Education is a critical tool for developing a modern economy, a just\nsociety and a vibrant polity. It provides the skills and competencies for\neconomic well-being and social mobility. Education strengthens democracy by\nimparting its citizens the tools needed\nto fully participate in the governance process. It also acts as an integrative\nforce in society, imparting values that foster social cohesion and national\nidentity. A well educated population, equipped with the relevant knowledge,\nattitudes and skills is essential for the economic and social development of a\ncountry. Education is the foremost sector that shoulders the biggest\nresponsibility of shaping the future of a nation. India, though renowned since\nthe ancient times for higher educational institutions like Nalanda and\nTakshashila, is presently facing multiple challenges in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imparting quality education to our youth is one of the\nhighest forms of service, an individual or institution can render to the\nnation. Its importance was best described by the Greek philosopher,\nDiogenes, who said, \u201cThe foundation of every state is the education of its\nyouth\u201d. India has the third largest higher education system in the world\nwith around 819 universities and university level institutes that impart higher\nand technical education. They also provide affiliation to more than 37,000\ncolleges and institutes. Enrolment rates in our higher education institutions\nhave gone up to around 25.2% but are still well below the world average of\n36.7%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, our higher education system continues to be\nafflicted with the three problems of access, equity and quality. Wide\ndisparities exist in enrolment percentages among the States and between urban\nand rural areas. Disadvantaged sections of society and women have significantly\nlower enrolments than the national average. The higher education sector is\nplagued by a shortage of well-trained\nfaculty, poor infrastructure and outdated and irrelevant curriculum. The use of\ntechnology remains limited and standards of research and teaching at Indian\nuniversities are far below than that of international standards. Curricular reforms leading to regular revision and upgrading of\ncurricula, introduction of semester system, choice-based credit system, and\nexamination reforms are yet to take place in higher educational institutions\nacross the country. Exceptions apart, majority of our higher education\ninstitutions perform poorly in the area of quality on a relative global\nscale. Our system turns out nearly seven lakh science and engineering\ngraduates every year. However, industry surveys show that only 25% of these are\nemployable, without further training. The picture is more dismal in other\ndisciplines if a recent, non-official, employability report is to be\nbelieved. In recent years, the massive expansion in enrolment in higher\neducation in the country has resulted in unbearable burden being put on the\nphysical and pedagogic infrastructure of colleges and universities. This is\nreflected in overcrowded classrooms and distortion of desirable student-teacher\nratio, overall shortage of teaching and tutorial space, overloading of\nlaboratory and library facilities, and often a lowering of the quality of\nteaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Curricular and academic reforms are required to improve\nstudent choices, with a fine balance between the market-oriented professional\nand liberal higher education. Higher education must be aligned with the\ncountry\u2019s economy and also with the\nneeds of the global market. Innovative and relevant curricula should be\ndesigned to serve different segments of the job market or provide avenues for\nself-employment. Emphasis must be given to the expansion of skill-based\nprogrammes in order to make our youth employable in the job market. The\nfact remains that today, around 60% of total enrolments in higher education are\nin private institutions. Some of them excel in their chosen areas. There also\nexist legitimate concerns about many of these institutions being substandard,\nexploitative and suffering from the general shortcomings mentioned earlier. Governance\nreforms are required to enable these institutions to have their autonomy to\ndevelop distinctive strengths, while being held accountable for ensuring\nquality and fulfilling their responsibility towards the\nsociety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
India has a younger population not only in comparison to advanced\neconomies but also in relation to the large developing countries. In\n2011, around 50% of our population was less than 24 years of age. By 2020,\naround two thirds of our population will be in the working age group (15-64\nyears). Over the next 20 years, labour force in India is expected to increase,\nwhile it will decline in industrialised countries and China. This demographic structure\npresents us with an opportunity of a potential \u2018demographic dividend\u2019, which\ntapped, could add to our growth potential, provided the two conditions are\nfulfilled\u2014First, higher levels of health, education and skill development are\nachieved; Second, an environment is created in which the economy not only grows\nrapidly, but also enhances good quality employment\/livelihood opportunities to\nmeet the needs and aspirations of the youth. It is thus evident that\neducation is a vital ingredient