There was a time when invigilators were looked upon with awe and fearsome. A student copying or using unfair means was easily spotted, inasmuch as he would timidly look around or raise his head, and effectively dealt with. The student caught has a sense of guilt and shame, as the event readily became talk of the town. Those were the days when more jobs were available than the number of job applicants. However, a lot has been changed between then and now.
Today, unfairness is the rule rather than the exception. Our motto has thus become: “Unfair is fair, and fair is unfair”. In Manipur, we are told that, there is no single student who does not copy, although, of late, this problem is said to have come down to some extend in view of the diktats issued by the underground revolutionary outfits.
As the monster of mass copying raises its ugly head, a host of psychological and behavioural maladjustments appear on the scene. First, the degree becomes cheap. Other universities will attach no value or recognition. Second, once they resort to it, they feel that any honest labour is wasted. This spirit will be injected in their blood. Third, they will lose the romance of learning and searching, the satisfaction of achieving success through hard work, and the spirit of putting one’s spirit to test. As a result the latent talent will become blunted.
Education has the stupendous task of illumining the young mind, not to demean with a degree. It helps the child to make an original contribution to human life according to his or her capacity. After all, the aim of education is not to produce social misfits and human virus but to produce citizens that are capable of steering the generation in the right direction. But if our centres of learning become factories where we fabricate the future thieves and frauds, gangsters and master-minds, the society will have to bear insurmountable repercussions for it.
The recent NPSC examination for the mains, held on 14th & 15th September 2007 was another horrid experience in my life when almost all the candidates were resorting to copying from each other, consulting an discussing to strike the right answers for every question. The scene of the examination hall was exactly as what is seen in front of cinema and video halls. The seat arrangement was also done where 4 candidates had to sit on one bench, causing enormous difficulty of stretching out their arms to reach papers for writing answer. This close-barred sitting had facilitated those unscrupulous candidates to copy from each other conveniently.
What will happen if those candidates who simply copied from each others get selected at the expense of those deserving ones? Is not something too terrible to bear the burden of guilt throughout his or her lifetime for the reward they get away which is not theirs?
At a time when the candidates themselves were shouting hoarse at the NPSC for unfairness and partiality, the candidates were equally committing crime of unpardonable degree by resorting to mass copying! Why the invigilators who empowered authority to deal with the offenders had chosen to remain mute spectators even when the candidates were openly copying as if they were given the pass-ports? The scene inside the examination hall, as seen by myself, was exactly as what is seen in front of daily bazaar.
Where is our self-respect? Where is sanctity in Naga society today? Down from the village administration to our offices, educational institutions, NGOS, examination halls, polling stations during the election, our census records, electoral rolls and even our churches – all have tinctured with corrupt elements. Who, on earth, will respect the Nagas?
Recently, I met an elderly person from Kohima village who knows all about the ins and outs of Naga political history. When asked the time when Nagas are going to achieve sovereignty, the simple reply was: “Well, only when the Indians have respect for the Nagas”.
I am writing this for all those who wish to live and recapture the self-respect every Naga had once in the past.
Z. KATIRY Keyake, Kohima
