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Every academic and educationist should be worried, but few are. Not even one Indian institution of higher education is ranked in the global league table of the world’s best 200 universities prepared by the London-based QS or THE. Infosys chairman and IT icon N.R. Narayana Murthy is concerned about falling standards of IIT graduates. Popular author Chetan Bhagat, of Three Idiots fame, has a solution: allow profit earning in the higher education sector for private entrepreneurs. But Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal believes it’s premature to allow profit-making in any education institution.
Sibal’s solution is to lead droves of vice chancellors to the US — where else — to invite American collaboration to solve the “main problems” of Indian education. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Sibal experienced a belated epiphany. “The problem is clear. There’s a demand and supply issue. The demand overstrips supply by a factor of hundred,” he said. “What can my office do? My office can’t create colleges overnight, can it?” he asked rhetorically.
Confronted with such official helplessness and despair, for this independent observer and interpreter of policy initiatives and their implementation, the level of tension and confusion is rising fast. The credibility of government schools country-wide is steadily deteriorating and no one seems bothered. The rush for admissions in private schools is unstop-pable. Enthusiastic entrep-reneurs are rushing forward to start new chains of schools. Simple, supply and demand economics at work! Yet neither demand and supply nor quality in higher education can be isolated from what is happening in school education. It should have been obvious to the HRD ministry and the Planning Commission that expansion of school education demands a commen-surate response in higher education. They just did not care to make the connection in time.
Another emerging phenomenon needs greater incisive analysis. Private schools are feeling the heat of competition and are upgrading not only their infrastructure, but also their pedagogies and teaching-learning processes. This is healthy competition in several ways, even though fee structures are also being upscaled commensurately. Despite that, there are enough takers for private education. There is, however, a huge spin-off of all this which impacts 75 percent of school-going children countrywide. Since good private schools are available to all in comparatively high income groups, no one cares about the alarming decline in learning outcomes in government schools.
Yet even in public/government schools, several upgradation options are readily available. One wonders why existing resources cannot be optimally utilised. Why are there lakhs of teacher vacancies in government schools? In the much-hyped ‘international city of the future’ Greater Noida, 12 government schools are without principals and 70 percent of teacher vacancies are unfilled. The consequence: tuitions, more tuitions and the rise of glittering coaching institutions. Indeed, in every state of the Indian Union, the number of teacher vacancies runs into lakhs. Is quality education not also meant for children of the poor?
The truth is that the existing system of education management is archaic in approach and functionality. A minor officer in the education department of the Central or state government can create a sea of troubles for the management of any private school if his wishes and desires are not given due consideration. With blinkered vision, government and the courts still insist that every private school shall be a non-profit establishment! This naïve expectation is applicable to institutions of higher education as well. Despite such unrealistic expectations, the HRD ministry believes that foreign universities will come in a flood and raise the percentage of youth in higher education from the current 11 percent to 30 percent within a couple of years!
This is plain hypocrisy. Everyone knows that private entrepreneurs aren’t entering education purely for altruistic objectives. This is the age of unbridled consumption, accumulation and materialistic pursuits of every conceivable variety. Those who invest in education — whether it’s a private school, medical college or university — want to earn dividends. So why not accept the demands of these changing times, and let them earn profit and pay taxes?
There’s a national urgency to tackle the basic deficiencies and absurdities of the education system with courage and determination. This is the 21st century, not 1935. The present system under which a small minority receives quality education while the vast majority has to contend with abysmal schooling is not sustainable. It will surely provoke a revolution.
Therefore the Centre needs to launch a nationwide movement to improve government schools, fill teacher vacancies, prohibit recruitment of para teachers, especially in places where trained teachers are available. It must enable universities and professional institutions run by public funds to function efficiently. All this requires strong commitment and application of solutions which create a national consensus for sharply improving the education system, and generate confidence among the people. And that will make all the difference.
(Prof. J.S. Rajput is former chairperson, National Council)