Indian Reality TV Winners to Get Scholarships

One of the new TV hits on US television is called “Are You as Smart as a Fifth Grader,” in which contestants try to answer questions about elementary school subjects. Halfway around the world, and a world away, Indian television is about to launch a reality TV show, “Scholar Hunt” in which the prize is a full scholarship to a British University. The reader may interpret these facts as one wishes, but it seems one nation is more serious about learning than the other.

Arun Thapar, the show’s producer, told the BBC, “Our aim is to mix academic excellence and the competitive spirit to create an intelligent thought-provoking show. The Airtel Scholar Hunt will tap into the growing aspiration among Indians to study overseas and will be exactly the kind of programme that suits NDTV's well-informed audience: modern, aspiring Indians, with an expanded world view and the ambition to make the most of their lives.” It sound like one ought to have a first-class degree just to watch.

The final 20 competitors will be the cream of the crop out of the thousands who are trying out. In that respect, it’s rather like getting into a selective American university. Before stepping in front of the cameras, all 20 will be screened to ensure that they will be able to take fullest advantage of the opportunity afforded. The Universities of Leeds, Sheffield, Warwick, Cardiff and Middlesex are participating.

Vice-Chancellor at Leeds Professor Michael Arthur said, “This scholarship and the novel way it's being run, will help Leeds raise its profile further in India and show potential students just how much the university has to offer.” Warwick University’s spokesman was even more starry-eyed, “Reality TV programmes are extremely popular in India - even more so than here. We were approached by NDTV and it seemed an exciting project. This is an opportunity to give reality TV more integrity, it’s an opportunity for reality TV to raise its game.” Two ideas that sit uncomfortably together: reality TV and integrity. Middlesex University's deputy vice chancellor Dr. Terry Butland said, “It will give Indian young people the chance of a lifetime. It’s worthy, in a way that reality TV shows ought to be. We are proud to be part of this adventure.”

There are a billion people in India, give or take a few million. In a generation, they will outnumber those living in China. It is a nation that will need every educated citizen it can produce. Can a TV program affect this? No. But for five young scholars, it will change everything – cheap at twice the price. Yet somehow, it’s hard to see such a program becoming a hit in the US. More’s the pity.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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