It is customary on Teachers’ Day (Sept 5) to felicitate teachers and make big speeches about the noble profession of teaching. These are mere platitudes. The real issues confronting education are never addressed. Some of the issues that need immediate attention have been highlighted in the following lines. The condition of primary schools across the country, particularly the government run schools, is pathetic. In a landmark judgment on August 18, Allahabad High Court, while expressing concern about the deplorable condition of the primary schools in UP, had ordered the government servants, elected representatives and members of judiciary and “all other persons who get any benefit or salary from state exchequer or public fund” to send their children to the state run primary schools so as to ensue the schools functioned well. The Court directed the chief secretary to execute the order in six months. When the central schools and Navodaya Vidayalayas are run efficiently, there is no reason why the schools run by state governments can’t be administered effectively. The government-run schools are steeped in corruption.
The BMC has an annual budget of Rs.2,500-crore for primary education. There are around 3.5 lakh students meaning that, on an average, Rs.70, 000 is spent on a student. And look at the condition of municipal schools. It is a suffocating environment. The BMC gets Rs.200-crore at the start of an academic year to distribute 27 basic items, like uniforms, school bags etc., which it failed to do so till date. This explains massive siphoning off public funds.
As per 2011 census, there are 234 million children in the age group of 6-14 enrolled in schools, while 34 million children remain out of school. According to the ASER, 62 % Class V children cannot read Class II text book; a fifth of elementary school teachers do not have the requisite qualifications. The RTE Act has not made much difference- neither in ensuring that all children are in the school nor in improving the quality of teaching. The ‘no-fail policy’ and the CCE are supposed to promote holistic development of children. However, the vested interests are bent on getting the no-fail policy till standard VIII scrapped on the pretext that it has resulted in deterioration of school education. The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) wants to scrap the policy. Similarly, the CABE, under pressure, is pitching for making the Class X Board exam compulsory. These decisions are bound to raise the dropout rate of children in rural areas and the stress level of examinations.
Because of the dysfunctional schools, parents are taking away their children from government run schools. In villages, many parallel private unaided schools are being run, making the government schools, in which huge public money is poured, almost redundant. The enrolment share of private schools in rural India rose from 16% to 31% during the period 2006-14. India’s gigantic higher education set up- 712 universities, 37,204 colleges, 30 million students, 1.3 million teachers – is in the grip of a simmering crisis. The allocation of central funds to colleges and universities is dwindling. In 2014-15, the allocation for higher education was Rs.27,656-crore, actual spending being Rs.24,518-crore. This year the allocation was slashed by over 800 crores. The reforms introduced by the UGC in the examination system, like semester system, grading replacing marks and choice based credit system, are being scuttled.
The state is abdicating its responsibility. Private unaided institutions are mushrooming everywhere. Professional colleges with self-financing courses are replacing conventional colleges on a large scale. The fees charged by these professional institutions for courses like engineering, medicine and management are manifold, compared to government aided institutions, which the lower middle class and poor children just cannot afford. Who is benefiting by this privatisation of higher education
Privatisation has seriously dented the quality of higher education. Take for instance, Mumbai University. There are some 750 colleges affiliated to the university, out of which only 200 colleges are aided. The rest 550 are unaided. Three-fourth of unaided colleges have no regular Principals, while one-fourth of the aided colleges are without regular Principals. The private managements go on adding self-financing courses because they are profitable. The teachers are hired and fired. There is no security of service for them. Most of them are under qualified, under paid and appointed on contract basis. This has created two classes of teachers: aided and unaided- privileged and under privileged. Though the UGC norms for the service conditions and pay scales are the same for all teachers – whether aided or unaided–the norms are flouted by private managements with impunity.
Maharashtra Governor Vidhyasagar Rao recently told the VCs at a round table conference on ‘Globalisation of Higher Education’ that they should raise universities’ standards to global level, reminding them of the glory of great ancient universities Nalanda and Takshashila. Minister Ravindra Walkar exhorted the universities to make efforts to attract foreign students. They got the priorities wrong. Let them first ensure that the universities in the state, particularly Mumbai University, are free from exam goof-ups and malpractices and the students receive quality education.
A survey conducted by Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Contemporary Studies, Mumbai, says more than half of the graduate and engineering students of Mumbai University are unfit for employment. A large number of them, being from vernacular medium, lacked verbal reasoning, comprehension and lateral thinking – essential qualities for recruitment in corporate sector. They are unable to communicate in English language. And as per another survey by ‘Aspiring Minds’, 51% engineering students in Maharashtra are not employable because of poor spoken English. Out of 6 lakh engineering graduates annually, only 2.9% candidates have spoken English skills- a staggering 97% unable to communicate effectively in English language If this is the picture in Maharashtra, imagine the situation in other states. The HRD Minister Smriti Irani, in her statement in Lok Sabha on August 5, said that during the past three years, some 2060 students have dropped out of 16 IITs and 2352 students from 30 NITs- the reason being ‘inability to cope with academic stress.’
While this is the state of affairs in higher education, colleges particular about getting good grades have resorted to unethical practices. The accreditation bodies like the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) have lost credibility. Some bogus elements, many of them full time professors, posing as the NAAC ‘stewards’ are having a field day. They are assisting the colleges to cheat and rig the assessment grades. They draw up Self Study Reports through plagiarism, promising visit of peer teams which can hand over good grades, with the colleges willing to shell out anywhere between Rs. 5-10 lakh.
Bertrand Russell said, “Teachers are more than any other class the guardians of civilsation.” It is important that teachers uphold the ethical values and guard educational institutions— the temples of learning— against denigration. They have two great teachers – S Radhakrishnan and Abdul Kalam- Bharat Ratnas to emulate.
The writer is the author of ‘Nehru and World Peace’, Professor of Political Science and a retired Principal; Founder Secretary, Association of Indian College Principals.
