While corruption seems to have strong roots in our country, efforts are underway to uproot it or at least keep a check on this evil. Presently, there is not a single department free of corruption and the field of education is certainly not an exception.

Many teachers claim to be pursuing a noble profession that builds a nation, but still resort to promoting shortcuts and using substandard techniques while teaching. Despite being aware of the difference between teaching and educating, they merely teach exam-specific content and share tips only so that high-grades can be obtained.

As students, you may not have your say or control in this aspect, but there are quite a few things that you must avoid in order to become a good student and a person who is free of any seeds of corruption.

Cheating in exams

Cheating is a form of academic corruption that is considered routine. Some students are clever in resorting to unfair means to get good marks. Remember that cheating is lying and a student who tells the examiner that his script is genuine but in reality it has been plagiarised, is indeed incorrect.

It is okay to fail with dignity and self-esteem intact than to pass with disgrace, for the former may rise to success (upon realisation and with hard work), while in case of the latter, one may never feel any burden on his/her conscience.

Misconception about friendship

A bad trend in classrooms is seeking help from friends during exams and assessments. Those being asked feel embarrassed for showing reluctance to share their answers due to the fear of being caught, wastage of time or discomfort with doing the wrong thing, yet the stigma of being called selfish or unfriendly sticks to them.

“A friend in need is a friend indeed” must not be misinterpreted. If this is the yardstick for any of your friends to seek help during tests or exams, then you are better off alone. A true friend is the one who assists you the entire year by sharing notes or explaining difficult stuff to you, and not by answering your queries during exams.

Plagiarism

In this age of globalisation, anything you need to know is just a click away. Internet is handy, yet full of valuable as well as useless content. It often happens that people search on Google and often present a copy of internet content as their own.

This form of academic corruption, which gets promoted partially due to a few teachers who may check assignments without reading them thoroughly, thus playing their indirect role in promoting academic cheating.

However, many professionals understand their responsibilities and fulfil them diligently. Internationally as well as at the national level, there are strict repercussions if someone is found having committed plagiarism. We have universities where some senior professors’ degrees were cancelled and services terminated when their thesis proved to be plagiarised.

A teacher for eternity

It is observed that usually students are nice to their current teachers and the next term when another teacher replaces the old one, their loyalties and affections shift to the new teacher.

A teacher once is a teacher forever. Those who are respectful earn respect and good wishes of their teachers.

Remember, a good teacher loves students primarily for two reasons: keenness for learning and respect for the teacher.

These days ‘change’ is the buzzword. Without addressing the above-mentioned issues, which to a few may sound minor and hence negligible, we may never experience any change at the broader, national level. Our future generation must be honest right from schools to universities, under the tutelage of dedicated and upright professionals to ensure a promising future.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 14th, 2020