P.C. Alexander

July.15 : With the appointment of Mr Kapil Sibal as minister for human resources and development (HRD), people’s hopes for substantial reforms in education, particularly in higher education, which had been grossly neglected in the last five years, have been rekindled and they are waiting to see the new government’s priorities in this crucial sector.

The most important issue about higher education is the priority that the government will adopt between improving the quality of higher education and increasing access to institutions for higher learning. This is a difficult choice for the minister to make as quality and access are equally important if education is to become the most important instrument for development in all sectors. Mr Sibal does not have the option to appoint another committee or commission to make recommendations on this matter since all information necessary to take decisions on priorities in the higher education sector are already available with the government. The minister as an experienced administrator will also know that what is desirable is not always possible and that decisions on priorities have to be made taking into account the competing demands from various other sectors for substantial increase in the allocation of resources. Increasing access to institutions of higher education has also its political dimensions and the minister has to take this fact also into consideration while taking decisions on priorities. He will also have to reckon with the serious problem of shortage of qualified teachers for colleges and universities while deciding on the increases in the number of institutions in the higher education sector.

Judging from some of the views on the subject of priorities expressed by the HRD minister in the last few days, there seems to be some ambiguity in the minister’s thinking on priorities. He seems to believe that the targets fixed for access do not have to be scaled down in order to improve the quality of education in the existing colleges and universities. In an interview with a senior journalist a few days ago Mr Sibal had made the following statement: "Once we are able to increase the gross enrolment ratio of people going in for graduation and beyond from the current 11 per cent to 20-25 per cent, then we have a sufficient stock of people to choose from, then you are talking of better quality graduates and better outputs". In other words, he seems to think that an increase in enrolment for higher education from the present level of 11 to 20-25 per cent is not only possible without affecting quality, but is even necessary to ensure better quality. Of course it will be ideal if both access and quality could get the high priority they richly deserve, but the question is whether it will be more realistic to adopt a more moderate enrolment ratio and deploy more resources for improving the quality of education in the existing colleges and universities where huge funds have already been invested. The government will have to make a quick reassessment about the practicability of increasing the enrolment ratio to 20 to 25 per cent from the present 11 per cent.

No one would say that 11 per cent enrolment for higher education is adequate for a country like India. At the same time one cannot ignore the fact that the present ratio of 11 per cent is a substantial improvement on the seven per cent it was a decade ago. The increase in the number of colleges from 700 in 1947 to over 19,000 now has been impressive, though grossly inadequate for a nation of our size and requirements. In some cases the increase in the number of institutions in the last five years looks like an unplanned proliferation without proper care and attention on the part of the authorities sanctioning such increases. The worst case is that as many as 49 deemed universities by private parties have been approved during the last five years, while the numbers approved for over the earlier 50 years has been only 44. But the sadder fact is that a large number of institutions of higher education do not come anywhere near the standards expected of them. Even the University Grants Commission has found that about 50 per cent of the institutions for higher education already functioning are not eligible for financial support from it because of their basic inadequacies in infrastructure, qualification of teachers, record in research etc. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAC) has been able to assess the functioning of only a small number of existing colleges and universities but has found that some of them are in no position to provide quality education.

Most governments have been very liberal in the past in allowing mediocre institutions to come into existence as centres of higher learning. A new class of "educational entrepreneurs" has come up in several states from among influential politicians for starting colleges with the main objective of making quick profits from them. The initiative taken by these "education barons" would have been welcome if they had also satisfied the conditions required for quality education, but in many cases they have used their political clout to get recognition for their institutions without conforming to the prescribed conditions for quality and standards.

There have been complaints about corruption and malpractices from several colleges owned and managed by persons outside the government. In some colleges the authorities in charge of universities at the time of the final examinations turn a blind eye to copying and other such malpractices but the action taken against the offenders have often been far from being a deterrence.

Another common complaint is that the teachers in many of the privately-managed colleges and deemed universities do not actually receive the salaries prescribed for them even though they sign the registers for the full amount. When we speak of quality education, it should mean not only academic excellence as judged by the results in the examinations, but also sound moral and ethical standards and the all round development of the students’ personality.

When people find that the sanctity of the education system is being violated with impunity, the credibility of the degrees acquired even honestly gets eroded and the whole system of higher education comes into disrepute. Third-rate colleges and universities will produce mostly fourth-rate graduates and the loser is the nation. The "stock" created by such graduates may be large in size but may not be of "better quality and outputs", as hoped for by the minister.

P.C. Alexander is a former governor of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra

P.C. Alexander