During our Chennai visit in Dec-Jan we realised something that wasn’t as obvious before … the whole “business” of education. We knew that all educational institutions in India, schools and colleges are supposed to be setup as non-profit trusts. Which is to say that educational institutions must not make a profit and if they do, it has to be ploughed right back into the same institution. Well, can’t say this law has been implemented in spirit …. it has been implemented in word because land is acquired on special lease, subsidized rates etc.

In TamilNadu every next child is studying in an Engineering college. ITIs are dead and the only thing most children know are two streams of graduation – Engineering or Medical.

Now this is a business opportunity ! Several politicians have setup Engineering colleges and they have got a nice deal going with the banks. The banks offer educational loans for students to study in these Engineering colleges. Works out for everyone. There are managers who go around convincing students in their 11th and 12th about how easy it is to get a loan and why they should study engineering. Really ? Aptitude be damned. So you have an Engineer who is working as an office boy or an Engineer who works in a car showroom or some such job where his engineering degree is just not used. He/she is also earning what he/she would have earned without the education-loan-paid-engineering-degree.

Please help mentor students in their 12th standard to choose what they really want to study. Today the options are many and one really doesn’t have to become an engineer if you don’t have the aptitude for it.

And hope educational institutions stop their “business” and become places where children get truly educated.