Kota Factory, All India Rank, 12th Fail and More: Exploring the filmy chronicles around India’s conflicting education space

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” - This quote by Nelson Mandela is one for the ages to remember, and I clearly recount it being repeated innumerable times by my school teachers. As a kid, when my worldview was finding its footing, this quote hardly made sense because my small brain was fighting hard to understand the importance of the subjects I was studying. Subsequently, the media I was consuming underlined the same notion, questioning the very need for such a redundant and stringent system that offers so little to explore, observe and question the infinite possibilities of the same world they want us to change. An earnest idea which sadly falters before it can breathe under the burden of this ideology - “one-size-fits-all” - a hallmark of our education practise.

Naturally, movies like 3 Idiots and F.A.L.T.U. had a strong impression on me - a 7 or 8 year old kid - who found himself, his issues and his thoughts, both heard and validated by a medium that compelled people across borders and generations. Both films strongly put forth this idea of allowing individuals to realise, pursue and carve their unique paths, whether or not they fall in line with the traditional segues. Alongside, they emphasised how the supposed tool for enlightenment was draining developing minds of the spirit to be curious and settle to be complacent by adding a mixed superficial layer of gratification to those empty vessels like examinations, grades and rankings. Though, over the years, my relation with both films has changed significantly, from being in complete ‘awe’ of them to later realising their two-faced overly convenient narrative, the idea they tried to instil finds itself screaming of their undying need in society till today.

One will always find it hard to deny the unnecessary weight most Indian students carry of scoring well and securing top ranks in examinations, which sadly provides a poor hypothesis of one’s knowledge and ability. Also, more than intellect, it becomes a strange metric, a rude parameter to judge and evaluate the social standing and character of kids and their parents in society. This conflict was sincerely brought to attention with the movie All India Rank, where a middle-class father sends his son, against his will, to prepare for the JEE examination in one of the leading coaching classes in Kota. He firmly believes that securing a bona fide rank will be a stamp of approval - the degree being a character certificate of his son and not his intelligence - and further will enable him to attain a higher rank in his office politics, much like one of his colleagues. However, through the course of the film, his notions are challenged, and he feels the need to recalibrate his thought process.

As the flawed grading system continues to profit those who have a knack for remembering concepts instead of understanding them, it creates an inherent void within children who are later unable to break themselves out of the pattern and put their education to fruitful use. Additionally, it has no accommodation for students who fall on the shorter end of the stick on different levels while trying incessantly to fit in and make themselves a part of the larger group. This unsettling divide enhances the role of teachers to help and walk those students through the mundane lanes in their own unique way. Ram Shankar Nikumbh in Taare Zameen Par, Naina Mathur in Hichki and Anand Kumar in Super 30 are a few fine examples of teachers in movies who found a way to enable those students, written off by the society, to fly beyond their limits.

Unfortunately, even for teachers like them who want to bring a change, the ill system offers no help and creates more hurdles in the form of commercialisation of education, as seen in Super 30 and more rousingly in Aarakshan. They presented a riveting portrait of a well-established chain where people are too busy filling their own pockets instead of seeding young minds with knowledge. The ties and tales of money in the educational discourse can never be discounted, whether we talk about the rising amount of donations for admission or the gamble of cheating that scars the lives of countless students. This controversial and curious case of organised cheating has been explored haphazardly in films like Why Cheat India, Setters and Farrey, which make a novel attempt at bringing these irregularities to the forefront but sadly could never go beyond the surface.

I believe it is equally important to address another jarring pattern with movies and shows around the education system of the institution they select to dissect or critique. More than often, the lens falls on streams and examinations like JEE, NEET, UPSC and CA, which are considered to be the most “ideal” career path that most parents want and demand their child to pursue in India. Examples such as 3 Idiots, All India Rank, Aspirants, Operation MBBS, Half CA, Chhichhore, Hostel Daze, Crash Course, and many more clearly paint a picture that aids the bias even when many of them are trying to stand for the opposite. 

It creates this environment where they are contesting a stereotype while reinforcing the same, which dampens the effect of the message they are trying to put across. Their humble appeal to look beyond these streams many times gets lost and builds an echo chamber where they become the only visible and viable options as there are hardly any stories trying to navigate the lives of students pursuing humanities, social science, literature, mass communication, journalism, film and production, etc. It leads and forces most students to follow the herd, far-keeping or overlooking their true calling, until they fall out of the race or get muddled and crumbled in a place that seems merely unwelcoming.

In such a saddening situation, where most students start losing a sense of themselves and get coloured together in one uniform hue, the significance of a series like Kota Factory rises immensely. Unlike other shows and movies that get swayed away in presenting the shenanigans, short-comings and animosities around the JEE preparation in Kota city, this series seeks inside the little room where a 15 or 16 year old teenager is figuring out how to live alone, far away from his parents, and pushing himself to run a race faster than the numerous other students around him. It acts as a detailed study of those big and small everyday changes one has to adapt and evolve to become an indifferent part of the environment, which many people from the outside fail to comprehend. While showcasing the struggle of students, the series draws a touching humanised portrait of teachers through the character of Jeetu Bhaiya in the third season, as his affection and intention to help his students through every slight nook and corner has shackled him in an unfortunate and unforeseen grief and affected his ability to deal with it, effectively.

Driving through all these trials and tribulations, the students start detesting education in its entirety, which is an upsetting scenario because the actual culprit is the functioning of an ancient order that makes them withdraw from it completely. The importance of education has been duly emphasised in movies like Kitaab, I Am Kalam, Nil Battey Sannata and 12th Fail, shedding light on how this medium can change people's lives forever and for the better if approached with the right intention. It is always going to be an uphill task to achieve anything valuable in life without the right guidance and knowledge, regardless of the nature and channel it is received. Arguably, it is hard to find the same in our present machinery, which tends to focus more on quantifying than qualifying. Alas, we can only wish for a system where we are not only counting every drop but equally nurturing them. And yes, I am completely aware of how impossible and impractical it sounds, especially for a diversely populated country like India. However, I think this is the time when we need to remind ourselves of this quote by Nelson Mandela - “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”