A. Jayaprakash. Kovilloor
Newspapers and similar press mediums are overflowing with advertisements offering higher education opportunities. Both the parents and their children are equally confused about the authenticity of the claims these ads make when it comes to a crucial decision making; say, what is after Plus two, what is after SSLC or after graduation for that matter. This is much more confusing today than at any time of the year, for this is the time when students pass out and go for higher studies.
It is a fact that all media are by-products of advertisements, and we cannot expect a press organization to offer us 25/30 pages for three or four rupees on a daily basis. So is the case with electronic media. We get some 100 channels on 24/7 basis and we pay a hundred or a little more for these channels. The major chunk of press revenue comes from column centimeters and commercial seconds split out in various time slots. These centimeters and air times are meticulously calculated and billed and finally the public is left with the option ‘believe it or not’, you have everything plattered out on a daily basis.
A great number of ads on higher education that appear in today’s Dailies make false claims and sport fake recognitions, and these institutions have their own networks all over the nation to entice unsuspecting parents and their kids to their nets. And once they are in, it is going to be a matter of mercy of institutions not the merit of the candidate that is going to decide the future.
Many parents blindly believe and follow the instructions given by these ads and they come to know of the pitfalls only when their wards complete a few semesters of their studies. This is dangerous, and there needs to be surveillance mechanism in place to monitor and authenticate the operations of these institutions and there should be provisions in the law to bring these culprits to book who pray on the future of the younger generation and the hopes of their parents.
The fourth Estate, Press, has a crucial role to play. When an ad enquiry reaches its office or its franchisee office, there needs to be a system in place to verify the credentials of these institutions and ascertain that the claims made in the ad are genuine and the recognition is valid. Once an institution is found fabricating or providing misleading leads to parents and students, the issue needs to directed to the academia and education authorizes like State Board of Studies, Medical Council, AICTE, UGC or such bodies and alert them of these fakes. This would enable them to publish the list of such fake-listed institutions so that the general public would not get cheated. In the meantime, they may take time off to list out those institutions and courses that are authentic and publish those lists at certain intervals every year.
The most powerful democratic tool, press, can do a great job in this direction and if this practice is continued for some time, there would be marked fall in the number of such institutes and higher studies conglomerates in the future. Since newspaper is taken as an authentic platform, people will take this information too, i.e. the list of fakes, in the same attitude and they will shun such organizations.
That these ads keep the press organizations survive does not make the latter accept whatever rubbish they bring out to be published. The Press has to have a say in finding out the credibility of the ads, though it is not always possible, it is worthwhile doing it at a time when hundreds of thousands of students pass out and go for higher studies.
The Press must act. The public must stand with the Press when one such fake case is brought to light thanks to the intervention of the press. The people should shun these institutions and let them die their normal deaths out of neglect and rejection.
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