Education I think is the only ‘service’ that people are more than willing to pay for, but happy not to use it. For some strange reason, your favorite professor in college happens to be the one who lets you bunk classes, or worse, the one who prefers not to conduct lectures at all. It’s ironic, but I have often seen students, and parents too, complain that “attendance is compulsory” in their college.

Well I am not trying to point fingers or accuse the current student generation; for I was no different as a student. In retrospect I feel that it was because I never found lectures interesting. So opportunities to get by without attending lectures were always welcome. But never did it cross my mind back then, to go to the college authorities and demand for better service. Never did I stand up and say “I am paying for education and I demand better service”. Let alone that, I never had the intentions (not the courage either) to stand up to a professor and express my dissatisfaction towards his/her way of teaching. I accepted things the way they were, and the lesser I was officered the better I felt. I wonder why did I not demand more, why did anybody not demand more.

Education is the fastest growing business in India, with costs of education on a steep rise. Wonder when will we see an improvement in the quality of education too? Wonder if a day would ever come when students (and parents) would demand better service and more value for their money? Will someday students really enjoy attending lectures in college or would that require a complete overhaul of the education system itself? Hopefully someday -:)