Above 90% to study journalism - you must be joking!

Colleges under Delhi University are asking astronomical grades for journalism courses. Does scoring high grades in school make someone a good journalist?

My friend George Holland -Hill served as a sub –editor for almost all the major UK national newspapers.  He once told me that he had to hide the fact that he had a degree in English while hunting for a job in the newspaper industry.

"I always kept low- profile, careful enough not to let anyone know that I had a degree. No one really cared about a degree, because in those days no one had one,” said George.

He said: “ If you walked up to someone in the Fleet Street in 1970s and said I have a degree and want a journalism job, people would frown at you. They would rather hire someone who had some sort of practical experience like working for the village newspaper.”

He narrated an incident about a bloke on a look out for a reporter's job in Manchester. It was a Christmas day and a young lad died in an accident because of excessive drinking. The editor asked the young boy who was looking for a job, if he could go out early in the morning, knock at the family’s door, who lost their son on the pervious day and request them for their son’s photograph. That was a real test!  

 Journalism is not about learning theory. It is about deploying real –life skills and acquiring practical knowledge either at work, through internship or doing a short-term professional course. But, at the end, journalism is all about passion.

I find it extremely strange, when I read in newspapers that one needs above 95% to study journalism in Delhi University. I wondered if anyone has to be that intelligent to study journalism. Moreover, does one really need three years and then an additional postgraduate degree (five years in total) to be a journalist?

A person who wants to be a journalist must have a strong nose for news. He (or She) must love cultures and be adventurous. The person must be an inborn leader, possess strong management skills and be able to work in a team. It is also important to be a strong negotiator, a great listener and a very good salesman. Above all, the person has to be a very tolerant and liberal.

These are the inherent skills of a journalist, other than acquiring and perfecting the practical skills like ability to write well, and in case of a television and radio journalist ability to speak and edit well.

Whilst the find product of a journalist reveals the person’s great writing and speaking skills, the inherent qualities mentioned above are mostly required at the production stage. For example, it requires a great craftsmanship to convince someone to give an interview. Remember in journalism, you are asking someone’s time without giving something in return.

I discovered my talent in journalism while writing a letter to the editor following 9/11. I then realized that I am more inclined towards international affairs- something that couldn’t have occurred to me when I was at school.

School level grades are not enough to access someone’s journalist abilities. The maturity to understand social and global issues at large comes with time, and not on someone’s ability to score high grades at school leaving exams. The decision of some colleges of Delhi University to scrap entrance exams for the journalism course in not a prudent step, and it spells disaster for the next generation of Indian journalists, as they are likely be too driven by the market and not by passion.

Is Indian education system too harsh?

India's education system is highly competitive and over -stretched. A cohesive policy and a change in social attitudes are required to accommodate the aspirations of its vast young population.

Veena's funeral

In a Delhi crematorium, a family gathered around the funeral pyre to conduct the last rites of a 17 year old girl. Veena  (name changed) felt so shattered with her grades of the secondary school leaving examination that she decided to kill herself.

Veena’s grades were not good enough to get admission in a good college. India’s higher education system is extremely competitive: the cut –off percentage (qualifying grade) for one of Delhi’s top college  announced this week stood  over 98% for subjects like economics, literature and history. There is a similar demand for other subjects.

At the Delhi University, we see thousands of students queuing up to buy admission forms for the University’s 70,000 odd seats. By any estimate, it is a big number in  any country, but in India, chances of making through to a decent college is one in five. 

Deepak tells us: “I have scored 89%.  I am still not in a hope to get admission in one of these colleges. The pressure is obvious.”

Where does the pressure come from?

Abdul Mabood

Delhi University has over 80 colleges affiliated to it. However, most students are under tremendous social pressure to make it to the top ranking colleges because they feel it is a matter of prestige to study in one of best colleges, says Sandeep Sharma, principal of ARSD college.

In a very quiet neighborhood in south Delhi, we catch up with Abdul Mabood, director of a NGO called Snehi. He has ben running a helpline to counsel students and their parents in distress for the past 17 years.

The phone at his office never stops ringing. Abdul says: “many parents who couldn’t meet their goals in thier lives want to meet that expectations through their child. And, if they find that expectation is shattering they (parents) put a lot of pressure on the child." 

He blames the education system in the country, which he describes as faulty. He says it's money driven and  stifles creativity in a child. He says:  "the schools have to just inject the syllabus and nothing else. That is how you will not get a child that has saved his or her creativity or innocence, cultural understanding, civic sense, care for others. The schools teach (promote) sheer, horrible and cut –throat competition.” Indian education system, he says  “is  killing its children.”

He says that students will benefit more if they built more quality institutions for higher studies or improve the standard of education in universities and colleges in other cities and towns of India so that students don’t have to migrate to bigger cities.

Demographic dividends will be hard to come by.

Please don't let us down

India has one of the largest growing middle class populations in the world.   A good education is often seen as a passport to a quality life and even a way out of poverty for many. It can dramatically change the fortunes of a family.

However, access to good education in India is a privilege of those who can afford it. In rural India, state run schools are in a dilapidated condition and there are serious shortages of teachers.  Also, ability to speak good English is a strong criterion for most corporate jobs and other blue-collar jobs in cities –a skill that is mostly confined to the urban middle classes.

According to an estimate, India will soon have a fifth of the world’s working-age population. The Economist says India will add 124 million people to its working –age population over the next decade, and that figure will soar to one billion by 2032. However, Indian has abysmally failed to create quality jobs in the second half  of the last decade. The jobs in manufacturing sector are scarce due to lack of investment.

Clearly, if India wants  to get dividends of its vast human resources, it needs to educate its population on technical skills. It is about time for policy makers to rethink India’s education policy.  The formal education system that exists is long and theory based - it doesn’t guarantee jobs. Higher professional education is very expensive and remains out of bounds for the majority of Indians. 

India needs more vocational schools, where young people can be trained on practical skills after completing basic education.   Like its neighbor China, it needs to create more industrial jobs.

If India’s unemployment figure in India begins to soar, it will create  great deal of disillusionment amongst its huge working –age population, which might create massive social unrest in the country.