CAT , The Corporatization of education, and the democracy:

CAT , The Corporatization of education, and the democracy:

Well I absolutely had no intention of writing this or anything like this till about two days ago. I knew that the IIMs had outsourced the CAT examination processes to Prometric, and I didn’t really think much of it. Things would begin to change soon though.

A few days before the test date (I was to take the test on day one- first shift), a message was displayed on the IIM website that forbade the test takers from disclosing any information regarding the test.

This is directly against the fundamental right to expression and the only possible reason for the same could be that Prometric does not want it’s “proprietary” information shared publicly. Yeah right, we pay , take a test and are now not even allowed to discuss it ….whatever happened to civil liberties.

The organizers may argue that it is to ensure a fair playing field for all applicants but it is lame and there are ways to make sure that that does not happen----one just has to be a little innovative with selection of the questions.

More shocks were to come- As we(3 friends) came to the test centre – we were totally Pissed Off to see the long queue where every Single student was being frisked as if we were terrorists or something. We were required to carry an official ID and were not allowed anything, anything, I repeat ANYTHING !!! Inside the testing room . Not even pens, pencils, erasers etc. Any explanations, IIMs? (Except that Prometric did not want any “sensitive” information to go public.)

To add to it, We were required to give Fingerprint scans before testing. This is OUTRAGEOUS and students can not be treated like this. Fingerprint IS a part of an individual’s privacy and the moment we stop respecting people’s right to privacy, the very foundations of democracy are threatened.

People’s rights took thousands of sacrifices before they were restored and it is sad that the present generation hardly thinks beyond being “cool” . The corporate media looks at them not as humans but as mere consumers and in the process uses

People hardly understand the significance of this – this could well be point of inflection in the process of corporatization of higher education in India. The government has some control over the IIMs but they are largely independent. They already have started charging exorbitant fees from students which make them prohibitively costly for anyone from the middle or lower middle class of the nation.

Considering the fact that most top corporate positions in the nation are held by people from the IIMs and other management institutions of similar repute who charge the same insane amounts of money (if not more) for their degrees, This makes it impossible for the middle class to have any representation in the Corporate world.

While it might not sound like much, It has Huge consequences for the following reason.

Ø The corporate decision makers increasingly have no understanding of the living conditions, culture, and realities of a vast majority (about 90%) of the nation’s population. They are from the rich class and are picked by the rich to serve the rich. It leads to decisions that further skew the balance in favor of the already rich---thus ensuring an alienation of the not-so-rich from the fate of the nation.

The above is important now because the decisions that really matter in an open and liberal economy are the ones from the corporate world (since they cause all the so called “growth”) and by restricting access to the top corporate positions, the system makes the term “democracy” meaningless .

Ø It is again imperative to realize that it is the corporates who ultimately call the shots even when it comes to several major decisions on matters of national interest. It is obvious that the political parties receive bulk funding from them and the corporates use it to good effect to have their interests taken care of .

I sincerely hope that the people will read the above with an open mind and understand the inherent risks of turning from a democracy into a corporatocracy. The USA is a prime example and we are already on the road to it. What we must grasp as a nation is the fact that growth is more than just numbers (read GDP growth). If 40% of the population is struggling for bread and the top 20% are more concerned about wardrobe malfunctions, fashion statements, movies and rock concerts, the regulators and planners are happy (and concerned only) with the GDP figures and the politicians are happy with their positions—all I can say that it is a civilization built by humans but there is hardly anything human about it.