This is the first part of a
series of articles on the above subject.
The education sector of India is
in a state of disrepair. Over 6 decades of utter neglect from successive Union
& State Governments and education regulators has allowed mediocrity or worse
to flourish in a sector which can make or break India’s potential fortunes.
India has the youngest population with 65% of Indian population below the age
of 35 years and if we have to reap the benefits of this huge demographic
dividend and emerge as a superpower within the next decade, this young
population has to be provided education which focuses on skills, innovation,
research and entrepreneurship. Else, India shall plunge into chaos and the
likely consequences are not desirable for anyone who loves India.
To place things in perspective,
India 2014 has over 1.2 million schools, about 12000 junior colleges, about 9500
undergraduate colleges and about 650 Universities affiliated to UGC. Every year about 2.5 crore students start
their school education by securing admission in Std.1 but hardly 1.3 crore
students appear in Std.10. About 72 lakh students complete Std.12 but only
about 14 lakh students enrol themselves in various undergraduate programs like
BE, MBBS, BSc, BCom, BA, B.Ed., BCS, BBA, Law etc. Thus, the gross enrollment ratio of the country is a dismal 19%.
The stated figures reveal that
only 50% of students who join school reach till Std.10. Again, only hardly 50%
of those who study till Std.10 secure admission in junior colleges. The most
disturbing trend is that out of all those who complete junior college education
till Std.12 only 19% of them join senior undergraduate college to pursue a
degree.
So, the first serious challenge is
to get more and more students to complete their education. This is the first
challenge in education sector in India which experts call as the problem of access. The Government can play a major
role in solving this problem by simplifying rules for starting and running an educational
institution and making the entire process of inspection, accreditation, affiliation and evaluation fair, transparent and simple. Today, the rules are
hazy and discourage private players without political contacts or financial
muscle to start educational institutions. If rules are simplified, it shall
encourage many corporate and private players without political blessings to
start and run educational institutions.
The second challenge is the
deficiency in quality of education in
most schools and colleges in India. Quality
in education is a profound and comprehensive concept and its context changes as
per the specific stage (primary school / secondary school / college etc.), the
field of education and of course the broad philosophy of education adopted.
India still lacks a credible system of grading / ranking of educational
institutions and hence students take admission to schools and colleges based on
word-of-mouth or blatant marketing initiatives by educational institutions.
There is no credible system of grading and ranking of educational institutions
in India yet. Teaching systems adopted in all schools and colleges are teacher-centric and not student-centric. No feedback is taken
about teachers with professional ramifications and hence teachers take their
jobs as granted. Due to poor quality of education in schools and colleges, a
parallel system of private education called Coaching Classes & Tutorials
has emerged which has become a whopping 1.5 lakh crore ($ 24 Billion) industry
as per ASSOCHAM estimates. The biggest proof of the pathetic quality of Indian
schools and colleges is the exponential growth of coaching classes and
tutorials throughout India.
To put things in perspective
again, there are hardly 2-3 Indian colleges (usually the IITs) which figure in
the Top 500 Global College Ranking published by reputed independent agencies. As
per a KPMG report, the number of researchers in India per million is estimated
to be about 119 as against 663 in China and 4484 in US and above 3000 in each of
US, France & Germany. Though over a lakh of Indian students each year
obtain a degree in Computer Science or IT or a certificate in programming /
software from private institutes, hardly 40 students each year get Ph.Ds in
Computers Science & Engineering. Only 15-20% of colleges offering
professional courses like Engineering, Medicine, Law, Architecture etc. are
known unofficially amongst students as A-grade colleges wherein placements for
job + further studies are satisfactory. Rest of the colleges provide
sub-standard education and have dismal records of job and further studies
placements.
If India has to churn out
top-notch professionals from its colleges, it is imperative that the central
issue of quality has to be adequately
addressed by the Union + State Governments as well as education providers
across India. One of the most powerful tools towards achieving universal
quality education across India is to harness the power of the internet and
tablet / smartphone technology to its fullest by broadcasting recorded lectures
of eminent teachers in any particular subject free of charge. These lectures should be accessible free for anyone
across the nation – all that is needed is an internet connection and a device.
So, if the Government provides high-speed broadband connectivity to every nook
and corner of the country and subsidizes the costs of tablets and smartphones,
even poor and rural students can benefit from lectures of the best teachers
across the country in any field from KG to PG.
The third issue in education is
lack of equity. The cost of education
in schools and colleges is quite high and hence only a select group of Indian
citizens can afford education to all levels. The biggest reason why so many
students drop out of schools, colleges and university education is identified
as lack of financial strength amongst parents to pay the fees of educational
institutions. Problems of equity are further complicated by unscrupulous
politicians of the country from all hues and colors by attributing inequity to
social backwardness identifiable by caste and not to economic compulsions
identifiable by income groups. Thus, the
instrument of Reservations has been used and abused in the field of education
by narrow-minded politicians to appease their constituencies and have muddied
the waters. However, beaming video lectures across the internet as suggested
above can play a significant role in resolving the problems of equity. The second mechanism which can be suggested
is incentivise the educational loans market via banks, NBFCs and other Govt.
agencies. The third mechanism is to fix the higher limit of fees in schools and colleges for various courses and
making capitation fees as a punishable offence by law.
It is hoped that the new Union Government under PM Narendra
Modi is seized of these triple concerns in the field of education viz. Access, quality & equity and
shall take the necessary steps to make education a field where India shall
reclaim its lost glory of being the epicenter of quality education. It is time
that we aim for universal quality
education and not just chant buzzwords like IITs, IIMs only when we talk of
education in the Indian context.
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