Shortcut to scholarship
Encouraging students to photocopy course material instead of reading real books only perpetuates India’s poverty of ideas.
It needs considerable myopia to celebrate the
recent verdict of the Delhi High Court upholding the legal validity of
photocopying as a means to promote knowledge and learning. The case had
originated from a practice involving the use of “course packs” containing
hundreds of photocopied pages from books. The argument that books are much too
expensive for students to buy proved strong enough to prevail against the plea
made by some prominent publishers that bulk photocopying infringes copyright.
There was an obvious David and Goliath feel to the case. David has won, but the
victory conceals a dark hole. Even as the photocopying shop at Delhi
University’s Library of Social Sciences resumes preparing its fat course packs,
we must take some time off to peep into the dark hole.
If we do, we will encounter the reality of
higher education in India and institutions like Delhi University, especially
their libraries. It is no news that the university has been facing an acute
financial crisis for several years. All central universities are affected by
the slashing of funds suffered by the University Grants Commission (UGC). All
aspects of university life are suffering, and some of the pain has now become a
routine reality. The use of ad hoc teachers instead of tenured faculty is one
aspect of the new reality. The decline of library services is another. Retiring
staff has not been replaced for years. A paucity of funds has forced libraries
to cut down on new book purchases and subscriptions to journals, especially
those published overseas. The use of “course packs” is a reflection of this
larger context.
Libraries in India are victims of a
compounded misunderstanding. Many new age academic administrators believe that
libraries need not be a priority anymore because the internet now provides
plentiful access to knowledge. This is a typical Third World delusion that has
taken many forms over the years. Each time a new technology comes in, our
administrators get excited. They love to entertain the fantasy wherein India
overtakes Western nations by taking a short cut in the fourth gear. Online
access to knowledge is the current version of this fantasy. Vice-chancellors
who regard Google as a global guru have
willingly endorsed the government’s policy of hard kicking library
infrastructure and permanent faculty. As a result, libraries can no longer buy
major new titles or multiple copies of older, basic texts. The newly imposed
semester system demands multiple copies of essential books because courses have
to be completed within 16 weeks. Malnourished libraries can’t cope with the new
teaching cycle; hence, the lure of photocopied packs.
The idea that photocopied material can
substitute books needs to be examined on several scores. A student who has
studied from photocopied “course packs” cannot enjoy revisiting a text later in
student life or beyond. This is because the ink used by laser printers starts
fading within a year or two. “Course packs” promote the values associated with
an exam-centric culture of education. Far from creating a fascination for
knowledge, such a culture reinforces an obsession with exams. “Course packs”
contain the readings relevant for the exam. It matters little if the old pack
fades because the student must rummage through the next when the new semester
starts.
The acceptance of photocopying as a
legitimate substitution for library holdings will perpetuate India’s academic
poverty. The publishers who had protested against the photocopying shop located
in the Ratan Tata Library are no enemies of higher education. They have
published some of our best-known academic authors, providing them a global
reach and reputation. No publisher of serious books anywhere in the world is
currently having an easy time. Indeed, publishing as an industry is among the
worst hit by global recession and budget cuts in education. If the measly
profits on which academic publishing in India survives are to be nibbled away
by photopying, the losses will have to be shared by all, including authors,
teachers and students.
Students now come from a broader social
spectrum than in the past. Many come from homes where no one had earlier gone
to college. They deserve a well-stocked library to overcome the backlog of good
schooling. Giving them a fading pile of A-4 sheets, instead of nicely bound
books, compounds the injustice they have suffered throughout childhood. Among
the rest of the student body today, many attended high fee-charging
English-medium private schools. They have resources and impressive private possessions.
It is the responsibility of an academic institution to induct them into a
culture of owning, and not just reading, books. Good libraries do just that, by
providing a physical ethos where books look beautiful. “Course packs” don’t.
By saving money on libraries and teachers,
India can only sink deeper in the poverty of ideas and research. The rhetoric
of quality education has already worn thin, and anyone can spot the brittle
bones of our once-reputed institutions. No Indian university comes close to the
world’s best. The three key criteria that push our institutions down in global
rankings are: Teachers, libraries and significant research. All three are
interrelated. Good teachers need assured careers with eager students and a rich
library.
The greatest irony of the copyright dispute
was the support that eminent scholars, including Amartya Sen, gave to the
photocopy shop. Sen’s support saddened me because he belongs to the generation
of teachers who believed that India’s nation-building would have to be
original. It seems he too has reconciled to the prevailing view that the best
option now left for India — and for Delhi’s old, struggling university — is to
focus on photocopying.
Regards
Pralhad Jadhav
Senior Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
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