The Slow Death of Learning

 

It was around the year 2000. 

The world had entered a new century, computers were slowly becoming common, and India was still heavily dependent on paper records. 

I was young, but I still remember hearing something shocking from adults around me.

“Study is not important. If needed, we can arrange a graduation certificate.” 

At that age, I didn’t fully understand what it meant. Later I realised that for many people, education was never about learning. It was simply a way to get job, social respect, and financial stability. 

And people fell for it. 

Fake degrees quietly became part of the system. Some bought certificates directly, some managed admissions through influence, while others used loopholes in poorly regulated colleges and universities. 

Since India was not digitised back then, verification was difficult. Records existed in dusty files, university offices, and paper mark sheets that could easily disappear or be manipulated. 

Then came digitisation. 

Governments and employers slowly started verifying educational records more seriously. Students and employees were suddenly asked to produce all semester mark sheets, enrollment records, and university verification documents. Many people got exposed because they simply did not have proper records to support their “degrees.” 

But scammers adapted quickly. Instead of only selling fake certificates, they started sending dummy candidates to examination halls. Entire networks emerged where someone else would write your exam for money. What looked like isolated cheating slowly became an organised business model. 

The sad part is that society never questioned the mindset behind it. 

Education was supposed to create knowledge, discipline, curiosity, and wisdom. But somewhere along the way, many people reduced it to a status symbol. 

A degree became more important than actual capability. Parents wanted “graduate” children, companies wanted “MBA” employees, and students wanted shortcuts to both. 

Now fast forward to 2026. 

The scam industry has evolved again. 

What once looked like fraud has now grown into a full fledged cartel.

Today, many online universities and low quality institutions conduct exams that barely test understanding. Both assessments & exams feel like open-book tests with no real monitoring. 

Students no longer need middlemen standing outside exam centres. 

They now have AI tools sitting on their laptops & mobiles. 

Why pay a scammer when ChatGPT can write assignments, solve case studies, complete presentations, and even help during online exams? 

Technology that was meant to assist learning is now often being used to avoid learning itself. 

At the same time, MNCs continue demanding graduates and MBAs because degrees are still used as filtering tools in a country with massive competition.  

Everyone need qualifications, but only on paper.

The real crisis in India’s education system is not technology, AI, or online learning. 

The real crisis is that we stopped valuing education for education itself. 

This system eventually starts producing graduates without knowledge and professionals without skills. 

And once a society reaches a point where nobody trusts degrees anymore, rebuilding that trust becomes far more difficult.

Not sure how we can overcome this when our leaders claim master’s degrees in subjects that reportedly never even existed.