By Devinder Sharma
17 Mar 2010
A section of influential Indian middle class remains obsessed with anything foreign, more so American. No wonder, instead of making efforts to improve the education system of the country, the government is keen to invite the foreign universities to help educate India.
The Union Cabinet has cleared the Foreign Educational Institutional (regulation of entry and operation) Bill, which aims to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India. This Bill follows the two controversial Bills pending for Parliamentary approval - the Nuclear Liability Bill and the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill.
Kapil Sibal, the Minister for Human Resource Development, is visibly excited. He is quoted in the media, saying: "A larger revolution than even in the telecom sector awaits us." Well, we all know that the path to hell is paved with good intentions.
Nothing can be more dangerous than programming the mindset of the young generation of India through an education system that has nothing to do with the great culture, tradition and wisdom that our ancient civilisation endowed us with. The present crop of politicians, more worrying are the younger lot that the Indian media talks about every day, are so myopic that they can't see anything beyond Europe and America.
If this is all that these politicians are capable of thinking and doing, I sometimes wonder why shouldn't we have political representatives from Europe and America sitting in Indian Parliament? After all, they will do the job of re-colonising the country much more efficiently than their sub-standard Indian clones.
There are a large number of people in this country who are sold out to everything American. They live in India, but have an American dream. They will find fault with the higher education system in the country, and wouldn't mind even if the country's education system is eventually taken over by substandard colleges and universities from North America, Europe and Australia. It is in this context that I find the editorial in the Economic Times (Mar 17, 2009) under the title 'University of California, Ghazipur' interesting. This is what it says:
"But such a law is unlikely to open the floodgates for foreign providers of quality education. The reality is that 'for-profit' describes hardly any of the world's best institutions of higher learning. In any case, the Bill stipulates that all profits would have to be ploughed back into the Indian venture and not repatriated. Only second rate outfits not allergic to some accounting innovation that allows them to circumvent this ban are likely to invest in Indian campuses."
Isn't it a shame that the country that gave the world its first universities, is now feeling thrilled that some of the B-grade foreign universities are likely to open campuses in India, if the government has its ways.
I have been lecturing at various universities abroad, and have always come back disappointed at the level of competence.
Read the complete article @http://www.d-sector.org/article-det.asp?id=1105
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