Education is first to this nation

Deregulation & Decontrol of

Higher & Technical Education

Government to concentrate on Primary     & Secondary Education only up to the 10^th

                                                                     

1. Present population of India is about 1200 million
2. 72% or nearly 775 million are below the age of 35 years
3. It is estimated that there are nearly 300 million people in the age group from 18 years to 50 years who seek employment, either self employment or otherwise
4. India has a large number of young people but they are not educated and trained to world class standards, therefore most are not employable.
5. Nearly 46 million people are registered with various Employment Exchanges, with little or no hope of getting some sort of employment
6. Excepting in Information Technology and Software where there may be 50,000 or more private I.T. training institutes and centers, which is the reason for the IT success,
7. There are very few facilities for training the other 2500 courses offered in 15,000 modules, in different branches of Vocational Education and Training, VET
8. In developed and developing countries nearly 10% of the population between the ages 15 to 55 would be doing some sort of Vocational Education & Training, VET, this would amount to about 60 to 70 million people being trained in India at any given time!
9. In India the number of people getting some sort of VET is hardly 1.5 to 2 million students per year, totally inadequate for a country of the size of India.
10. India spends about Rs. 78,000 cr. per year on education, 90% by the State Governments and 10% by the Central Government. The new Education Cess may bring in another Rs. 6000 cr. per year. This is about 4% of GDP. At this stage of India’s development about 8% to 10% of GDP is required for education and training. It is estimated that additional Rs. 1,00,000 cr. To Rs. 1,25,000 cr. funds are required per year.
11. The present Literacy levels are only 67.5%, a balance of nearly 400 million people need to be made literate.
12. The present Indian definition of Literacy also needs up-gradation
13. Various studies have proved, without any doubt, that the GDP growth rate moves up by 1% to 2% per year, only as a result of an educated and literate population
14. Nearly 28 million people are added to the youth population every year, putting additional burden on the existing Primary and Secondary Education infrastructure of India.
15. In the 7 IIT’s and the 5 IIM’s the total number of seats allows only the top 1.1% to1.3% of the applicants to be selected. The top 15% of these students find admission any where in the world educational institutions, provided they can pay for their fees.
16. The IIT’s and IIM’s charge highly subsidized fees, as a result, even after 57 years of independence they have no surplus to set up new campuses
17. It is estimated that nearly Rs 50,000 cr of funds flow out of India  every year, directly and indirectly, for the Indian students studying abroad, enough to build 30 IIT’s or 50 IIM’s per year!
18. The IIT’s, IIM’s and colleges of Higher & Technical Education will find it very difficult to get teaching staff and trainers on fixed government levels of salary and wage structure. It is regrettable that though the students from these institutions get much higher starting salaries than their professors, this aspect has been ignored by the civil society as well as the government!
19. The State and Central governments have very little additional funds for education and Training. Therefore it is necessary to consider funding from private sources
20. In spite of the best intentions of the judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, it is not practical that the fees structure be decided by them. Market forces are the best leveler.
21. Capitation fees and corruption in education will only be diminished by deregulation and by allowing the market forces of supply and demand take care of quality and quantity of education
22. Very few schools provide development of other aspects of character building and of important values and extra curricular activities such as sports, music, drama, hobbies and prevocational courses in the 2500 Vocational Courses
23. If India has to compete in world markets it needs world class trained manpower to make Indian enterprises high quality and low cost

Recommendations

1. In the first phase, Government should concentrate from Kinder Garden to the 10^th Class for the next 20 to 25 years, or till literacy levels of above 98% have been achieved, whichever is sooner
2. Enterprise Skills and Education or ESD needs to be started from Class 1^st to Class 10^th. This will impart to the youth a view of how the real world works and help them to choose the profession of their choice and aptitude, by the time they are 14 to 16 years of age.
3. Pre-vocational courses should be started from Class 7^th to 10^th.
4. Councilors and student advisors need to be available to all students in the secondary schools. This network needs urgent implementation.
5. All funding for higher and Technical Education should be diverted towards Primary and Secondary education.
6. License Raj in Higher & Technical Education, including Vocational Education & Training should go. Reservation for up to 25% of seats for merit and merit-cum-poverty to be reserved in such institutions at very nominal fees of say 25% of normal fees
7. Private capital from Citizens and NRI’s should be encouraged to set up world class facilities for all forms of educational institutions, to make India an International Hub for education. World wide education is 500% bigger than I.T. and software.
8. Like in private tuition and in the education of I.T. and software there should be no interference from the government, for private institutions of Higher Education, eg…
• Selection of Syllabus
• Salary levels of teachers
• Appointment of the head of the Institution
• Appointment of staff and teachers
• Fee structure of different courses
• Introduction of new courses and scrapping of old courses

     9.  IIT’s and IIM’s should be allowed to start multiple campuses any where in India with or without private partners who bring in finance and other expertise

    10. Indian Universities and colleges should be allowed to upgrade their infrastructure by bringing in Indian or other partners, provided that they always have full management control of their institutions

     11. A dynamic relationship between Teaching-Research-Industry-Enterprise-Government, is required

     12. Education & Training worldwide, as an Enterprise, is 500% the size of I. T. and software. The MHRD should do whatever is necessary to promote India as an International Hub in education & training. This alone can propel India to become a ‘World Power’. This alone can remove and reduce the menace of Capitation Fees!