Educational Qualification for Politicians: Necessary or Not..?

"Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world."
                                                                                                            -Nelson Mandela

These words by Nelson Mandela reflect the importance of education. It gives us light in the dark. It is addressed today with utmost significance. It is after realising its value that the Indian Government passed the Right to Education Act in 2009. It has opened a world of opportunities to all of us. It also helps us to secure a decent job. 

It had been a very hotly debated question of the recent times that should politicians have a minimum educational qualification. Education is not mandatory for a person to contest in elections in India. It is basically backed by reasons such as an experienced person can be a better politician than an educated person; it gives equal opportunity for all to represent people, etc. But even with such good reasons, why is this question still being raised by many? What can we do? Let us analyse the pros and cons of setting up a minimum educational qualification for politicians, after which I will be putting forward my opinion on this topic. Hereafter, any references made as 'politicians' are intended to the people who participate in elections.

Why Education is needed for politicians?

• Being a person who plays a significant role in the legislature of the political system, it is important that politicians should have a basic knowledge about the history, geography and politics of both India and the world. This will help them in framing better policies for the country, and know what happened when such laws were enforced earlier (if any, in some part of the world). Though it is possible for us to learn about this by reading books, education will provide impartial scripts of incidents, and help them to analyse the situation critically. Another fact is that many leaders who quote many great people and historic incidents in their speeches don't even know much about this, and are merely reading out what their personal assistants wrote for them.

• Politicians should be educated enough so that they are not manipulated by their biased private staff. They should be aware enough about the basics to ensure that the representatives selected by the people of the country are not made fools, and thereby the common people are not fooled themselves.

• A well-educated person can perceive matters differently and can understand the scenario in different perspectives. Different perspectives about the same problem will help them to analyse and evaluate the situation. It will also raise the standard of democracy.

• Education is important for the overall development of a person, and it becomes highly essential when it comes to the matter of lawmakers of the country.

• We know that there are various fields such as atomic and nuclear energy which are improving in India, and are fields where extreme care should be given. Even a small variation from the desired quantity or quality can cause fatal accidents. We know how a fault in the design of RBMK reactors caused the deaths of at least 4,000 people at the Chernobyl reactor. People who handle this section should be aware of the possible problems and hence should be well-educated, at least about the basics. We should stop promoting people who become ministers of such sectors with very less or zero awareness about it. An electricity minister who doesn't even know the basics of hydroelectricity in the 21st century is highly upsetting.

Why Education should not be made necessary for Politicians?

• India has produced many great leaders, a great fraction of them with very minimum educational qualification. But they played an important role in shaping India as of what is today. That is because they know what the citizen and the nation requires. 

• India is a land where one out of every four people is not literate (as of 2011 census). The idea why education is not a mandatory qualification for contesting in elections is basically because of the fact that all citizens should have the same chance of contesting in the election, above their educational qualification.

• Educational qualification cannot be considered always, just like in the case of representation of backward groups of India, who are deprived of even the basic amenities of life. It is also something worth noticing that the wishes of the minority population have high chances of not being represented if the educational qualification is made mandatory. 

• Even if we pass the law regarding the educational qualification of people contesting in any elections, there is a very chance that the rich and influential people can easily buy graduation certificates, thereby making all the efforts futile.

My Opinion is...

YES. People contesting in elections of all levels should have a minimum educational qualification. But for a country like India, where the average literacy rate is 74.4% (as of Census 2011) and having many regions where people have education only in their wildest dreams, it is incomplete without a few more points. I believe in small changes that are introduced at different intervals, which will eventually help us to progress in a big way. This is strictly my personal suggestion. You may write down yours in the comments if you wish.

• The minimum level of educational qualification should be MATRICULATION (10th Pass) along with the passing of an examination called CPT (Common Political Test) while passing the law. This may appear very low in the eyes of many, but we need to realise the condition of illiteracy of many of our citizens too. As we proceed further, i.e., within a time frame of, for say 10 years each, this should be revised to INTERMEDIATE (12th pass) and UNDERGRADUATE levels at least. The period of 10 years will help the underprivileged people by providing them sufficient time to gain education. These amendments should be the bare minimum ones. More changes can be made as time progresses, to post-graduation levels and introduction of new parameters such as age-limit, other fixed-income sources for political representatives (so that they do not rely on politics solely for their income) etc after rigorous discussions.

• Common Political Test (CPT) should be a test that comprises Multiple Choice Questions with one correct answer, from the syllabus of Classes 8, 9 and 10. The questions should never exceed the level of board examinations, or should never contain questions out of the syllabus. Initially, there should be no limit on the number of attempts for the exam. There should be no age limit, and hence no age-wise reservation for the candidates (reservation for OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD, etc may be retained). Each subject should have a minimum subject cut-off mark for the candidate to pass, along with certain compulsory questions, especially in the current affairs section. The result should be declared only on the basis of marks, and not percentile. The future additions to this may include setting up an age limit, a maximum number of attempts, increasing the syllabus as the minimum qualification goes up from matriculation to intermediate and to graduation after decades of enforcement, and introduction of questions of other patterns (without increasing the difficulty levels than board examinations in the matriculate and intermediate levels, and then that of University exams for the graduation level). But the basic pattern of questions should remain the same, as not many will be interested in Science and Mathematics. The format for CPT may be as follows:

                     Basic Science - 10 Questions
                     Basic Mathematics- 10 Questions
                     History - 15 Questions
                     Geography - 15 Questions
                     Politics - 15 Questions
                     Economics - 15 Questions
                     Current Affairs - 20 Questions

                     General Knowledge - 20 Questions

• The questions are set in the same level of board exams so that we don't want more entrance coaching centres. CPT should never be interpreted as an entrance exam. It should not focus on who scores more or who comes first, but should be considered just as a qualifying exam. Moreover, it is not a measure of how can it contribute to a better politician, but a minimum standard we set for our lawmakers.

• It is important to note that if we introduce this system suddenly, we will see a considerable fraction of politicians who fail to satisfy these criteria. If they are not able to represent the people who are not even availing the basic needs, it will definitely be inappropriate, as they will be the leaders who can effectively improve the conditions of their constituencies. Hence, the people who are currently doing their responsibilities after winning an election should be exempted from these criteria for another 15 years. These fifteen years will give them time to pass the necessary criteria and allow the newly embedding politicians to get exposure in the arena of politics.
  
  

This is my personal opinion. I am sure this will have its own flaws. Do share your views on this topic as well as on my opinion in the comments if possible.

But we can never assure that a well-educated person is idealistic. BR Ambedkar, the person who framed the Indian Constitution, a once in a lifetime intellectual and a man whose vision for India is far superior to of his contemporaries was an alumnus of London School of Economics. While the Nobel Laureate Tim Hunt resigned his position of an honorary professor from the University College of London because of his sexist comments. But education can definitely be a contributing factor for a better democracy. 

Sincere Thanks: 
This blog was prepared with the help of so many people. I asked the opinion of my friends and teachers on this topic, which I took into account while writing this. Their opinions varied from a strong NO to that of setting up examinations as tough as JEE Advanced or UPSC, and different educational qualifications for MLAs, MPs, ministers, etc. I would like to extend my arms of gratitude to each and every one of them for their valuable contributions and help. Lots of love..!

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PS: If you find any factual mistakes, kindly let me know in the comments. Let us grow by correcting our mistakes..!