“If You Want to Destroy a Nation, Destroy its Education System” : Michael M. Boone
Very recently we could read/listen stinging news that NEET Examination-2026 has been cancelled after the allegations of paper leak from Rajasthan state. This is a death rattle of the education system in India and a bolt from the blue for a layman and especially for a learner who shapes his mind in a way that he roams in idealistic world till such dumbfounding news comes to the market and all the dreams are shattered like a castle made in the air. And all the foundations of his dream world are stirred by a ghostly wind of withered structural system. The quote that I have mentioned here implies that a nation doesn’t need to be bombed or no nuclear weapon is required to destroy it. You only have to pull off the mat of knowledge from its people and they will automatically be destructed.
Although the quoted statement is frequently attributed to Nelson Mandela or historical figures like Chanakya and Napoleon Bonaparte, the precise origin is actually a passage from the 1998 book The Chaos (written under the pseudonym Michael M. Boone) which states:"Destroying any nation does not require the use of atomic bombs or the use of long-range missiles? It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by the students." This quote highlights a harsh reality: a society's foundation is only as strong as its professionals and leaders. When the integrity of an education system fails—allowing institutions to falter or permitting cheating—it produces unqualified doctors, incompetent engineers, dishonest judges, and inefficient leaders. The resulting collapse of these pillars slowly destroys the nation from the inside out.
Despite of launching various schemes and flagship programs why our country can’t control downgrading of educational standard simply indicates the failure of structure. Why corruption has been ingrained in the blood of people. Why moral consciousness has gone from our land etc. These are the questions that strike the mind of every Tom, Dick and Harry except those who are involved in structural corruption. How come it possible that the country topmost exams like NEET, NET and NDA etc undergo a paper leakage that destroys the career of lakhs of youth who take an unlimited toil and burn midnight oil to get such exams cracked. Consequently the undeserving candidates get selected and get paid by the govt. and the service impact factor is zero that in turn results in national resource wastage. As a matter of reference I would like to mention some written evidences from international journalism.
Aemro Worku in his article “Education under Siege in Ethiopia-30 August, 2025” reacts with the same intensity about the declining education system in Ethiopia. The author underscores the loopholes in Ethiopian education system. And tries to maintain a balance between the public and private sector education. Addis Abeba in his article published on 20 OCTOBER 2025 mentions “The quote by American educational reformer John Dewey, "If education does not teach you to resist injustice, it has failed," serves not merely as a philosophical reflection but as a moral indictment of the current state of Ethiopia's education sector. As the author personally witnessed as a university student and later as faculty at Addis Ababa University and a researcher at the Institute of Education Research, since 1990, Ethiopia has witnessed a remarkable expansion in educational access, guided by the 1994 Education and Training Policy, which enshrined education as both a constitutional right and a national development priority.”
So for as the education system in our country it has been turned into a business hub instead of serving the purpose of educating future generations that have their role in taking the nation ahead. Low standard of private universities, colleges and schools of our country has been given a big bolt to the foundations of education system. At the same time the corruption in govt universities has deprived thousands of intellectuals of their opportunity to serve through the nation through the means of education. There is no regulation on private universities with the exception that some basic formalities are completed because most these universities are managed by country’s top level politicians and bureaucrats who have no one to ask what they are doing. Coming to the foundational stage of the education system in our countries it still goes like it used to go 50 years back. Still we are not able to come out of the traditional exams system and custom of lenience during the board exams plus loose evaluation system. The result is that we are taking our nation to the Dark Continent where from they will return back and will be lost forever for the target of our leaders is only to grab national resources and enjoy luxurious life that the political structure provides them with.
The way forward: Denying education to weak learners is no solution to the problem, but definitely the categorization and allotment of courses according to learner’s interest and capability will help us a lot to reform the system. The 7 C's of 21st-Century Learning that are very crucial to the foundational development of learner are given hereunder.
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving: Analyzing, evaluating, and reasoning effectively to solve complex problems.
Creativity & Innovation: Thinking creatively, working with others to innovate, and implementing new ideas.
Collaboration: Working effectively with teams, compromising, and building community.
Communication: Effectively communicating, analyzing, and creating media, as well as listening.
Computing & ICT Literacy: Proficiency in information, communication, and technology literacy.
Cross-Cultural Understanding: Understanding diverse perspectives and navigating a globalized world.
Career & Learning Self-Reliance: Developing independence, adaptability, and self-directed learning skills.
Regulating the higher education system is paramount need of the hour. Research quality needs to be improvised. Private universities offer research opportunities in bulk and the entry to research field has least formalities. Online exams and interviews undermine the quality of research and potential of scholar. How come it possible that a university lets the scholar in without interacting with him in an offline mode. Second problem lies in the govt. run universities that are totally corrupted and a proper lobby system works there that results in substandard quality of research for the deserving are denied the admission. There must be a selection committee comprising of outside members who have no intimacy with the PG level students. Reservation policy must be avoided in case of admission to research program. The biggest problem with the education system lies with the recruitment exam agencies that have totally been manipulated by politicians and bureaucrats. A transparent exam system needs to be initiated or on spot interviews should be given the first priority. No written exams can do any betterment to the future discourse. Language qualifying criteria in center sponsored departments must be eliminated as it keeps back thousands of intelligent candidates from entering the system that can give us better output than the traditionally selected candidates. One can’t understand why an aspirant for English language teacher post should qualify Hindi? Why a scholar of mathematics should qualify in Hindi section of the exam paper when his field of study is different. Indeed, the language required for communication purpose can be improved later on through training courses. In time recruitment process should be given the topmost priority. As it has been seen that the state govts take a long gap of 5 to 6 years to initiate the process of recruitment while as the center govt has a regular calendar that gets least varied sometimes but not by years. Meanwhile we stop recruitment processes, thousands get retired from services and lakhs pass out colleges and universities hence creating a large vacuum in the departments that affects the work culture and the outcomes of the services. Why should the budget always be a hurdle to our govt for reformation? Why there is not a financial planning to meet out the required finance for ensuring the regularity in recruitment processes. Why should we follow the contract/Adhoc/ need based tactics? Why shouldn’t we follow a systematic pattern so that we can eliminate the unemployment as well the improve the work culture. But all this needs a sincere heart and a sharp mind that perhaps our leaders don’t have. Why we can’t regularize the service of contract/Adhoc/need based employees after following a proper procedure and after fixing a specific service period in such cases that will help us maintain our budget and tackle the unemployment process as well. Concluding let me say that if sincere efforts are not initiated and the system is not regulated surely the time is not far when foreigners will rule us again. And we shall never be able to come out of that captivity until the dooms day sets on.

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