Today, this vividly affluent historical and cultural land of Bihar is facing a serious identity crisis in the field of higher level of education. Bihar is that very state which gave the world its most renowned ancient university, the famous ‘Nalanda University.’ The count does not end here well it has just begun now, also it was none other than this land of Bihar which gave the world its ‘First Yoga University.’ The brilliance and the adroitness of this soil lie in the fact that Bihar gave birth to some of the most decorated personalities in the history of the ancient India!
From Chanakya the all-time greatest philosopher and political mentor who is also regarded as the Father of Economics wrote the famous book Arthashastra to Valmiki, who wrote the great epic of Ramayana were the sons of this soil. Aryabhata, the great mathematician who invented Zero to the numeral system, Vatsayana who wrote Kamasutra, Rishi Shushrat who was the Father of Surgery and Emperor Ashoka, the greatest ruler of India whose famous emblem of Ashoka Chakra is adorned in the National Flag of India were all born on this holy soil of Bihar (Magadha). Even, in the modern times this state has gifted the nation several jewels like Dinkar who is considered be the National Poet of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad who became the First President of Independent India were all born and lived on this very soil.
While Lord Buddha got enlightenment and Lord Mahavir, found Jainism on this very ancient land of Bihar. Bihar truly created some remarkable glories in the history of the country. However, ironically the glorious past of the land had faded away now. The state today stands much behind in the count of the universities and colleges in the count of the universities and colleges in the country that too with respect to her ever-increasing number of students with the passage of every successive year. Bihar even after the division of her southern portion of land as Jharkhand in the year 2000 is still India’s 3rd most populated state!
Further, this densely populated state accounts for only 30 Universities in present and if we carry out a comparison of this state with Gujarat then the real miserable picture of Bihar clearly comes into the light. Gujarat, which stands much behind in terms of population and is the 9th most populated state of the nation accounts for a total of 49 Universities in present. Moreover, the sad story of the state starts from here, the students from this state who holds tremendous amount of potential are left with no other choice other than to migrate to other parts of the nation and mostly to the metro cities of the country. These students of Bihar who are facing the lack of quality and desirable universities in their home state migrates to the big cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad mostly.
While in this duration of pursuing their graduation, post-graduation and other higher studies in different parts of the country these students from Bihar faces tremendous amount of challenges as since adjusting and settling in some other land is never an easy job. The even sadder part of this picture is the fact that these students from Bihar who once leaves their state for the higher educational purposes very rarely returns to their home state as they find themselves placed in some of the very respectable and desirable positions in the various multinational corporations existing and operating in the big cities!
Bihar where the count of students cracking the Civil Service Examinations is highest in the country and the state, which produces the highest count of IAS & IPS Officers in whole of the country, cannot stand to restrain her potential holding student force to stay in their home state. Is this not a shame for Bihar that the state cannot provide satisfaction and better opportunities to her fellow students? This frightening truth about the state of Bihar raises up some serious questions, which the Chief Minister of Bihar must answer to the citizens of the state & the nation.
These questions are very simple & plays a great role in shaping up the future of the people of Bihar. Well, when will the state government wake up and work on ground level to develop the educational infrastructure of the state? When will the state government provide the students of the state with what they deserve? Will the state government ever stop playing the dirty game of the vote bank politics in the region and work for the real development of the human resources in the state? The state government must realize that, this whole case migration of the students has got to be taken care of soon since this big disorder is creating a serious damage in the structure the Human Development Index of the state.
Written By NEEL PREET – Author of the Books, Voice From The East (2016); Journey With Time Place And Circumstances (2018) & Indian Defence Files (2021).
