MUMBAI: Just last week the HRD Ministry came up with proposals for sweeping new changes in Indian education which will include proper checks to ensure quality, more regulation and possibly no class tenth boards. The proposals aside, the fact is that education in India is largely a mess and hundreds of thousands of students are simply let down by the system. Take a look at our segment on higher education in India.

If the reaction to the new HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s proposals to change the face of education in India was anything to go by, there is little doubt that this is one issue crying to be addressed. In a country where the young are thirsting for a good rounded education, the state of our big educational institutions leaves a lot to be desired. Most of these universities and colleges are struggling to cater to thousands of students that walk in and private colleges and institutes, mushrooming to meet the gap, remain largely unchecked.

 Jeroo Mullah, Head, Social Communication Department, Sophia Polytechnic, said, “A lot of them open up without equipment, pretend that they are offering courses, charge exorbitant fees and are not able to deliver.”

If that’s the problem with privately run institutes the good old established universities under government control seem to be fading into obscurity.

Rashmi Bansal says, “None wants to say they are from Mumbai University anymore. With the lack of good teachers and even students, its not what it used to be.”

In a nutshell higher education in India is mostly a mess and even though we have some of the worlds most reputed institutes, the gap between them and the average college is shocking.
Everywhere the problems are the same, lack of money, faculty, infrastructure and many a time the intent to make training job oriented and no where is this more apparent than in business schools.

Sachin Sankhule says, “A separate cell should be created in HRD ministry to look into employability of management course graduates. Currently 40-50% of our graduates are not employable. This directly impacts on the chances to be in the business and contribute to the overall growth.”

Despite having 20 Central Universities, 217 State Universities and 17,625 colleges and over 1500 post graduate colleges, the gross enrolment ratio of students in higher education remains less than 9% far below than that of developed countries which stand at 40-50%.
 
UNESCO has ranked India at the lowest among the BRIC countries in terms of expenditure on higher education per student. And India only spends around 3.5% of GDP (2005) on education which is far lower than 5.6% in US and around 6% in France, even Thailand and Kenya spent more.


In fact it’s no wonder then that most youngsters who can afford it would rather go abroad.

Karan Gupta, International Education Consultant says, “We have seen increase in number of students who want to study abroad, with lack of good opportunities in, and everyone not making it to the institutions such as IITs and IIMs, students prefer to go abroad now.”
 
While problems are many, opportunities too are galore. Just this week the international group Pearson unveiled its plans to invest $30 million in two Indian education companies TutorVista Global Pvt. Ltd and Educomp Solutions Ltd for tutorial and vocational services.


Khozem Merchant, Deputy Chairman, Pearson India says, “We see India as a good market and would like to enter the market with more investments.”

It’s no wonder then that even in the corridors of power efforts are being made to address these problems.

Here is what the HRD ministry has proposed in its first 100 days:

• To introduce a Foreign Educational Institutions Bill to regulate the entry, operation and maintenance of foreign education in India
• To establish an autonomous body National Commission for Higher Education and Research, for higher education and research and subsume 13 existing regulatory bodies. It will be a big step to bring in more transparency
• To look at Mandatory assessment and accreditation in higher education by an independent regulatory authority for maintaining good quality
• To make legal changes to keep a stringent check on private educational institutes

This time one hopes that the HRD ministry will follow words with action and the finance minister will put more money behind it.

The students here are studying for the multiple tests that they need to give to pursue higher education in a good institute, with entry standards getting tougher each year, one can only guess how many will eventually qualify. Now the only hope is that the FM addresses this issue quickly in the budget and ensures that educational reforms can be a inked faster.



Impact: Budget 2009 announcements

Higher education sector allocated Rs.2,000 crore over Interim B.E. 2009-10 and rupees 450 crore allocated to skill development plan for industrial training institutes. Provision for the scheme ‘Mission in Education through ICT’ substantially increased to Rs.900 crore and the provision for setting up internet connections for students and teachers and certification of knowledge acquired by learners through formal and informal systems.  Polytechnics to be upgraded under the Skill Development Mission enhanced to Rs.495 crore with additional Rs.827 crore allocated for opening one Central University in each uncovered State.

Rs 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and NITs which includes a provision of Rs.450 crore for new IITs and NITs and the overall Plan budget for higher education is to be increased by Rs.2,000 crore over Interim B.E. 2009-10. Punjab University, Chandigarh. Plan to be given 50 crore rupees provision of full interest subsidy during the period of moratorium to cover loans taken from scheduled banks to pursue any of the approved courses of study in technical and professional streams from recoganised institutions in India.