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Education - Can India Compete with China?
By Indra
July 9, 2008 |
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"Universities
in China are coming up faster than hotels in
Dubai," Watson Wyatt says. By 2010, 23 million
students will be attending Chinese universities,
one million of whom will be highly skilled
graduate students. Even Nandan Nilekani of
Infosys says, “Having just a few Indian
Institutes of Technology or Indian Institutes of
Management is no panacea. You need to have
hundreds of them, like they have in China.” How
is India in comparison to China? What all are
happening in the education sector?
When I travel by road, I see a large number of
professional colleges that have come up in last
few years. Every Monday, I find a special
pullout on education in the national newspapers
full with features, full-page ads, and career
planning. As a routine, Outlook, Business Today,
India Today, Business World and some more come
out with surveys and rankings of colleges of all
over the country at this time of the year. It
all says, education sector is booming and
people, parents and young generation are eager
to know more about the institutions. Private
entrepreneurs have invaded the sector. I don’t
know how many of the entrepreneurs, particularly
the petty ones are genuinely interested in
imparting education. As I know from a nearer
distance, many don’t have any remote interest in
it. The other day, I came across an ad of a
so-called Institute of Space Science and
Technology at Naiad offering career degrees of
graduate and postgraduate level in Avionics,
Space Science and Aerospace. I doubt, if the
institute can do justice with the students it
would admit. I wish the educationists and senior
teachers could become the entrepreneurs.
However, the big houses such as Ambani, Vedanta
and many are also setting up institutes of
professional education and also universities.
Some unique projects such as Nalanda University
are being pursued. India has become a hot
destination for the heads of foreign
universities and educational institutes too.
Many collaborations of different kind from
exchange programmes to joint researches are
underway, though the politicians have not agreed
to allow setting up of educational institutes by
foreign countries. Perhaps India is now moving
from the darkness of illiteracy to the
brightness of knowledge.
Looking in some statistics, the education in
India has come a long way. Here are some data:
1. The government plans to set up 30 new central
universities, seven IITs and IIMs, 10 National
Institutes of Technology, five research
institutes to be called Indian Institutes of
Science, Education and Research, 20 IIITs, two
schools of architecture and 330 colleges in
educationally backward districts. India wishes
to attract 15% of students passing out of class
XII (from the current 10%) into higher education
by 2012, and 22% by 2017. Haryana plans to have
1,00,000 engineers graduated every year. Andhra
Pradesh is further adding into its already
excessive number of engineering colleges.
2. India has at present 400 universities in the
country, up from 240 in 2006. National Knowledge
Commission recommended 1500 universities for
India.
3. The number of private universities has risen
from seven in 2006 to over 50 at present. At the
end of the 10th Plan, of the total 101 deemed
universities - 63 were private universities.
4. Of 17,625 colleges in the country in 2006 -
7,650 were unaided colleges and 5,750 were
private-aided (private colleges receiving
government grants).
5. Of 104 lakh students in higher education,
over 67 lakh were enrolled in private
institutions.
6. The number of engineering colleges rose to
1,478 in 2006 from 669 in 1999-2000 with an
estimated 88% as private. In the same period,
pharmacy institutions grew from 204 to 629 and
the private sector was responsible for 94% of
it. In management education, private players
enjoyed a share of 64%.
7. In the period between 2000-2006, the overall
share of the private sector in the growth of
professional higher education institutions was
78%, while the professional education sector
itself witnessed a 167% growth.
Looking at the enrolment, it has increased
tremendously over the year for all levels of
education, though still far behind the developed
countries.
School Education: The number of students
enrolled in elementary education (classes 1 to
8) is now estimated at over 13 crore, about
seven times more. It was about 1.9 crore in
1951. For classes 9 to 12, the enrollment has
increased from about 15 lakh in 1951 to over 3.7
crore, an over 25-fold increase.
Higher education: In higher education, there has
been a 70-fold increase in enrollment. In 1951
there were only 1.7 lakh students pursuing
education beyond class 12. Now the number is
touching 1.2 crore.
India’s education system has two drawbacks.
While the country must aim to attain universal
education for all Indians, the education sector
must improve its quality and create
socio-economic conditions so that the number of
dropouts is reduced. While quality of education
will improve employability, the reduction in
dropouts will mean better availability even with
the present facilities.
Can one day at least 5 crores of those joining
the school will have higher education before
starting a career for living? Can one day the
recruiters from inside the country or abroad
certify the quality by declaring at least 70%
students out of the higher educational
institutes as employable?
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Comments: |
A very
well written article on education by
Indra. But there is also a need to
emphasize on the medium of
instruction.
Indeed we need English language to
communicate at the global level yet
we as Indians need to have ONE
language for education. While in
Germany and Sweden during my
lectures I learnt they are proud of
their language and do not feel shy
in not knowing too much English. In
India, people who do not know much
English feel inferior. Also, our
thought process works in our
mothertongue and our writing skill
is judged on a foreign language and
thereby we fail to communicate from
the core of the heart. To quote
Mahatma Gandhi, "English is a
language of international
commerce... contains many a rich
treasure... the highest development
of the Indian mind must be possible
without a knowledge of English....
English has usurped the dearest
place in our hearts and dethroned
our mother tongue". - Nisha Bala
Tyagi - July 11, 2008 |
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