India is today one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Corruption pervades every aspect of our life. Starting with political corruption, we are all caught in a vicious cycle of bureaucratic corruption, business corruption, corruption in NGOs and criminalisation of politics. The education sector is also totally affected by corruption in our country today.
Starting with the admission to the kindergarten schools, right up through every stage in education many key aspect of education are infected with corruption. The political pressure for social justice crystallising in the concept of reservation and priority given on the basis of caste and community has in itself brought a whole new chain of corruption starting with the getting of the false caste certificates and falsification of records. The exam system is also riddled with corruption and leakage of exam papers is a prevalent phenomenon. There are states like UP, where state governments have ruled on the students right to copy in an examination. The introduction of self financing colleges has in turn brought a totally different approach to education where education has based mere consumer and corruption based. In Maharashtra for example, amassing money by using corruption in educational institutions and use this clout to capture political power is well known. Such political leaders there are called sikshan samrats. Their equivalence are probably found in other parts of the country.
As Central Vigilance Commissioner, I used to get a lot of complaints of corruption in All India Council of Technical Education which plays a very key role to play in accreditation of technical education institutions. The corruption involving appointments of Vice Chancellors and other authorities in higher education system is well known. Against this background, therefore, how can we explore the idea that teachers can play a role in checking corruption? It appears to be a case of extremely naïve or extremely impracticability. But this very impracticability could be the starting point for the type of change we want to see in the educational sector, including elimination of corruption, if not drastic reduction in corruption.
We must recognise that change is brought about by a phenomenon, which I call the RAMA process. Any new idea or ideal, initially invites R – resistance or refusal. If one persists with the idea, comes the stage of A – annoyance of those who are constantly bombarded with the idea by the committed people. Then comes the stage of M – mellowing. And finally the A – acceptance and achievement.
Five remarkable men have commented on the process which I have found to be as a source of inspiration for me. Bertrand Russell says that if you hold an idea for sufficiently long time, it becomes respectable. Victor Hugo says that nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Alexis De Tocqueville, an intellectual of 19th century said that the inevitable becomes intolerable the moment it is perceived to be no more inevitable. Bernard Shaw says that the reasonable man adjusts himself to the situation and the pervading norms leads a peaceful life without creating any waves. The unreasonable man wants the world to change to his way of thinking and in the process achieves success. And finally, how to achieve success? For this, the inspiring comment of Michael Angelo Buonarroti the great sculptor in Rome must be recalled. When he asked how he produced statues out of pieces of marble which had no shape, he said that when he looked at a piece of marble he saw the statue in it. He then went on removing whatever marbles which were not part of the statue and lo and behold, the statue emerged. We have to keep these five principles in mind if we want to think seriously and in a meaningful way on how teachers can play a role in fighting corruption.
The importance and the influence of the teachers in shaping characters is well known. Dr Abdul Kalam has been the most recent prominent articulator of this concept. He focused on the issue of addressing students as many as he could through out the country. He has also pointed out how values are shaped by our parents, our religion, our peers and above all our primary school teachers. In the ultimate analysis, if we want to fight corruption, we have to understand what corruption is and how it arises. Corruption is lack of intellectual, moral or financial integrity. Generally we think in terms of financial integrity but intellectual integrity is particular relevant in the academic context. The issue of moral integrity also arises particularly in business.
What constitutes or what is the motive force for integrity? It is the internalisation and acceptance of the value that one should be truthful because any deviation in the part of truth is not only harmful to the individual but to the society. This value is very difficult to nourish especially in our time when material progress is what counts in society. Temptations are too much and greed is very common.
In fact, the one value which motivates the people to become corrupt is greed. Ultimately, therefore, if we want tackle corruption we will have to encourage in people the value of integrity and dedication to truth and make them realise that greed is not good. The teachers, especially the primary school teachers who interact with the students at very young age are in an important position to influence values. The question is how many of our teachers are themselves are honest and committed to teaching? How many of them can be role models, especially the all pervasive corruption in the education which I mentioned above? In fact, is it possible for the teachers to play a role in fighting corruption at all?
