Mass copying at JJ !!

The news that the admission cards, question papers, candidate information etc. of the examination to be held on April 30 by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) is being widely circulated on social media, has created a lot of sensation in the state. This clearly reveals the way in which the Public Service Commission is selecting the candidates. This report also makes us think what kind of ‘candidates’ have been selected by the Public Service Commission for the Directorate of Art.

Location here is of course J J School of Art 

The Diploma in Art Education exams were held last week at J J and something happened that has never happened in the 166-year history of J J. Around 30-40 students appeared for this exam. The Fine Art or Applied Art students who have passed in the first class from the art colleges which have come up in every nook and corner of Maharashtra appear for this exam. This is a full-time course and a special class is reserved at JJ for such students.

It may be mentioned here that Prof. P A Dhond, and Prof. Shantinath Arwade had implemented this course with strict discipline and popularized it too. They were feared by even the art teachers. After their retirement, Prof. Vasant Sonavani carried forward their legacy, but consequently these ethics died. The aim of course is to produce good art teachers, but don’t be surprised if in future this class is recognized as a training course on how to copy in an exam!

Last week, the examination for Diploma in Art Education was conducted and it was found that during the exam mass copying was done! Already, there are not many permanent teachers at JJ and the entire administration is run by contract teachers. One such case is already in court of law. So, the contract teachers are uncertain about their future and hence their focus does not seem to be on the exams. 

Most of the teachers use J J’s name and do their own commercial work for a livelihood and therefore, they are unable to concentrate on the education of students here. And that is very natural. The treatment given by the government to the teachers despite being a government run college is third grade. The teachers have been slogging for the last 15-20 years and yet there is no provision for the future of these teachers. Plus, two years were wasted due to Corona. Principal Sable is mostly in commercial work and there is complete negligence towards education and management of the students. With such anarchy the situation in JJ is worsening by the day.

An institute which has given ace artists and teachers to the country, sadly has no plan for the present and future of the institute. The academic year already started late, which followed the sudden student strike last year, almost a month of no classes due to the Korea Biennale, then the Diwali and Christmas vacations, preparations for the Kala Vedha competition, and missed studies due to the annual exhibition, reducing the number of classes. Obviously, it affected education. In the entire academic year, students were supposed to complete 30 assignments but only 21 assignments were done. The class teacher told the students that we will adjust the remaining assignments. This is a wrong precedent, which needs to be checked. 

It’s high time, the Art directors stopped crying over the lack of good staff and be watchful of the existing staff. But, we are certain this is not likely to happen as they are all one in this and therefore, it becomes our responsibility to write about it. During the theory examination of the three subjects of Diploma in Art Education, there was mass copying as not a single lecture took place for these subjects during the academic year. It seems the class teacher was busy with extracurricular activities, and so had no time to conduct classes. 

So probably a solution was worked out. A day before the written exam, all students were called to a classroom and behind closed doors, they were given the questions that were going to come in the next day’s exam. The students were in college till around 7.30 pm, which means those who live far away places like Virar, or Karjat must have reached home around 10-11 pm. They obviously did not even have time to prepare for the leaked questions so they took to ‘smart’ solutions and used their phones to click pictures of the answers (an idea which most likely the teachers gave them). Next day at the examination, they just copied answers from their phones, as there was no class teacher or supervisor in the class. The CCTV footage can be checked for this. If our claims are false that should also come out. We urge the Art Director to investigate the matter and, Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Dada Patil should immediately send him back to the Architecture College. We feel CCTV footage is key to this investigation. Similarly, the call records and WhatsApp of teachers and students should be checked and those guilty should be brought to task. Does the Department of Higher and Technical Education have the courage to do all this? It seems that day, the Head of Department of Education and Training was also not present at the centre.

The other day, a student reportedly said a contract teacher comes in the morning and evening only to sign the attendance register. Some say they are OSDs to ministers. Are such teachers going to create artists or OSDs for ministers? It’s the most unfortunate thing happening at one of the greatest art schools like the JJ. 

We are very sure that we have written exactly how it has happened. If the officials of the Technical Education Department have some interest, they should set up an inquiry committee. In the old days, when Prof. Arwade was the head of the department, a small portion of syllabus was yet to be taught and the exams were approaching- the reason being Prof. Shahane Sir’s illness. He was pretty old yet he would visit JJ so that students’ future was not affected. But when it became impossible for him to travel, Prof Arwade arranged for Shahane Sir to stay in JJ. Those lectures of Shahane Sir were the last few ones. The story was narrated by one of the ex-students. Look at the difference in teachers then and now. Similar is the situation for the Architecture course at JJ. 

We have some direct questions for the Department of Higher and Technical Education. Are you going to take responsibility for such teachers, as they will go on to teach Art to students from the first grade. Have you ever thought that maybe your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren may also be there? Why do you want to turn Maharashtra into a corrupt ministry? 

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– Satish Naik. 

Editor, Chinha Art News.