The last decade of the old millennium has seen a large number of scams in almost every field whether it is shares scam, Hawala scam, Bofors, Match-fixing, you name it there is one or the other scam. 

The only eternal scam that continues to thrive even from the last millennium to the new millennium is the Education Scam. And the Education Scam is the only scam where almost everyone is involved in some way or the other be it a student, a parent, a counsellor, a college, the media or even the government. As there is nothing really being done about it, a large number of institutes have mushroomed and almost everyone seems to be getting into education for the money involved -be it a politician running a Hotel Management institute or an ex-MLA running an air-hostess training institute or a filmstar or sportsperson running a hotel training or a computer institute -the list goes on and on. In fact, you have some sports and film personalities even endorsing sub-standard courses conducted by some institutes. 

Besides all this, India has always taken a lead in the global market to set new trends whether it's cloning of names or even having a concept of franchise in education which exists only in India and no where else. Who knows, seeing the money involved, other countries too may take a cue and start treating education as a commodity and franchise it. 

In a place like Mumbai itself you have institutes which run by the name of STAR or BBC and have no connection at all with either the STAR T. V. Network or BBC Channel'. In some nook and corner there is an institute called GATES and Mr. Bill Gates himself may not know about it. These are only some interesting details. And if that wasn't enough, there are institutes coining their own abbreviations and offering 3 to 6 months courses in M.B.A which stands for Marketing and Business Administration. You also have a British Institute which has no British connections at all. Well, if you think you have heard enough, this is only the tip of the iceberg let us see how you and each one of us get involved in one of the largest scams that has survived the millennium. The parents always want their children to enrol at an institute where there is job guarantee In fact, job guarantees are baits used to lure gullible parents and if these guarantees were indeed genuine you would have a long line of parents and students queuing at these institutes. And it so happens that most parents and even students fail to read the fine print of terms and conditions being attached to the "mostly" fake guarantees given by institutes. In any case how can anyone guarantee a job before the student is even qualified. 

One of the common questions asked by the students -Is the Institute recognised by government? -Sure, it is, is the reply but have you checked with the institute for which particular course is it recognised for? Some renowned pre-British era institutes have also cashed on the ignorance of students by conveniently using a "government recognized" tag for every course. This is inspite. of the fact that the institute may only be recognized by the government for a typewriting course and not for the Travel and Tourism or Secretarial Course.

Some of the institutes have gone much beyond. They get an authorisation to offer an 1ATA/UFTAA course at their corporate office. Thereafter, they conveniently advertise to start franchise centres and charge a high franchise fee of 2 to 3 lakhs and illegally pose the lATA course recognition in the remotest corners of India even at places where there might not be a travel agency at all. Quite a money spinning idea, especially, if you plan to open 50 to 100 centres allover India you are left with counting how many zeroes you have got as a result of pinching a large number of pockets without even sparing small towns and villages from where students enrol for "phoren" courses with a hope of being employed. 

Many counsellors at campus too have joined the band-wagon as their advice is heeded by one and all. They also attract students due to their faculty status in school or college. Some of the counsellors get affiliated to renowned computer institutes who charge a five figure fee for a course and claim to turn out programmers by hundreds. These so-called counsellors are planted to encash the students ignorance and blind faith and the counsellors in return collect funds for their "post-retirement". Some couns'ellors in fact have gone global and in fact recommend admissions in "phoren" universities and present details in such a complex way as if you were travelling to the moon. In return of the extraordinary hype created they earn a fat commission for all the admission arrangements in so called "phoren" universities of no consequence. 

At times, even the college premises are exploited where courses are conducted by private tutors. The media too gets carried away and gives widest possible coverage with the impression being created that courses in Travel, Journalism, etc. being offered by the college when it is actually only the college premises that is utilized and the college address used creates an impression that the courses offered are by the University. 

