in this vastly differentiated country. The policy making not only needs a social & political understanding but it also needs sufficient abilities in reading the balance sheet, profitability, disinvestment, economic and technology aspects. The people who are going to frame policies have to show enough abilities and that is only possible by questioning their mind. So, what is wrong in it?
People are calling it urban biased. I fail to understand- being logically strong cannot be a urban phenomenon. In fact, my personal experience suggest - those coming through a traditional vernacular schooling have a better grasp on matter related with analytical thinking. How can be person from vernacular medium be at disadvantageous position. As far as English language is concerned, now a days, everyone studies it as second language, so there should not be problem in answering a few basic level English questions. Putting English aside , just because it is symbolic of colonial mindset is too much of exaggeration, when the language has gone into the DNA of the country far too deep. Amusing it may be,but believe it or not, the problem is not in questions but in way it has been represented. English is no doubt essential but it becomes harassing if one starts thinking in English. The thinking and hence the question pattern should be in vernacular way and then it should be converted to English. On the contrary, the Hindi version of the question paper, is being generated using Google translator, which has naturally led to a lot of confusion. The core problem can be resolved very easily with proper translation. But, country which is trying to regain the path of growth with some new building blocks is being misguided with science vs humanities and English vs Hindi debate. In no circumstances, the testing pattern should be dropped, if we wish to have the bureaucrats who are more appropriate to country needs. My request to those in power is to show some spine and let the apex body take a final decision without tinkering it too much under political compulsion.
No comments:
Post a Comment