Open Forum
New Delhi, 1 February 2023
NEP & Budget
ADDITIONAL FUNDS CRITICAL
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
The National Education Policy (NEP) continues to solicit
much debate and educationists will be eagerly looking forward to the Budget
today, in the hope that funds no longer remain low despite lofty promises. The policy
is based on the foundational pillars access, affordability, equity, quality and
accountability. However, while the government is interested in giving a thrust
in education, it appears it’s unwilling to arrange at least some enhanced
resources for implementing the NEP, which also includes funds for research and
development.
India has been expanding on higher education system without
proportionate increase in budgets. In comparison, China spends more money on
two of its premier institutions – Tsinghua and Peking Universities -- than the
entire higher education budget of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. It
is generally believed by educationists that while NEP may be a step in the
right direction, without additional fund allocation for its implementation,
it’s going to be a herculean task to implement the policy in the right spirit
in our institutions. More so, as NEP sought public investment on education to
be 6% of GDP, but regrettably it hasn’t been the case.
On the other
hand, it appears that the public university system is being dismantled by
policy makers. A handful of universities, such as Jadavpur, Pune, Punjab,
Calcutta, Anna, miraculously retain high rankings, vying with IITs and other
centres with exponentially greater funding. The kingpin of UGCs multi-pronged
funding strategy was the now-defunct five-year plan, affording fresh capital
infusion. Universities with virtually zero resources like Jadavpur acquired
substantial infrastructure and academic standing.
Lately, the ministry
decided to offer Rs 1000 crore grant to institutes of eminence. Of the first 10
identified, were state-run Jadavpur and Anna University. The ministry then
sprang a shock – the state must pledge 40% of the funds and the impasse remains
unresolved till date. The Jadavpur University has been forced to scout for
funds from its alumni, some of whom occupy high positions in India and abroad.
Experts are of the opinion that universities now function like government
departments – precisely what they were designed to avoid.
Public
universities have been robbed both of resources and the means to acquire these.
This has shattered their morale which, in turn, has subverted teacher-student
relations. While universities control their own affairs, student unrest can be
tackled through underlying checks and balances. The plight of public
universities leaves the privileged classes unmoved -- they are turning to a new
generation of private foundations of which only a handful meet any rigorous
criteria. The same might be said of public universities but given the realities
of our vernacular schooling system and the economic condition of the masses,
private universities cannot possibly acquire the critical mass to be chief
knowledge providers to an India-sized population.
While public universities are suffering due to lack of
resources, private universities are coming up which charge high fees which is beyond
the reach of low-income groups. Improving the quality of education is, no
doubt, very much desirable but it has also to be ensured that students from low-income
sections and the economically weaker groups get proper education at affordable
rates. Further, it’s distressing to note the government has stopped many
scholarships and research grants.
Another important aspect is the low spending on R&D. If
India aspires to occupy the third in the world position for knowledge
generation, dwindling grants for research will not help and Indian scientists
cannot reach global heights. The National Research Foundation (NRF) is yet to
be established, as formulated in the NEP, and it is necessary that funds must be
found from various sources. While basic research must be encouraged to a higher
level, the fund for addressing societal problems must come from various
ministries and industries.
It is worthwhile to refer to a recent conference organised
by the Indian Chamber of Commerce where Prof. Suranjan Das, eminent historian,
and Jadavpur University Vice Chancellor, stressed that NEP should take into
account the legal discrepancies between setting up of foreign universities in
India and pre-existing Indian ones. Outlining some caveats that could democratise
the global education platform in India, Das suggested that foreign universities
should be able to penetrate rural areas and not only be limited to the
metropolises and should be affordable and accessible. Otherwise, ‘new further class
divisions could creep up in the student community, creating socio-educational
problems.’
Going by present trends it appears that with the spread of
neoliberal capitalism, the privileged section will acquire quality education
that will enable it to fill executive and official positions whereas others
excluded from such education will be given skills and will join the vast
segment of the workforce among whom limited number of available positions is
rationed out. The globalisation of capital, characteristic of neoliberal
capitalism, has also created a global market that requires a homogeneous
education across countries. This detaches education, say in India, completely
from its Indian setting. Thus, a student of economics in the country cannot
simply understand the Indian economy without reckoning with the legacy of
colonialism.
It needs to be pointed out here that economic growth and
development takes place where educational and awareness levels are quite high,
and this is manifest in the southern States compared to the north. This once
again proves the need for education to spread all over the country – not just
in metro and big cities, as is being manifest now.
Can the government not ensure that for any private
university opened in cities and metros, one college must be started in the
backward districts or sub-divisions of the country? Opening more and more
colleges and universities in big cities, higher education cannot spread and
reach the struggling student community, which also aspires to get good
education nearer home. In this context, good laboratories need to be opened in
each sub-division of the country so that science education reaches the bottom
segments of society.
Surveys indicate that educational levels, either in
secondary or college or university levels is not improving. The vast public
university system is now on the verge of destruction in the hands of
unsystematic governments at the Centre and in various states. Classes
are run by a hapless army of ad hoc teachers in private universities without
adequate benefits. Unfortunately, State funding is steadily drying up
everywhere. But with a booming youth population and an expanding urge to gain
higher education, there has been an emergence of profiteers, keen to exploit
this by setting up private universities.
There is thus the need to focus on rural areas to improve
the quality of education at all levels through coordinated planning and prompt
implementation. In fact, it would be prudent on the part of the government to
appoint a high-power committee to select some sub-divisions or big blocks and
transform the quality of higher education in the coming years.
With quality, innovation and research to be the pillars on
which India is aiming to become a knowledge super power, the immediate plan
should be to ensure there is one college with facilities in sub-divisions where
advanced skill development is imparted. Moreover, there must be one public university
in every district with emphasis on science education so that rural people, can
avail of higher education like their urban counterparts. It can be a serious
beginning to achieve the aim of NEP--100% youth and adult literacy one day.---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature
Alliance)
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