The recent announcement by the HRD ministry to set up a new
IIM and IIT in every state from the current year onwards has been a moot point
of debate among the educated intelligentsia, economists and purists. The
decision has drawn a lot flak from many quarters including the students and
professors of various IITs and IIMs.
Before we delve deep into this debate and try to derive the
essence of and impact thereby on various socio-economic factors, let us first
take a re-look into the present condition of higher and primary education, in
India.
Higher Education
India currently has 16 IITs, 13 IIMs and 30 NITs. Since
their inception, securing a seat in an IIT or IIM has been a long drawn dream
for many middle class families waiting to move up the societal status ladder
and become the next Noveau Riche. But not only did these institutes help
families to reach the upper echelons of society but they also greatly
contributed to the economic growth and progress of the country, be it through
technological innovation or business strategy. Prior to the opening of many new
IITs and IIMs post 2005, many people felt that for a country like India with
such population and talent, a mere 6000 seats in IIT’s and 2000 in IIMs is not
a proportionate quantity. Owing to this disparity many argued that the talented
youth of the country was missing out on a platform to perform big and do
justice to their talent. Also, in the era of globalization, many of the IIT and
IIM graduates were seeking foreign destinations post their studies as their
preferred choice of workplace and living, hence fewer number of graduates were
left behind for India. All these factors accumulated and added indirect
pressure on the human resources to make higher education accessible to a wider
range of people. Thus we saw a proliferation of a plethora of private
engineering institutes and management schools churning out engineers and MBAs
in lakhs. But are they really considered worthy by corporate organizations and
the Industry as a whole?
The answer is NO. As a result what has increased over the
last few years is unemployment among the educated youth consisting of both
engineers and MBAs. Some of the institutes of repute do not have the basic
infrastructure expected from a nationally recognised institute like IIT/IIM.
Many do not have the decent number of faculty and the faculty to student ratio
is also very poor. Of all the six new IIMs that have been opened up, the sum
total of the number of students that they currently possess is less than 1000.
Some argue that the IIMs and IITs that were set up between 2008 and 2012 should
be given some time to build their infrastructure and develop an alumni base,
which would be spread across the industry. If one does accept this predictive
analysis, the latest decision by the HRD ministry to open up an IIT and IIM in
every state from the current year onwards is really surprising. Given that the
condition of the newly built IITs and IIMs are not up to the accepted standards
and that they would require sufficient Government funding, how will the Government
finance the new ones coming up? Most importantly, the question that is being
asked by many faculty members of the IIMs is that, will this proliferation not
lead to a substantial brand dilution of IITs and IIMs in general? This is one
question which many among the current student fraternity studying in the older
IITs and IIMs is also bothered about.
Primary Education
We have thus far been talking about the higher education
institutes vis-à-vis IITs and IIMs. At the outset, it might appear that we as a
country are extremely well-off in our basic primary education infrastructure,
and hence we now want to focus more on higher education. A fact: The current
drop-out rate by class 10 is 50%. Shocking? It is even more shocking to note
that India is one of those rare countries which spends only 4% of HDP on
education sector against the globally accepted norm of central and state
Government spending of 6% of GDP. A point essential, for understanding the high
drop-out rate. To add to it, last year, according to a report published by
World Bank, an average Indian spends just 5.1 years in school, even below that
of Bangladesh (5.8 years) and Pakistan (5.6 years). The drop-out rate for the
primary level was 28.7% .which meant that out of every 100 that enrolled in a school
only 71 could make it to secondary level. There has been a decline in the
proportion of schools with at least one classroom per teacher, from 76.2% in
2010 to 73.8% in 2013, a survey said. There are obviously many factors
which are responsible for such abysmal primary education condition like low
quality teachers, lack of infrastructure of schools, low teacher to student
ratio, ignorance among the lower strata of the society and a host of other
factors, even though there have been schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya
Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan programme and the mid-day meal programme to promote
primary education.
Rural Scenario:
As per the ASER report of 2013, there are a few positive signs
as far as rural education scenario goes. Enrolment in the 6-14 age group has
increased to 96% and there has been a slight increase in the private school
enrolment as well. But the darker side is, according to the report there has
been no significant improvement in children’s ability to read. Children are
still struggling with basic arithmetic. Though teacher attendance has been
steady, student attendance has dropped. The infrastructure facilities of
primary education in rural India declined in 2013 as compared to 2012. Basic
amenities like toilet facilities, drinking water, building, and library
facilities have indicated a declining trend in 2013 as compared to previous
years. The pupil to teacher ratio also has not increased and remains below the
50% mark according to the findings.
Hence there exists a paradox. Shall we focus on increasing
higher education institutes to supplant our growing population and talent pool
or shall we focus more on developing the infrastructure of the existing ones?
On the other hand, shall we rather focus our Government spending more on
building our primary education edifice? These are some of the questions that
need to be addressed.
Before answering these questions, like all economic
theories, we need to look at the budgetary allocation our Government is
planning for the education sector for the current year. The total expenditure
on education has increased from 2.9% of GDP in 2009 to 3.3% in 2013. This year,
the education sector received an allocation of Rs.68728 crores for 2014-15, up
from a revised budget estimate of Rs.61857 crores in 2012-14. Out of this
year’s total allocation, the school sector got Rs.51828 crores. Clearly, there
is an urgency on the part of the Government to focus more on primary schooling
and skill development.
Conclusion:
Our analysis of the primary education condition in India
where infrastructure facilities have seen stymied growth or even declined in
the recent years suggest that there is immediate need to revamp our primary
education sector. Improvement in infrastructure like building, library, etc. is
going to lower the drop-out rate and increase school enrolment further. On the
other hand, the opinion regarding setting up new IIMs and IITs have remained
divided. While many IIT faculty believe that expansion is a good idea, faculty
of IIMs are not in favour of the expansion strategy. This division is due to
the fact that that most of the new IIMs including IIM Shillong which was set up
in 2007 have not been able to shift to a new campus and their total students
have remained at 120 on an average, against the 400 odd in older IIMs. The
average shortage of faculty in these IIMs stands at 40%. By comparison, even
though some of the new IITs are also struggling, but in the race to be world
class institutions, they are forging ahead of the IITs. They have also been
able to shift their campuses. Their share of success in attracting new faculty
and new directors have also been more than the IIMs. Hence it is only prudent
that we take this step of expansion very carefully and do not spend our budget
on a expansion strategy that would only result in degrading the brand equity of
IIMs. As the case stands now, expanding the IITs, in every state, can be
considered to be a step in the right direction. But decision to expand IIMs
needs careful review and re-consideration. In the end, we are looking to shape
the future of our country, by producing quality engineers and managers, not
merely by increasing their numbers. Given the budget constraints, our
Government needs to match the progress of primary education sector with higher
education, and carry out any expansion strategy they have in their mind in a
phased out manner. We need an inclusive growth strategy for promoting education
in India and not a skewed one.
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