The increasing number of students going abroad for studies clearly dents our claims that India has made impressive progress in the education sector.
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As the number of outbound students from India outnumbers inbound students by 25 times, it is high time for the country to reassess its education policy, apart from revamping the higher education system. This is a dangerous trend, as it is not only showing our education system in a bad light, but also affecting the country’s overall growth and its pursuit of self-reliance. The said trend, if it is allowed to continue, will badly damage our demography, making us unable to get the full dividend from it. In such a situation, the need of the hour is to find out what has gone wrong and adopt proper remedial measures with a view to plugging the loopholes without any further delay. The situation has become further alarming, as even top students who have cleared entrance examinations with flying colours are now opting for foreign universities, foregoing admission to the country’s premier educational institutions.
According to a report by NITI Aayog, prepared in association with IIT Madras, the Association of Indian Universities and Acumen, a global educational services firm, while India hosted 46,878 foreign students in 2021-22, nearly 12 lakh Indian students had taken admission to various foreign universities. The number of such students has reached 13.5 lakh as per the latest calculation. It may be noted here that the present situation is different from brain drain, through which India used to supply its best talent to various developed nations of the world. Indian engineers played an important role in rebuilding war-devastated Germany after the Second World War. Similarly, several other nations benefited from the presence of educated Indians in their countries.
The increasing number of students going abroad for studies clearly dents our claims that India has made impressive progress in the education sector by establishing a number of institutions for higher studies, including IITs, IIMs and medical colleges, since Independence. It is worrying that the situation is changing fast, as young Indian students are showing a preference for foreign universities rather than opting for our own IITs and IIMs. Many educationists feel that, to arrest the trend, the curriculum should be revised keeping in mind the changes that have taken place over the years since the 1940s. The same syllabus, prepared during the British Raj, has gone completely out of sync with present realities. This is why Indian universities should not only introduce new, innovative courses, but also make them more job-friendly. At the same time, the country should expand research facilities to strengthen its innovation ecosystem.
Efforts should therefore be made in right earnest to provide world-class education by ushering in modernity through new ideas and innovations. For this purpose, the allocation for the education sector should be increased further to provide world-class facilities to learners as well as researchers. It should be remembered that not a single Indian university figures in the list of the top 100 universities in the world. Thus, improving the standard of education should be our top priority, rather than opening the door for foreign universities to set up campuses in India.