I believe that it is possible. Because ultimately, reform has to come from within the system. All reformers have come from the same society which had problems. Vivekananda came from our midst and so was Mahatma Gandhi. These great leaders emerged from the same society. Everybody can not become a Mahatma Gandhi but at least each person can at least live up to some basic values of integrity. And in the process, play a role in creating a small environment for nourishing the values of trust and integrity. The issue of the teachers role in fighting corruption therefore can be looked from two angles. The first is the individual angle of the teacher himself. To begin with the teacher himself must be honest and must have a feeling that in his role as a guru, he must become a role model and must walk his talk. One basic requirement for influencing people is to not only have a set of commitment but demonstrate the commitment in action. The problem in our country is that so many people mouth slogans about values but their actions deviate totally from them. That is why, none of the leaders today have a credibility in the public. There is a all around atmosphere of cynicism. When cynicism prevails, no progress is possible, especially when it comes to improvement and reform.
Apart from commitment to integrity, at a personal level, a teacher who wants to fight corruption can at least avoid many mal practices in the education system like fraud and corruption relating to admission, examination and so on. The scope and temptation for corruption are very wide and pervasive. By abstaining from at least these bad practices, a teacher can derive the moral authority and the credibility can influence others. But then an individual can act only in a limited way. The second angle of the teachers role in fighting corruption is to see to what extent he can mobilise the students as a community in fighting corruption. In fact, there are so many activities of students like the National Social Service and other co-curricular activities. The students can be motivated to study the issue of corruption and come up with ideas of how corruption can be tackled.
Recently in the DAV Girls High School in Gopalapuram an initiative has been taken by one Mr. Suresh, who is a Vigilance Officer in BEML and who has been carrying on a single man campaign to spread the message of integrity among the youth. He has come up with the concept of SIV-G, i.e. Self Imposed Vigilance for Good Governance and this concept has been further extended and he has conducted national online essay competitions in English through his website (www.siv-g.org) and students from all over the country have participated, some even from abroad. The programs are also organised on Sardar Patel’s birthday, 31st October every year, which is also observed as the Vigilance Awareness Week by the Central Vigilance Commission of the Government of India. As a further step in this process, the students who participated in the last competition were motivated and a National Governance Corps (NGC) has been created so that students themselves can become vigilant and commit themselves to the values of integrity and better governance. This movement, if it catches on, will be helpful in creating all over in the country, a student body which will be focused on the issue of integrity, with the advantage of India as a youthful nation, by laying a foundation for a better governance and less corruption in the future. There are number of NGOs which are active in fighting corruption like the Fifth Pillar of Mr. Nirmal, The Catalyst Trust and so on. Students can be encouraged to associate with these NGOs and the teachers can also become active with these NGOs and contribute in fighting corruption. In a way, this work is likely to be of the tough nature, because, the government by and large being corrupt there is no encouragement for such activities. Even though the Right to Information Act has been passed, there is a lot of resistance in passing the information from public authorities.
The techniques of the cellphone cameras can be used in sting operations especially to trap people in corruption and use the 24 x 7 media for exposing corruption. But these are more activist methods. Every teacher and the students has to decide to what extent they can play a more activists role in fighting corruption.
Unfortunately, thanks to the secular approach of the government of India, in many government schools, there is hardly any teachings of moral values. Teaching of moral values only prevails in religion based institutions like those run by the Society of Jesus or Ramakrishna Mission or Dayanand Anglo Vedic Schools. Apart from these institutions, in government institutions, there is a need for introducing moral instruction classes so that students are forced to think in terms of values and the need for integrity. Its a very healthy development that in the Anna University, in the Engineering courses, in the 7th semester, a subject of Business Ethics has been introduced. This is a welcome step. Value based education is an another area, in which teachers can play a role in inculcating the values and for this, concerted efforts has to be made by not only individual teachers but also collectively by the teaching community so that teaching of values become part of education at every stage.
The idea of encouraging groups of students at least to observe certain basic codes of conduct and introducing a code of honour and self discipline can be a starting point. Every teacher to the extent possible can try to form such groups among the students so that at least the issues of integrity are not merely discussed and described upon and also practiced. The students can also be encouraged to become whistle blowers and help in fighting corruption.
In the ultimately analysis, for teachers to play an effective role in fighting corruption, the first requirement is that they themselves must be honest and must be committed to spreading value of integrity. They should constantly try to inculcate the values in students not by too much of preaching or articulation but by their action at every stage. Action speaks much louder than words.
In addition to the individual level of teachers, collectively as teaching community, they may play a role in introducing an module of value education in education and also mobilise students in various group activities for not only discussing the issue of corruption but also initiating action to check corruption through whistle blowing etc. They can also participate in activities like the National Governance Corps (NGC) or other such initiatives taken by NGOs. The extent to which the teachers can succeed fighting corruption ultimately will depend upon their commitment and the persistence with which they operate.
