Empowering India with imported wisdom?

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

Right to Education: Time for a giant leap

By Swaty Prakash
23 Feb 2010

The HRD Minister of India has new and innovative ideas to mould the education sector. His challenge lies in converting plans into concrete actions.
BT Brinjal has a strong rival fighting for news space these days —India's education sector. Suddenly, news about raising the age bar for nursery admissions to allowing foreign universities into the country has become a talking point.

To begin with, President Pratibha Patil, in her address to the Parliament, has announced that a law to make education a fundamental right of every child in the age group of six to 14 has been notified and will be effective from April 1. The Act, which was passed by Parliament in the August last year, also earmarks 25 per cent seats to children from economically weaker sections in private schools. It stipulates that the local governments ensure that the children in the specified age bracket get elementary education.

But as always, the intentions sound good, but the implementation looks bleak. When I informed my sweeper about the Right to Education Act, he just shrugged his shoulders. Since three of his children fall in this age-bracket, I rephrased the question for better understanding. I needn't have bothered because the indifference was not due to lack of understanding. He calculated the money he would have lost if his three children went to school every day for a few hours instead of working. He didn't care if education was free or compulsory.

Nevertheless, the Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has also said that his ministry would hold consultations with the states to resolve issues such as fee structure and teachers’ salaries — issues that are likely to arise while implementing the Act. This is good thinking on the minister's part because in the no- o distant past teachers in Delhi University went on a strike when the move to extend classroom hours by a few minutes was proposed. They demanded everything from a salary hike to more leave to tackle the so-called 'stress' caused by the change in their schedule.

Sibal also said that the government will take steps to prevent commercialisation of education, and that the consultation would be undertaken to evolve a policy so that “poor, marginalised, and disadvantaged” students are not adversely affected.

“Our aim is to ensure that all children in India get quality education, but we are against commercialisation of education. Incessant fee hikes and overcharging from parents is something we do not support. I will talk to every state government on issues regarding implementation of the RTE Act from April 1." he said.

All these claims look very impressive on paper. But one wonders if these are just that...claims.

The 10-point admission process for Delhi schools was a great way of putting an end to the vulgar exchange of wealth and power through school admissions but we all know how the elite schools still find ways to coin that 11th invisible point that matters most to them and least to the children. Mid-day meal has been a wonderful idea but a quick survey in the neighbouring MCD schools is enough to explain why even those poor hungry children reject the meals that are otherwise meant to lure them to school.

The ideas have been good. It is time to turn that small step into a giant leap to ensure that the implementation is visible and effective.