Education Falcified

While setting up the foundation of higher education post independence, professor Yashpal, a distinguished physicist and the former chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), had very honestly revered a “university” as an institution for holistic education and knowledge. But he had not thought in the worst of his dreams that after six decades the concept will mutate completely and they’ll become a money-minting machine for the vested interests of some unscrupulous men.

In order to provide education at higher level some 36 universities and deemed universities, which provided quality education in sciences and technical fields as well as facilities for research, were set up in India from 1956 to 1995. The trend continued but quality deteriorated. The condition today is such that there is a college providing technical education in almost every city and village, affiliate to one or the other university but many with dubious credentials.



 From just 36 by 1995, their number rose to 103 by 2008. Between March 1995 and March 2008, nearly 400 applications were filed and just before Kapil Sibal took the office of Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD), their number stood at 127. And the irony is that many of them are a far cry from the original concept. Be it the NDA or Arjun Singh led MHRD during previous UPA tenure, none has kept the spirit of higher education alive and the only reason is that these deemed universities, in lieu of the unbearable fee that they charge, substandard education is what they provide.

Governing bodies like UGC, AICTE, Department of Secondary and Higher Education and Medical Council of India (MCI) have been set up and their guidelines and objectives rectified and modified from time to time but with no concrete results. The main aim remains unfulfilled. We all know that India has been recognized as a country with immense potential in education throughout the world but the fact that facilities for research in technical as well medical field in Indian Universities and the steep rise in the number of students taking admission in foreign universities is enough to substantiate the true picture of higher education. Professor Yashpal, a pioneer suggests creating of an overarching Higher Education Commission and doing away with the multiplicity of regulators. Such a committee will have to work corruption free and also free from local or central government. It must be as free as the Election Commission or SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India), which are the least corrupt institutes. This has to be done because there are a number of bureaucrats who mess up everything and make the mockery of the system. Funds to such an authority will have to be directly from the Finance Ministry so that it prevents the bottlenecks of inordinate delays in release of funds.

Another recommendation is to encourage institutes of excellence like the IITs and IIMs to diversify and become full-fledged universities such that their unique features remain intact. These institutes will then not only provide technical education, managerial skills but also teach sciences and humanities. So at the end of the day, one thing is very clear that the Indian Higher Education calls for a dire need of an overhaul for its renovation and rejuvenation. Just as the primary education in rural areas is in grim situation, the whole set up of the system needs to be changed so that we produce thinkers who are capable enough to contribute to global development.