Opinion

Media organisations often take the moral high ground. They run powerful exposés on modern slavery, labour exploitation, corporate abuse, and state oppression. They champion workers’ rights and speak passionately about dignity of labour. But underneath those self righteous headlines, a disturbing fact is hidden: the very media outlets that publish these headlines regularly ask freelance journalists, especially investigative reporters, to work without pay.

This double standard, besides causing shame, is also dangerous.

Investigative journalism is time consuming, costly, and requires a lot of energy. A freelancer's work could go over months in time just by following up on tips, cross checking the paper trail, getting familiar with the sources, and figuring out the legal risks. Many rely on grants from organisations such as Journalism fund Europe to make this possible. But here’s what most editors and publishers conveniently forget: these grants fund the investigation, not the publication.

The research phase is only half the job. After that comes writing, rewriting, structuring, fact-checking, legal vetting, editing, and adapting stories for different platforms. This is labour—skilled labour. Yet journalists are increasingly told: “You already got a grant, so we won’t pay.”

This logic is deeply flawed. Grants exist to enable public-interest investigations that commercial newsrooms no longer fund. They should not be considered as a replacement for editorial budgets.

If newsrooms decide not to cover the expenses of post, investigation work, it is tantamount to them gathering free labour at their disposal while enjoying the benefits of exclusive stories, awards, credibility, and traffic.

The power imbalance is brutal. Freelancers want their stories published. They want impact. They want accountability. Media houses know this—and exploit it. The unspoken message is: Take it or leave it. You should be grateful for the platform.

But exposure does not pay rent. Prestige does not cover healthcare. Bylines do not fund groceries.

I think this is not only unethical behavior but also self-sabotage in a way. The fact is that investigative journalism is hardly standing on its own legs these days. If media outlets continue to undermine the profession in this way by making unpaid labor a standard, there will be no next generation of the watchdogs at all.

The irony is painful. Journalists who expose exploitation are themselves being exploited—by the very institutions that claim to defend justice.

If media organisations want to call themselves the fourth estate, they must act like it. That begins with paying journalists fairly—always. Even when grants are involved. Especially then.

Because a press that feeds on free labour cannot claim to stand for freedom.

For millions of Indian students, the National Testing Agency (NTA) was supposed to be a solution. Established in 2017, the body was supposed to bring in transparency, efficiency, and standardization to important entrance examinations. However, the acronym stands for nothing less than puzzlement, anxiety, and turmoil in the minds of the aspirants today.

The National Testing Agency's (NTA) has been repeatedly plagued with technical issues, has been releasing results late, and some students have even found errors in their question papers. The agency's credibility issues are piling up day by day. Students and scholars are now doubting if the agency is really awarding merit or just giving marks to those who have survived the disorder and have rote learned.

“It Doesn’t Test Research Ability”

Many students along with academics vigorously claim that examinations brought forward by the NTA are not measuring the attributes that they are supposed to. Chandni Yadav, who did UGC NET and is currently doing first year PhD in History at BHU, has expressed her biggest doubt in the very purpose of such examination. She feels that the test is checking for memorization ability rather than the research aptitude.

Her statement resonates with the general sentiment in the academic community that the focus of exams UGC NET and JRF is that a student remembers and regurgitates facts instead of undergoing analytical thinking, building a line of argument, and methodological understanding skills which are indispensable for carrying out serious research.

Considering the scenario, if a system is meant to select the future scholars, then it was a rather counterproductive move to spotlight rote learning.

A Pattern of Errors

Beyond academic concerns, the agency’s recurring “technical errors” have a human cost. Server crashes, wrong answer keys, mismatched question papers, and inconsistent marking schemes have repeatedly disrupted students’ futures. In some cases, candidates have even been forced to resort to filing court petitions or starting social media campaigns for their grievances to be resolved. More often than not, these examinations serve as the only vehicle of social advancement for students who come from rural pockets, economically weaker sections, or are first generation learners. If such a way is made uncertain, then the harm caused is not only at the level of education but also at the level of the mind, money, and every person.

An Exam System That Encourages Coaching, Not Curiosity

Critics also argue that the NTA’s model encourages coaching-driven performance rather than intellectual curiosity. Rather than encouraging conceptual clarity, the system is designed to reward pattern, cracking and speed, based strategies, thus making costly coaching centres more powerful than schools. This destroys the very notion of equal opportunity. While India is discussing the future of its education system, the scandal of the NTA prompts a bigger question: Are entrance exams designed to list students in order of merit or to really assess their potential?

If the agency goes on to emphasize scale at the expense of sensitivity and automation at the expense of accountability, it will run the risk of turning education into a mere mechanical filtering process rather than a sincere assessment of capability.

