And what is your opinion Mr/Ms Student?

Daily when i open the newspaper in the morning, Asmita, my daughter - a class 8th student, is preparing to go to school. Astitva, his younger brother and a student of class 3rd, is also following suit. I find them busy arranging their books and notebooks while packing their schoolbags. Normally they refer their homework diary to check whether they have not missed out anything. They also check their daily school schedule to ensure they are carrying the right set of books for the day. When Astitva finds me observing him, he usually throws some question. These questions are rather very casual ones such as,
"Did you also have to carry such a heavy bag when you were my age?" or
" Will i also carry such a small bag when i will be your age?" or sometimes
"I am really annoyed at this rigorous schedule!" or even
"In my scheme of things, schools would be much different!"

When i find myself unwilling or sometimes unprepared to reply to these questions, i push myself in the headlines. For the last so many days, more often than not, i find some musings by our honourable HRD minister about his innovative and striking ideas about 'just going to happen' change in our education system. To every action, there is a reaction - equally forceful. I also find some opinions by status quoists. They mostly happen to be senior teachers or some parents or some bureaucrats or some 'swantah sukhay' letter writers.

People are really busy thinking about education. Everybody is contributing to this intellectual noise. All of us are, in some way or the other, responsible for this ideational pollution. AICTE must go! - says some educational revolutionary. Long live AICTE! - says some beneficiary of the the present system. We must have uniform syllabus!-says some reformist. No need to meddle with the system that has produced some of the best brains(!) of the world! - says someone.

The noise confuses me. I just listened my child say something about education. I want to find that in the newspaper. No, it's not there. "Did you say something about education system, my son?" He doesn't reply. But, my wife rebukes me. The kids have already left for the school.

Isn't the newspaper or the media at large missing their frank, off the cuff remarks? Or we have chosen to be selectively deaf?

The real question is, "who will decide the future of educational controllers such as AICTE?". Shouldn't we listen to the technical and professional students or even better, the potential recruiters?