Challenges in education are on the rise, both in measure and magnitude. Amongst these, references are invariably made of the severe deficiencies in infrastructure support and the inadequacy of professionally equipped manpower across the board. The quality of higher education is organically linked to that of school education. Everyone knows how the sarkari schools enrolling about 65 per cent children remain in a state of utter neglect, deficiency and deprivation. It is futile to expect any upgrade of the quality of education and output in research and innovations and achieve international standards till comparability is established in basic facilities and high quality manpower in academic positions in institutions of higher education.
The system suffers considerable damage on certain other counts also. Commercialisation is on the rise. Then there is corruption, copying mafia and cartels of fake degree providers. The enormity of the developing forgeries and frauds resulted in the Supreme Court ordering that those who get into institutions or get jobs on the basis of fake certificate must be sacked. The UP chief minister ‘declared’ that all those found guilty of entering government services through fraudulent means shall be axed. In Maharashtra, the state government is facing the dilemma of sacking 11,700 of its employees who got jobs on fake certificates. And this practice is not confined to one state alone.
Recent arrest of a GST commissioner in Uttar Pradesh indicates deep deficiency and inadequacy of the Indian education system. India could be proud of its educated young persons who have created wonders in the country and abroad. But the system must also not ignore that it is its own product that indulges in white-collar crimes. The 6 per cent GDP allocation still remains a dream. One needs to look incisively for the ‘Ray of Hope’ that may brighten the horizons of the education sector in India.
The Union Budget is one such occasion. It is indeed encouraging to note that the Union government has taken note of the prevalent needs, and requirements of the system, as also of the aspirations and expectations of the future generations. Certain measures have been put in place that could indeed make a difference for the better. Initiation of the new scheme—RISE (Revitalising Infrastructure and System in Education)—indicates that the government has decided to meet this challenge squarely. More than the inadequacy of the amount allocated, one would like visualisation of a strategy that could transform the work culture to implement such measures.
Initial beneficiaries of RISE would be IITs, IIITs, NITs, and also Central universities. The Higher Education Financing Agency—HEFA—could play a major role. One expects that these two together would create models of institutional advancements in research, innovations and high quality professional productivity. Hopefully, earlier initiative to identify 20 institutions, give them a special grant of `1,000 crore each would be on the rails shortly.
One thousand scholarships to BTech graduates to conduct PhD level researches could regenerate interest in research, which somehow has been on the decline in the past. Emphasis on the teacher training, introduction of integrated pre-service teacher education programmes, and the decision to not view school education in separate compartments are much-needed steps. One expects that the spirit of the original constitutional directive for “all children till they attain fourteen years of age” shall be implanted in full.rajput_js@yahoo.co.in