A recent report by CRISIL Ratings paints a glowing picture of India’s education sector. Revenues are expected to grow by 11–13% over the next two years, driven by rising student enrolments and continuous fee hikes. From K–12 schooling to engineering and medical education, demand remains strong across segments. Private institutions appear financially stable, with steady cash flows and low debt.

But the real question is: Is this “growth” actually expanding access to education, or is it merely strengthening institutional balance sheets?

Fee hikes: The heaviest burden on parents

According to the report, rising inflation in urban areas is pushing schools to raise fees regularly. This income-driven growth model hits middle-class families the hardest—households already struggling to keep pace with the cost of living.

While increasing fees may be the easiest path to higher revenues for institutions, does it not make education increasingly unaffordable? The projected 9–10% annual revenue growth in the private K–12 segment highlights this very trend.

Growth is real, but so are rising costs

Alongside higher revenues, institutional expenses are also rising rapidly—staff salaries, administrative costs, and capital expenditure on new classrooms and infrastructure. This is why operating margins are expected to remain “stable” at around 27–28%.

In other words, while institutions earn more, there is little indication that students or teachers will see proportionate improvements.

Rising demand, limited opportunities

Another key takeaway from the report is that demand for engineering courses remains strong despite global economic uncertainty. Medical courses continue to see demand far exceeding supply. Even with government efforts to increase MBBS seats, thousands still compete for every available spot.

Meanwhile, demand for nursing, pharmacy, and paramedical courses remains moderate—an alarming sign, considering these fields form the backbone of India’s healthcare workforce.

Financially sound, but socially fair?

The most reassuring aspect of the CRISIL report is that institutions are expected to maintain strong cash flows without needing additional borrowing. Gearing levels and interest coverage ratios remain healthy.

But who is actually benefiting from this financial strength? Are more schools and colleges opening in rural areas? Are fees becoming more affordable? Is quality education becoming accessible to all?

The answers to these questions are far less encouraging.

The future of the fee-based growth model

Privatisation in Indian education has accelerated rapidly. But its social cost deserves equal attention. A sector boasting double-digit growth can only be considered truly successful if it invests more in quality and transformation, reduces the financial burden on the middle and lower classes, gives equal importance to public institutions, and ensures better pay and job stability for teachers and non-teaching staff.

Rising revenues alone do not strengthen education. Education becomes strong when it becomes more accessible, more equitable, and more meaningful.

CRISIL’s report offers a positive snapshot of the sector’s financial health, but it also reveals a parallel reality—education is becoming increasingly expensive, and the heaviest burden is falling on the poor and the middle class. This growth model urgently needs rebalancing.

Education should not be about profit-making—it should be about capacity-building. Until that balance is restored, the gap between economic growth and social reality in India’s education system will only widen.

Leadership is not a thing that students get as a reward after their degree. It is a way of thinking that has to be cultivated even before they enter the campus for the first time.

Most of the times, leadership gets a very small part of the attention. It is kept in the domain of workshops, seminars, or annual events, which people see as 'extracurricular'. Not as one of the main educational outcomes, however.

Yet if educating in universities means truly preparing young people for living in real world then training in leadership cannot stay as an option. It must be embedded into the academic journey itself.

Real leadership is something that takes time to develop. It is a product of one's curiosity, learning from mistakes, receiving guidance, and in the environments that support students to try, fail and try again. For this reason, a handful of forward, looking schools are now transitioning away from isolated leadership initiatives towards a more integrated model one based on early identification, structured mentorship, experiential learning, and meaningful recognition.

The first step is identifying talent early. Not all leaders make their presence known; some uncover their leadership skills only when the right opportunities are provided to them. Student councils, interest, based clubs, and community projects serve as the laboratories where students are able to learn teamwork, accountability, and decision, making. Even informal roles such as leading a sustainability campaign or organizing a cultural even that help youngsters understand that leadership is about responsibility and not about the status.

Yet initiative alone is not enough. Mentorship transforms raw enthusiasm into mature judgment. Mentorship turns initial zeal into well, considered decisions. Mentors, be it teachers, experienced students, or alumni, offer what you cannot get from books: insight, candid feedback, and firsthand experience. Discussion, focusing on failure, insecurities, and development, essentially help leaders grow in a way that no motivational speech ever could.

Most of all, leadership is something that is most effectively taught through practical experience. By placing students in unfamiliar situations of real life such as rural outreach programmes, internships, service, learning projects, etc., they are compelled to adapt, negotiate and take responsibility. Such experiences create resilience, empathy, and a clear sense of ethics.