for actualising the \u2018demographic dividend\u2019 and\nfor achieving higher, sustainable and more inclusive economic growth. India\nhas the potential to capture a higher share of global knowledge-based work, for\nexample by increasing its exports of knowledge-intensive goods and services, if\nthere is a focus on higher education and its quality is improved as a global\nbenchmark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently, the Higher Education Commission of India\n(Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Bill, 2018 (HECI) was drafted by\nthe Central Government. The Bill \nprovides major reforms in higher education. It provides for establishing\nthe Higher Education Commission of India repealing the University Grants\nCommission Act, 1956. The revised Act is applicable for all higher educational\ninstitutions established, under any Act of Parliament excluding Institutions of\nNational Importance so notified by the Government, Act of State Legislature and\nto all Institutions and Deemed to be Universities so notified by the\nGovernment. HECI will be in charge of ensuring the academic quality in\nuniversities and colleges. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)\nwill be responsible for funding of universities and colleges; maintenance of\nacademic standards in the higher education system; and specifying learning outcomes for courses of study\nin higher education. It will also lay down the standards of teaching\/assessment\/research or\nany aspect that has a bearing on the outcomes of learning in higher educational\ninstitutions including curriculum development, training of teachers and skill\ndevelopment. It will evaluate the yearly academic performance of higher\neducational institutions, by monitoring the performance on criteria laid down.\nIt will promote research in higher education institutes and coordinate with the\nGovernment for provision of adequate funding for research. It will put in place\na robust accreditation system for evaluation of academic outcomes by\nvarious higher education institutes and provide for mentoring of\ninstitutions found to be failing in maintaining the required academic\nstandards. It can also order closure of institutions which fail to adhere\nto the minimum standards without affecting the student\u2019s interest or fail to\nget accreditation within the specified period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus a complete revamp is needed to meet the present\ndemand and address the future challenges that India is about to face. To reap\nthe diverse culture demographic dividend and to maintain peace and social\nharmony among them, quality education with values are the necessary areas to\nfocus upon. The higher education is facing many challenges as pointed above.\nMost of the challenges are difficult but are not impossible to resolve. To\naccomplish our goal of becoming a world\npower, the resolving and restructuring of higher education is a must, then only\nwe will be able to harness the human potential and resources of our country to\nthe fullest and channellise it for the growth of the nation. In the Union\nBudget for the financial year 2018-19, education sector has witnessed an\nincrease of almost 4% in terms of funds allocation. The Union Cabinet has taken\na decision recently to give due importance to the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha\nAbhiyan (RUSA), a centrally sponsored scheme launched in 2013 to provide\nstrategic funding to eligible State higher educational\ninstitutions.\n\nEducation is the basis of human establishment and\nhence should be treated with profound seriousness. Maintaining the education\nstandards will satiate the concerns of youth \nwho is looking for opportunities within the nation. Not only economic\nfronts but education fronts should be dealt prudently in order to be\nestablished as a powerful nation in the years to come. Today there is much more\ndata and evidence about the contours of the learning crisis in India than ever\nbefore. The time is ripe for timely and effective decentralised action to\nimprove the quality of youth learning outcomes. So, unless we ensure that our\nyoung people reach adulthood with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities they\nneed to help themselves, their families, and their communities move forward,\nIndia\u2019s much awaited \u2018demographic dividend\u2019 will not materialise. If India\nreally wants the best of the global players to come, it needs to lay out more\nattractive terms. Contrast that to places such as Singapore, Dubai and Qatar,\nwhich aren\u2019t just enabling quick permissions, but are\nproviding top universities, free infrastructure and facilities to entice them\nto set up campuses. Youth is the most important asset for a country and their\nfuture is the future of the nation. So, the Government must be very serious to\nprovide basic education and skills.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Education is a critical tool for developing a modern economy, a just society and a vibrant polity. It provides the skills and competencies for economic well-being and social mobility. Education strengthens democracy by imparting its citizens the tools needed to fully participate in the governance process. It also acts as an integrative force in society, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":548,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions\/548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}