Rather belatedly, with every passing day, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the sorry condition of post-independence India’s education system is the outcome of totally flawed educators recruitment systems from preschools to universities.

The incubus of nepotism, incompetence, common in state government institutions, has wormed its way into the country’s show-piece Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) universally ranked India’s #1 liberal arts public university in all domestic and international rankings league tables. According to a detailed narrative in the Delhi-based The Reporters Collective (August 7) — which examined applications, screening remarks, RTI replies, Executive Council minutes and written dissent notes — JNU’s faculty recruitment process was recently manipulated under the watch of Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit. Candidates initially found ineligible by subject-expert screening committees were re-inducted into the selection process with some appointed to tenured professorial positions.

This is not entirely surprising because Pandit, formerly Vice Chancellor of the relatively obscure Savitribai Phule Pune University, was herself unexpectedly selected VC of the top-ranked JNU in 2022 by a specially constituted lightweight three-man search-cum-selection committee which included a former ABVP student leader. And her appointment was decreed by President Draupadi Murmu who acts on the advice of the BJP-led government at the Centre. JNU refuses to disclose details about the other candidates short-listed by the search-cum-selection committee.

With the entire educators recruitment process from preschool to Ph D compromised, is it surprising that whether measured by school learning outcomes or university research innovation, India is among the world’s most laggard countries? Citizens, wake up!