With the publication of this issue, EducationWorld crosses yet another milestone which at several times in the history of this sui generis education newsmagazine, seemed beyond reach. But putting into practice my belief that since markets in developing countries of the third world tend to be imperfect, supply can stimulate demand (rather than the reverse which is the norm), in 1999 we launched EducationWorld into an uncertain sea with the objective to “build the pressure of public opinion to make education the No.1 item on the national agenda”. It’s been a lonely voyage through the dark and uncharted waters of Indian education during which sails had to be deftly manoeuvred to manage hostile winds and storms, supplies often ran perilously low and mutinies had to be quelled. Yet during these 11 years past, the EW crew has learned to navigate through currents, and can claim to have charted the deceptive waters of Indian education with some accuracy.
One of the most valuable outcomes of this long voyage is our growing awareness that over the past six decades, successive governments at the Centre and in the states have miserably failed to provide eager-to-learn children and youth of India the education they need and deserve. In the public mind, government primary and secondary schools are synonymous with inadequate and/or crumbling infrastructure, linguistic chauvinism, poor learning outcomes and chronic teacher absenteeism. This explains why even the poorest families are desperate to enrol their children in the country’s 294,862 recognised private aided and unaided schools which although they aggregate only 23 percent of schools countrywide, host almost 40 percent (90 million) of all children enroled in school. Moreover several million children are enroled in thousands of unrecognised budget private schools mushrooming in the country’s multiplying urban slums and neglected villages.
Therefore it’s unsurprising that responding to rising demand from the country’s fast-expanding middle and other classes, a large and growing number of can-do education entrepreneurs are fulfiling and/or are getting ready to fulfil, the clamorous demand for qualitatively superior private education across the spectrum, tertiary education included. Ditto a host of charitable trusts and philanthropists.
All this excitement about an imminent investment boom in private education is being generated against the backdrop of a historic writ petition — Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan vs. Union of India — in which the petitioners have objected to several provisions of the Right to Free & Compulsory Education Act, 2009 as infringing upon their fundamental right to establish and administer private schools and colleges without undue interference from government, about to be adjudicated in the Supreme Court. If the apex court rules in favour of the petitioners and liberalises and deregulates Indian education as is widely expected, a massive flood of private investment is likely to transform the contours and outcomes of Indian education. Our 11th anniversary issue discusses the possibility and probability of this desirable outcome.
And in our special report feature, assistant editor Summiya Yasmeen suggests ways and means to build upon the elation and euphoria generated by India’s fine showing in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games 2010 and give a massive boost to sports education in the country’s 1.28 million schools and 31,000 colleges.
Finally a word of thanks to our staff, advertisers, investors and growing community of readers for your support — sine qua non — these past 11 years. Happy Diwali!