Last but not least, leadership should definitely be understood as a process rather than a personality trait. Students' portfolios, digital badges, and co, curricular transcripts serve as a means of tracking their development, reflecting on their decisions, and expressing their values.

When academic programmes are penetrated with the notion of leadership, educational facilities do nothing less than prepare graduates for employment. They are essentially raising citizens who are capable of critical thinking, ethical behaviour, and purposeful leadership, traits the world of today is in dire need of.

The climate change issue has passed beyond a problem to be debated by scientists, it has become the challenge of how our current generation and the next generation are going to survive. In India, where extreme heat is now severe, flooding and droughts are increasing at rates that cannot be ignored, and air and water quality are severely compromised, climate change education is no longer an ‘option.’ It has become a critical life skill. 

However, the major concern is are our schools ready to accept and act on this?

What about the children who will be adults and be capable of making decisions about climate change? Are they being taught climate change as a duty or simply another subject to study and memorize?

Why Is Environmental Education Still Limited to a Few Chapters?

In most Indian schools, environmental studies are confined to a few pages in textbooks. Students learn about pollution, global warming, biodiversity, and conservation—but only for exams.

What’s missing is lived experience. Children are rarely taught how their everyday choices—using plastic, wasting water, or excessive electricity consumption—directly impact the planet.

As a result, climate education becomes theoretical rather than transformative.

How the Climate Crisis Is Already Affecting Children

Children today are growing up amid extreme heat, polluted air, water shortages, and unpredictable weather. These are not future problems—they are today’s realities.

Education must go beyond facts and figures. It must empower students to become problem-solvers, not just passive learners.

NEP 2020 Showed the Way—But Is It Being Implemented?

India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recognizes sustainability and environmental awareness as essential learning components. However, lack of resources, insufficient teacher training, and exam-centric systems often prevent this vision from becoming reality.

How Can We Make Children “Climate-Smart”?

Environmental education should not just be about reading—it should be about living responsibly.

Students must learn:

• How to save water and energy
• Why plastic harms ecosystems
• How waste can be reduced
• Why trees matter
• What carbon footprint means
• And most importantly—what they can do

This can only happen if schools adopt project-based learning, field visits, gardening, recycling drives, and hands-on activities.

Is Our Education System Ready?

The truth is, India is still in the process of treating environmental education seriously. As long as schools remain obsessed with marks and rankings, climate change will stay confined to textbooks.

It is time we make environmental awareness not just part of the syllabus—but part of our mindset.

Because the children who understand the planet today

will be the ones who protect it tomorrow.

Raish Ahmed Laali

India’s criminal justice system has long struggled with a fundamental challenge—delays in investigations and weak evidentiary foundations. In this context, the Union government’s announcement to establish a forensic university or a Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in every state by 2029 is not merely an administrative decision, but a significant structural intervention in the justice delivery system. With a proposed investment of ₹30,000 crore, the initiative signals a clear shift toward placing “evidence-based justice” at the centre of policymaking.

At a time when the nature of crime is rapidly evolving—ranging from cybercrime and digital fraud to organised crime and terrorism—traditional policing methods alone are no longer sufficient for effective investigations. Forensic science is no longer just a supporting tool; it has become the backbone of modern criminal investigation. In this light, the plan to expand the number of Central Forensic Science Laboratories from seven to 15, and to strengthen regional labs across states, is not just desirable but necessary.

One of the most crucial aspects of this initiative is its focus on forensic education and human resource development. The way the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) is being developed as a globally competitive institution reflects India’s ambition to emerge as a “knowledge power.” With targets of educating 35,000 students by 2029, achieving 100% placement, signing hundreds of international MoUs, and generating dozens of patents, these figures indicate that forensic science is no longer a niche specialisation—it is rapidly becoming a mainstream career pathway.

However, the real test of this ambitious plan will lie in its implementation on the ground. Constructing buildings and laboratories alone will not suffice. What India needs are independent, professional, and politically insulated forensic institutions whose reports can be trusted by courts without hesitation. Equally important is the need to train police forces and prosecution agencies across states to properly understand and use forensic evidence.

The Home Minister’s promise of “justice within three years” can only become a reality if forensic reports are timely, reliable, and standardised. Otherwise, the dream of faster investigations will remain confined to policy documents. Expanding forensic infrastructure can indeed accelerate justice—but only if quality, transparency, and accountability are treated as top priorities.

In sum, this investment in forensic infrastructure has the potential not only to strengthen India’s justice system but also to position the country as a global forensic hub. The question is no longer whether this move was necessary—it is whether we can seize this opportunity with integrity and purpose.