Esteemed ma’am,
I know, I’m addressing this letter to the personality who knows her job better than I do. Trust me, it pierced my heart into pieces to see the plight of my university—that university, the badge which I carry with honour and pride. Ma’am, the letter is being addressed by the one who is an alumnus of the said university and is so proud of it that words cannot express it.
Ma’am, I don’t want to put my message in a rosy or fancy language, given that what I want to convey is a spontaneous overflow of my emotions, sentiments, and feelings. I hope Her Excellency is all ears. I’m addressing you, ma’am, via this open letter because my eyes are filled with ceaseless tears that are rolling down my cheeks, as I cannot see the standard of my university, which has provided me with the best education, regressing and black sliding. I’m pretty sure that Her Highness won’t let that happen.
Ma’am, the university is lowering its standards, as can easily be seen by the re-evaluation forms and the mediocrity of the evaluators. A student of mine, who is economically deprived and parasitic too but a very good student, was declared to have failed in one of his subjects, but on seeking and getting Xerox, a layman could’ve easily figured out the injustice he was met with. The student came home and implored me to lend 500 rupees for his re-evaluation; otherwise, he would lose his precious year due to the negligence of the evaluators, who soon declared him qualified in the said subject after re-evaluation. I’m citing his case here; however, there are many likes of him that Her Excellency can easily access.
Second, I’m particularly addressing this letter to you, ma’am, because a few days ago, I was at the south campus of your university. However, I feel it pertinent to mention that the director of said campus, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Khanday, is not only extraordinary in discharging service but also a man who is worthy of praise and appreciation. He is a man not only of humility but also of integrity and character. I had an interaction with him about an issue, which he resolved without any delay.
But visiting the same campus made me dumbfounded and heartbroken to see the standard of students, especially the “Business Students, who told me they were pursuing an MBA in their respective specialisations, but unfortunately appeared to me at first as young boys who might be working in mechanical workshops as an apprentice. There was no sense of dress code in them, nor were they in uniform or formal business outfits to look like they are pursuing a professional course.
I asked one of the business students, whom I met in the cafeteria, wearing cargo pants, a checkered casual shirt, and formal shoes, “Do you know what course you are in, and what are the major things you ought to learn in the said course apart fetching a good grade?” And, the sad part is that he couldn’t even answer me.
Ma’am, if a business student has high grades but fails to wear proper formal dress and has weak communication skills, who will hire him or her tomorrow? If his/her personality is not groomed as the course demands, shall he/she be deemed to earn a top HR post in a reputed MNC near future?
The said student, however, told me that he is very happy with the management for not having set a formal or any dress code for the said course, but the irony is, he was not acquainted with, what it would yield in the future for him; and how can it hamper his growth and professional progress. He didn’t know that no company would like to hire him, no matter how high his grades are. Since a person who has done his or her course in business/professional studies is not hired for his or her top grades only, a company looks at his or her overall personality—the dress code first, soft skills second, and behaviour.
Ma’am, I’m writing this to you because I care about my future generations; otherwise, I would have let it go as others do.
I’m keeping hope that Her Highness would take the matter seriously and take the necessary measures for the upliftment of the university and its satellite campuses’ overall wellbeing and standard.
The author is an alumnus of the University of Kashmir and works in KSA. He can be reached at mu************@***il.com