It has just started raining outside, after a break marked by heat and humidity. The showers at midnight have brought some relief but still the sleep is eluding. The reason is not atmosphere but it is education. And I can assure you that I am not alone who is awake.
Just like the atmospheric seasons, this is an admission season. Admissions into Engineering, Commerce, Schools etc. is in full swing. This month is tensed specially for the students coming from ‘middle class’ seeking admission into higher education. The parents have high expectation and aspirations against limited understanding & information of the options available. Now for the first time, the student in his career is exposed to intense competition at a pan-state or pan-India level for admissions. Add to this, the average student is marked with confusion regarding career choices, financial constraint & tremendous social pressure of expectations. This is a deadly mix which can give any concerned parent/guardian sleepless nights.
But why it should be an issue to be bothered? Isn’t going for higher education a good thing? It is certainly good and required to have higher education in life. But when a country’s education is marked with systemic issues, poor quality of education coupled with high costs for the students and still very few seats for getting good quality education, it is definitely worrisome. In today’s episode of one popular serial it was aptly said that future of a country depends on its current education system.
Let’s take case of Engineering in Gujarat. There are around 70000 seats in engineering and there are equal numbers of seats. Most of these seats are self financed. As per my estimate, there are hardly 10 colleges with total capacity of around 5-6000 seats which can boast of placement records of more than 70 %. As per the first round of merit, three prominent self financed colleges charging tuition fees of around 80000 per year got filled within first 5000 candidates along with few prominent Grant in aid and government seats with fees of around 1500 per year. There are around 15 government engineering colleges which offer education at ultra low costs. Still their seats get filled after many private colleges with 50 times the fees are filled.
People are ready to pay for quality education. This is quite well established by the above fact. But it also means two things, first that though all government colleges have ample resources and fees advantage, they are not able to provide quality education and attract top students. Second, because of the above fact some parents though getting admissions into an average government college prefer paying higher fees and secure admission in good private college. (This does not mean that all the private colleges are good at education and all the government colleges are bad). Given this scenario, it makes life of a parent and student a living hell till the time admissions are over. Every single mark can sometimes cost students in lakhs. If you want to get more frustrated as a parent, you can add an angle of reservation of seats to which I have my own doubts that the beneficiaries are the really ones for which the reservation is intended.
As far as getting good results is concerned, top cities are delivering most of the students in top merit lists because of availability of good quality & expensive private coaching for entrance exams like JEE. This is creating an urban-rural divide between the students of city and rural areas. More and more parents are pressurized to send their students to cities for these modern day inevitable monster of coaching. I have seen good students deciding to go for diplomas rather than graduation because of the rising costs and fear of competition.
Lack of government’s ability to deliver quality in education, despite spending generously and paying staffs as per liberal sixth pay is an area of grave concern. This inability and weak spots is adequately and in some cases, blatantly exploited by the self financed institutions. (Though we must say that not all SFI’s are exploiting. They charge but they deliver also) It would be interesting to know, how many politicians have their stake in these self financed institutes. So in such cases even after spending money, the quality is not assured.
Stagnating economy, Negative media, Dirty politics etc. have added the uncertainty and doubt about the future of bright careers in India. Every parent desires that his or her son/daughter get best employment opportunities. On other hand companies desire that they get best talent which is readily employable. Matching these two, there are very few colleges who can satisfy both the stakeholders. Probably 10% of the total students of the state might be getting campus placement offers. This reflects a wide disconnect between industry and academia. What is taught is probably too theoretical and out dated to be applied to the industry. In such scenarios it becomes a humongous task to get our basics right.
What is the way out? The problem seems to be of few seats available for good quality education, disconnect between industry – academia and higher costs of education for an average student. It will get more accentuated with the passage of time as more number of students enters for higher education. There can be some solutions for these. Government must take an action to improve the quality by providing more accountability and autonomy to the institutes. There are currently no HR appraisals or audit, for faculties employed in government colleges despite being paid liberally. There has to be some performance parameters which are linked to the placements of students and with the salary of staff directly. Because the staff of NAAC A grade college also gets same salary as the staff of NAAC B Grade College. There is basically no motivation for performance in current system. But still there are some excellent teachers who work despite the system, as it is. But we need more of them. Another issue is of fees. Can’t we devise a system that instead of such a huge difference in fees (1500 V/s 80000) we can narrow it down to say 20000 v/s 50000. So that the meritorious students still benefits but the average students is not squeezed financially. The additional resources thus generated to compensate SFI’s for the fees loss.
There can be many more solutions, if there is willing and priority to change. Ultimately the aim of an education is to provide a better exposure, build intellect and create human beings who can contribute to betterment & progress of human race. With the rising population entering into higher education with even more desire for good education v/s intense competition, it is a time that government and industry come together to invest in the future, which can only and only be secured by providing right education. To reap the much touted demographic dividend of India (which comes with an assumption that the youth is skilled and educated) we must address these concerns with administrative will, political unity, corporate cooperation and fore mostly by the integrity of academic fraternity.