And then you have the foreign exchange drain by M.B.A courses being offered in India thru some unrecognized 
universities from USA, U. K. or Australia which may not have any recognition in their own countries leave alone India. All you need is to pay a few hundred dollars to get a US MBA Degree here in India. 

Interestingly the media too bring out special educational supplements where institutions are asked to advertise and in return are given free space to talk about their "phoren recognitions" which are rarely verified and in most cases are non- existent. Then there are institutes wanting to attract the unemployed and advertise in recruitment pages every two months claiming that there are 150 to 200 vacancies for airhostesses and flight pursers in domestic and international airlines. Being in education and counselling myself, I have never seen such large volumes of vacancies for airhostesses and flight pursers as advertised in the recruitment columns. To me it gives the impression that already we have the Airbus '. 3XXX being launched shortly which will carry thousand plus passengers and will need 200 cabin crew members to fly overnight! 

The situation gets more intriguing especially when you visit some of the Computer Institutes. Besides using fancy names for courses such as E -commerce, Web Developer, etc., the courses are for a duration of 2 to 3 years and so that the course fees don't appear too exorbitant, you are quoted a moderate (?!?) 8000 to 10000 rupees per semester- a 2 year course of 4 semesters could therefore cost you in the vicinity of 40000 rupees. If that's not good enough, by the time you would have completed one year of learning, already 40% of what you have learnt in your first semester would be redundant and then you have to pay for the updates as well!! To package these expensive and soon- to- be- redundant courses, you have scholarships and entrance exams backed by readily available bank loans woven with a dream of getting a million dollar assignment in the U.S. At times I really wonder if millions of dollars were so easy to get, why would there be so many software trainers at these very same institutes working for a few thousands instead of chasing the millions in store for them. 

Some institutes ask students to sit for an entrance exam and in return they would also be eligible for scholarships -a great incentive indeed. The entrance tests are so simple that checking may not be necessary at all and invariably most of them can save two to three thousand in course fees. Like any "sale", such entrance exams bring hoards of students who are lured by the "miserly" amounts they would save in coughing up atleast 10 times more than the scholarship that they would be getting. Such "sale" ideas are very popular as most of us are used to buying shoes and garments in sale. Little do they realize that besides the money spent unwisely thru false baits, the precious time that they have lost in climbing up the wrong tree cannot be got back. 

Here is the fourth dimension to the great scam making it universal through the world wide web. Now you do not have to leave your home to enrol for any such hyped-up courses as the in thing is on-line or e-learning. What a wonderful innovation! Now you don't even have to leave your home and still can be exploited through the cyber 1 world 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If the quality and standards are not checked and certified by competent authorities and no strict action taken against the erring: "teaching shops", soon you will have the numbers of teaching shops growing rapidly like an epidemic resulting in further deterioration of the already dwindling standards of vocational education. 

The counsellors should realize that career education should not be treated as a commodity to be marketed. Instead right guidance and imparting quality career education and through quality teaching and correct guidance we can enlighten and inspire the youngsters of today to become leaders of tomorrow leaders with a global vision. 

The parents and students should also take the intiative. To redress their grievances they should approach authorities such as the Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI). If they see an advertisement promising the sky, they should approach Advertising Standards Council of India(ASCI) and take the institutes to task to stop this growing menace.

Those who have been victimised should in fact take the ,- initiative rather than sitting passively and consoling themselves that at least they have got a certificate. What is the use of cherishing the glossy packaging if the contents are absolutely inferior and sub-standard. If the buck does not stop here, soon we would have a student enrolled for German being taught French and he would end up thinking that he is still learning German, for where ignorance is bliss, scamsters thrive. And if that happens, you would probably be reading my next article titled "Once upon a time education was a noble profession. Let's hope this article of mine provokes you to participate in the CRUSADE of putting an end to one of the biggest scams -the education scam.

Subhash Motwani 
Subhash Motwani is Director of RBCS Group as well as a qualified trainer, a renowned Vocational Counsellor and an eminent educationist.

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