VYAPAM Scam – The Biggest Scam in the Education Sector

VYAPAM is the Vyavasayik  Pariksha Mandal or the Professional Exam Board (PEB) of Madhya Pradesh which was established in 1970 for conducting professional exams especially for engineering and medical entrance. However over the years this board has made exams professional. 2013 proved to be  a watershed year for the board as well as the BJP state government when irregularities were found in pre-medical tests. Slowly the can of  worms opened and irregularities were found in police exams , teachers, postal department & others. Lacs of students are affected by it. When the kingpins of the scam, Dr. Pankaj Trivedi, Dr. Jagdish  Sagar, Nitin Mahinder, O.P.Shukla and others were arrested, the nexus with BJP ministers,  gunda,  mafia kings also came to the fore.

Now in this entire episode, there are 3 things which are very disturbing.

Firstly STF is under pressure to perform and catch all the culprits without succumbing to the pressure of the incumbent government. Therefore it is sifting through the call details and the statements made by the crooks caught and catching hold of the students. They are to be blamed, their degrees need to be taken away but they should not be treated as criminals. And this is what STF and police are doing.

Secondly what is the government going to do with the students who lost their chance because undeserving candidates with money were given preference. There are large number of genuine, hard working, meritorious students who were declared unqualified in various government jobs. Doubt has also been raised on the candidates who have passed on merit but the general perception in the state is that every person who is pursuing medicine or has become a doctor recently is a fraud. How will Chief Minister re-build this faith? How is he going to repay to all those students who lost opportunity?

Thirdly why are all the stakeholders that is the students and youth who are affected silent on this matter. We Indians as a society are quite volatile and we take to streets with the slightest provocation , then why are we not coming out on the streets over this grave issue? Is the youth so indifferent that he is not bothered about his career or his future? Political parties in the opposition are raking this issue but till the effected party does not become vocal on the issue, nothing concrete will get done.

Now the next obvious question that arises is how to clear the mess. And the simple answer to that is political will. If the ruling party and its leaders decide to take some harsh decisions in which may be their own kith & kiln may have to go to jail, but in the large interest of the state & society, it will be a huge step. It will also help to reestablish the lost goodwill of politicians and political parties. For the future online exams is being contemplated but a state besieged with problem of power shortage, computer shortage will take time to build the entire infrastructure for such large scale exams. Till the set up gets ready, the government and the administration has to be in high alert and checks  & counter checks have to be done.