( P.S : In one seminar Shri Rameshbhai Ojha said that the country where, soldiers are not fearless, Priests & leaders are devoid of integrity and teachers greedy for money, shall not prosper)
Just like the atmospheric seasons, this is an admission season. Admissions into Engineering, Commerce, Schools etc. is in full swing. This month is tensed specially for the students coming from ‘middle class’ seeking admission into higher education. The parents have high expectation and aspirations against limited understanding & information of the options available. Now for the first time, the student in his career is exposed to intense competition at a pan-state or pan-India level for admissions. Add to this, the average student is marked with confusion regarding career choices, financial constraint & tremendous social pressure of expectations. This is a deadly mix which can give any concerned parent/guardian sleepless nights.
But why it should be an issue to be bothered? Isn’t going for higher education a good thing? It is certainly good and required to have higher education in life. But when a country’s education is marked with systemic issues, poor quality of education coupled with high costs for the students and still very few seats for getting good quality education, it is definitely worrisome. In today’s episode of one popular serial it was aptly said that future of a country depends on its current education system.
Let’s take case of Engineering in Gujarat. There are around 70000 seats in engineering and there are equal numbers of seats. Most of these seats are self financed. As per my estimate, there are hardly 10 colleges with total capacity of around 5-6000 seats which can boast of placement records of more than 70 %. As per the first round of merit, three prominent self financed colleges charging tuition fees of around 80000 per year got filled within first 5000 candidates along with few prominent Grant in aid and government seats with fees of around 1500 per year. There are around 15 government engineering colleges which offer education at ultra low costs. Still their seats get filled after many private colleges with 50 times the fees are filled.
People are ready to pay for quality education. This is quite well established by the above fact. But it also means two things, first that though all government colleges have ample resources and fees advantage, they are not able to provide quality education and attract top students. Second, because of the above fact some parents though getting admissions into an average government college prefer paying higher fees and secure admission in good private college. (This does not mean that all the private colleges are good at education and all the government colleges are bad). Given this scenario, it makes life of a parent and student a living hell till the time admissions are over. Every single mark can sometimes cost students in lakhs. If you want to get more frustrated as a parent, you can add an angle of reservation of seats to which I have my own doubts that the beneficiaries are the really ones for which the reservation is intended.
As far as getting good results is concerned, top cities are delivering most of the students in top merit lists because of availability of good quality & expensive private coaching for entrance exams like JEE. This is creating an urban-rural divide between the students of city and rural areas. More and more parents are pressurized to send their students to cities for these modern day inevitable monster of coaching. I have seen good students deciding to go for diplomas rather than graduation because of the rising costs and fear of competition.
Lack of government’s ability to deliver quality in education, despite spending generously and paying staffs as per liberal sixth pay is an area of grave concern. This inability and weak spots is adequately and in some cases, blatantly exploited by the self financed institutions. (Though we must say that not all SFI’s are exploiting. They charge but they deliver also) It would be interesting to know, how many politicians have their stake in these self financed institutes. So in such cases even after spending money, the quality is not assured.
Stagnating economy, Negative media, Dirty politics etc. have added the uncertainty and doubt about the future of bright careers in India. Every parent desires that his or her son/daughter get best employment opportunities. On other hand companies desire that they get best talent which is readily employable. Matching these two, there are very few colleges who can satisfy both the stakeholders. Probably 10% of the total students of the state might be getting campus placement offers. This reflects a wide disconnect between industry and academia. What is taught is probably too theoretical and out dated to be applied to the industry. In such scenarios it becomes a humongous task to get our basics right.
What is the way out? The problem seems to be of few seats available for good quality education, disconnect between industry – academia and higher costs of education for an average student. It will get more accentuated with the passage of time as more number of students enters for higher education. There can be some solutions for these. Government must take an action to improve the quality by providing more accountability and autonomy to the institutes. There are currently no HR appraisals or audit, for faculties employed in government colleges despite being paid liberally. There has to be some performance parameters which are linked to the placements of students and with the salary of staff directly. Because the staff of NAAC A grade college also gets same salary as the staff of NAAC B Grade College. There is basically no motivation for performance in current system. But still there are some excellent teachers who work despite the system, as it is. But we need more of them. Another issue is of fees. Can’t we devise a system that instead of such a huge difference in fees (1500 V/s 80000) we can narrow it down to say 20000 v/s 50000. So that the meritorious students still benefits but the average students is not squeezed financially. The additional resources thus generated to compensate SFI’s for the fees loss.
There can be many more solutions, if there is willing and priority to change. Ultimately the aim of an education is to provide a better exposure, build intellect and create human beings who can contribute to betterment & progress of human race. With the rising population entering into higher education with even more desire for good education v/s intense competition, it is a time that government and industry come together to invest in the future, which can only and only be secured by providing right education. To reap the much touted demographic dividend of India (which comes with an assumption that the youth is skilled and educated) we must address these concerns with administrative will, political unity, corporate cooperation and fore mostly by the integrity of academic fraternity.
( P.S : In one seminar Shri Rameshbhai Ojha said that the country where, soldiers are not fearless, Priests & leaders are devoid of integrity and teachers greedy for money, shall not prosper)