The biggest danger facing India today is the useless education system. In a test called the Programme for International Students Assessment ( PISA ) conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD ) every year to examine reading, math and science abilities in 15 year olds Indian students came second last out of 73 countries. TOI, January 16. Shanghai came first. The Indian government put up students from Himachal and Tamil Nadu which are supposed to have the best education systems but they were able to finish just above Kyrgyzstan. Seems that an Indian of eighth grade has the math ability of a South Korean of the third grade and the reading skills of a second grader from Shanghai. The report said," In Himachal Pradesh, 11% of students are estimated to have a proficiency in reading literacy that is at or above the baseline level to participate effectively and productively in life. It follows that 89% of students in Himachal Pradesh are estimated to be below that baseline." Following on from there the Chairman of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, G Mehta has said that only 10% of graduates are employable. " We need out-of-the-box thinking to tackle the issue, considering that barely 10% of the 30 lakh ( 3 million ) students, who pass with these degrees every year, are considered employable" he said. He was referring to BA, BSc and BCom degrees. So what has the government been doing to increase standards. It has increased reservation seats in elite institutions and is insisting on reservation even among faculty. So we can have 5% teachers teaching 5% students. It has established 7 new IITs which are without infrastructure. Students of the new IIT of Kota are sharing facilities in Kanpur doubling class sizes. There are 2000 vacancies among faculty in IITs. Salaries of IIT faculty have not been increased but government school teachers, who are poorly educated and rarely come to work, have seen their salaries jump 80% in the Sixth Pay Commission. A new short course medical graduation for village doctors is being set up. Who is to prevent them practising in cities? Seems that the Congress is hell bent on dumbing down education in India so that we will have a very small number of elite students with the majority with degrees but practically illiterate. The Congress loves the aam aadmi.