The most unethical university in the world!. Review on University of Mumbai

As a child, I used to always look forward to attending university and proving to the world that I can do well. However, the University of Mumbai has only shattered my hopes of doing so over and over again. I would probably never look forward to studying at this university again. At this university, you have to even justify what you do not require to justify (like for instance, regarding matters not related to academics).

The first time I entered the university was in 2003. I signed up for a course in politics, but the gossip in that department made me drop out from the course. My second attempt to re-enter university was in 2006 (graduated in 2008). The German department gave me the greatest shock in my life. A teacher played favorites.

Even as I would happily come to the university, she would shout out aloud at me either for coming late to class or for no rhyme or reason, though I was a good student. Till date, I have been regular to classes - maybe because I shifted to a far-off location in Mumbai, I arrived late to class, but I was always present. One of the problems with her was that she used to laugh at the so-called jokes of my classmates and she would also encourage them to laugh at me and ask me to laugh at the jokes. One of them was "She was the one who took the books from the library." This was a highly offensive joke, especially because I have never done anything unlawful in my life before and I would certainly not like to be labeled that way either. I have had a good name in the society, but that one teacher used to do everything possible to tarnish it. Furthermore, if I showed interest in doing my homework or in reading up for the classes or the exams, she would simply demotivate me and the other students by making us cry by telling us that we are being "obsessed".

Instead of shouting at the students, she could have said whatever she wanted to, gently. Moreover, I used to xerox whatever pages I wanted out of the books I borrowed. After all, I felt it's best to use the money I had earned working with various companies by xeroxing whatever I wanted. This teacher used to shout that we are wasting money. I feel that there is nothing like studying the xeroxes at the comfort of your home and also giving the other students a chance to read the books in the library without having to compromise on the amount of time required to read a book.

Moreover, I felt that if I xerox the books, I could even read the materials as many times as I want without hurting the interests of the other students. The other students never thought of this the way I did. They used to steal the books and this teacher at the German department used to try to pin the blame conveniently on me. This is the mark of a bad teacher. She used to shout at us saying that no matter whether we xerox the books, it would go to the "raddiwallas", but she never thought xeroxing the pages in the books and returning the borrowed books in 2 days to the departmental library as something constructive.

Most teachers in India never understand the psychology of good students. They only think negatively of everyone and everything. If I asked her for one of the books she gave to her favorite student after she finishes reading it, she would shout at me, instead of telling me gently that I could read it after this student finishes reading it. The student used to take the resources for granted and she sat on the books for more than a week; whereas we were required to read more than 5 books in order to pass the exams, for we were never certain what question would come. Moreover, this teacher used to give notes the size of a loin cloth; whereas to pass the exams, we had to write 6 - 8 pages minimum. If we took down notes while she explained in class, she would shout at us for it.

There was no way to record what she had said in class and no way to remember and the final exams had to be written in German language. The German department is the worst I have ever seen. There is no proper management of the resources. I only had worries throughout the year. Even now, the various departments are doing nothing to help students study fearlessly. Overseas, they ask students to correspond via email to answer academic doubts or help them, but here the students who correspond via email with the teacher are treated like something is wrong with them.

I have always scored well in exams through hard-work and patience. I even stood first in the first year of my MA in German, but still one day, she called me to her room and asked me to visit a counselor and asked me whether I came from a bad background, none of which is true. I cried a lot that day and even told my parents that I want to leave my MA in German half-ways, because this teacher is harassing me for no fault of mine. It seems that teachers nowadays do not mind their own business, shout at students, treat them like children or even make personal comments about them that are untrue. They are either only interested in making money or doing everything that would not be done by ideal teachers. In the days of yore, teachers were only interested in teaching, but nowadays, they are only interested in demotivating students and driving them away by saying things that are untrue about them. No one bothers to bring these problems to light because they are too scared. Words are not enough to express how I feel about all this.

These days all the teachers have delusions about students. Some want to see what is in their students' bag and if it is a little bigger than usual or they spread false rumors about some students. I carry a big bag, because those ladies bags get torn within a month even if I carry just a purse and a cell phone in them (Indians are such sloppy and incompetent workers that they make the worst quality products that don't last long. I had paid like Rs. 900 for a ladies bag at a posh mall and another Rs. 500 for a ladies bag from a posh store here in Mumbai). I am worried as to why they are not bothered about how they can actually help students do better at studies rather than ask them indecent questions and that they are behaving like a bunch of uneducated people rather than like decent people. Teachers, who are supposed to be setting examples for students, themselves are behaving badly. They neither know the university rules nor do they know how to treat their students. The future of good or even outstanding students like myself is just going to the dogs. The worst part about the University of Mumbai is that there are a million unprofessional teachers that would discriminate against students on the basis of religion, language, etc., which is neither ethical nor legally acceptable. It reflects on the background of the teachers. They see where they could could frame students or make them scapegoats deliberately. The modern-day teachers are criminals of the first order. After my nasty experience with the German department, every other experience at the University of  Mumbai has just been a negative one. They harassed me at the Jawaharlal Nehru Library by trying to deliberately blame me for no fault of mine  and despite changing departments, I have had several unpleasant experiences with each one till date. The University of Mumbai is not a center of learning, but a huge gossip center and a torture chamber where innocent students are made to feel like criminals rather than like human beings that have come to learn. This university just keeps deteriorating day by day.