Can we create wealth without improving?

A report by the World Health Organisation says that more than half the doctors in India in 2001 did not have any medical degree. The WHO underestimates the problem. All those with degrees in Ayurved, Unani and Homeopathy actually practise Allopathic medicine, when their training is completely different. The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, thankfully dissolved, noted that doctors do not need to have a MBBS degree, while presenting the report to the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. Will anyone without a proper degree be allowed to practise law or accountancy? If not, why are politicians so contented with uneducated doctors? Because politicians and civil servants have given themselves the right to go abroad for medical treatment, entirely financed by the taxpayer. With 'attendant'. Who are the people availing of services by quacks? Poor people. A lot of these people are not fully literate and so do not know abbreviations for proper degrees. They are impressed by a jumble of alphabets after the quack's name, which are just fake. It is not difficult to get rid of quacks. First, publish a list of accepted degrees and make it a cheating offence to fool people with fake degrees. Second, if any patient dies after treatment from a quack he will be deemed guilty of murder. Only very few people will have the guts to become quacks. Why don't they do it? Because then poor people will have to visit proper doctors, who will naturally charge more, which may lose votes. Why are poor people so ill-informed? Because government schools are dark pits of ignorance, where more importance is paid to midday meals. Private schools teach better but are expensive. Annual cost for one child at a Delhi school was around Rs 1,30,000 last year. This is not the most expensive school in Delhi. Education is essential because good jobs are not being created. Most jobs are created in manufacturing but this sector is not growing and there is little new investment. The reason is that companies have taken on too much debt which they are unable to repay. Banks will not lend unless the old loans are paid back. The weak global economy means that exports have been falling for 18 months in a row although exports have risen in June, for the first time in 19 months. Education is vital to get good jobs in the knowledge economy. In this situation of enormous demand for jobs how is an employer to know which candidate is better. That is why marks in examination is so important. To get marks students learn from cheat sheets called kunjis or 'Pass Books'. The solution is not to stop all examinations in schools because then teachers have no incentive to teach and because parents cannot gauge a childs weakness and what extra help she may need. So-called intellectuals in India see 'meritocracy' as elitist and want to bring standards down. That is why they want to get rid of exams. Better to spread ignorance.