Rev. Dr. S.Ousepparampil, M.A., M.P.H., PhD.
Education is an important conduit of economic growth, social justice and social change. Its impact on other sectors like health is positive and substantial. Economists say an increase of one per cent in the government’s expenditure on education per person leads to a 0.11 per cent increase in per capita GDP,
Also, the world is going to face skill shortage in the coming decades because we are preparing graduates and not employable people in the field. By 2030, India should be able to produce surplus skilled manpower which can be used by other developing countries. India may be one of the youngest nations in the world. This is an opportunity for India, and therefore the most important facet is to empower the players in the field by giving autonomy to the institutions to grow and serve the student population and make higher education accessible, affordable and sustainable. Looking at national and international scenario, at present, there are about 723 universities and 35,000 colleges with enrolment of 2.5 crore students. Between 2000.01 and 2011-12, the number of colleges in India increased from 12.,806 to35,539 – an average of nearly six new colleges a day. Of course, the National Knowledge Commission recommended 1500 universities understanding the need of students.
Knowledge is individual. We must follow a multi-disciplinary approach that allows students to learn and seek knowledge holistically. It is necessary to develop in our students a scientific temper, which allows the flight of imagination beyond the realm of grades and classrooms. Promotion of research at the undergraduate level would assist such an objective and so again an autonomous status for more and more institutions will certainly enhance the performance of individual institutions.
The problems that confront education today are low rates of enrolment, unequal access, poor quality of infrastructure and lack of relevance (Thorat, Sukhadeo 2015). According to reliable estimates, only 10 per cent of the population aged between 22 and 35 years has access to higher education. The gender ratio too is skewed. Only 8.3 per cent of women attained higher education. For men, it is 12.6 per cent. In our north east these problems are keenly felt. And in post graduate scenario it is even more skewed up. We need to have totally different approach to make post graduate education accessible affordable and sustainable to our students in north east of whom majority cannot afford to get a seat outside north east.
Community Colleges
Educationists favour establishment of more and more community colleges. These are the colleges which provide skill based education, taking into account the needs of the local community and industry. They are guided and monitored by local community and industry.
Community colleges will offer courses after secondary education and before degree level. The students have option to take skill based course. The students can join an industry for service, and later on can pursue higher education. Industry is given an opportunity to design the course contents and training. The community colleges can also run short-term courses for students who do not require any formal qualification (Sharma, Annand 2013:p.26).
These colleges have a several advantages which include affordable cost, focus on skills, small class sizes, use of latest technologies and the local feel (Aditya 2013: p.24) But the fact is that there are no takers in the north east for community colleges. If the already enrolled students were allowed to enrol also in community colleges at least for a defined period and this situation could have been different but UGC is not prepared for that experiment.
In India, the tilt towards privatization of higher education, particularly professional education, is discernible. This has serious implications. The cost of access to education for students is on the rise and so far we, in the north east, have not been able to do anything substantial in this field. We can at least allow the private players to open more opportunities for the students as it is crying need today.
India is known for churning the largest number of unemployable graduates in the world. The most viable factor of education is sustainability. This factor should be ingrained from the early stages of elementary education so that the student can turn to it from time to time to help him improve and advance in life. We have targeted graduation as the ultimate end of education and education is not for life bur for graduation. In one way or other higher education had reached a saturation point in India. Progression in higher education in developed countries has become a choice rather than climbing the ladder of status or employment. Another interesting observation would be that as higher education in developed nations was seen more of a calling or a vocation touching the very core of life. So if the choice for higher education did not come from an inner passion for it, then how can one produce papers and analytical studies of any depth or value?. The spark is often missing in many scholars and as they ascend the rungs of academia, profound insight is found lacking. This has led to a display of frustration and anguish, and a lot of cut and paste work, lacking in originality and quality. And it is in this context that it has become necessary to develop in our students a scientific temper, which allows the flight of imagination beyond the realm of grades and classrooms and this can only be achieved by allowing more players in the field and make the realm more competitive and viable in higher education.
In the twenty-first century no one can monopolise information. Therefore, the internet has provided access to limitless information to all. Students are expected to tap at this source for all their educational needs and also otherwise. The important factor that has to be looked into is that students can get information but can they gain knowledge and wisdom from the internet. IT revolution, cutting through the ridge of the 21st century, we could really understand that globalization is unstoppable and is going to impact the higher education as never before in its history. In fact the IT revolution in the 21st century has drastically changed the communication and information technology throwing up challenges to the existing order. The higher education in India,if it has to remain competitive, it has to implement international standard and aim for excellence with appropriate strategies. Globalization with its different facets has touched almost all aspects of human life. And every country in the world has faced a multitude of challenges in their developmental perspective. For globalization has deeply cut through national boarders opening new vistas for investments, production, innovations and even touching the family and human relationships and are becoming much more compressed views of space and time. Higher education has become much more central to the youth of today in bringing up cohesiveness and enabling them to cop up with the challenges of globalization, privatization and liberalization. It is high time that we empower the players in the field with an all-out support from the UGC and the universities especially in the context of north east.
Development of a society depends on the development of youth. So it become critical for any country to target the youth. In the age of rapid change and globalization it is the youth who can bring change to our society. They can look beyond the frontiers of national boarder and culture and imbibe values that are universal. The youth of India can build a dynamic India. Higher education is the most globalized sector and higher education has a pivotal function in the global knowledge system and it is important in developmental, cultural and communication segments. All of us certainly know that we need to move out from the fossilized cultural milieu and create a world where we can have a level playing ground for all and it is only the youth growing up in the globalized world can bring that change. We need to consider youth from the generational perspective as the stage of youth, in the life a person’s existence, is a period of transition, maturation, change and growth. It is also true that the youth want to abandon the old customs and manners of the society and want to develop new standard, cultural models, and enter into new society which is built by them. And we need new players in the field of higher education to bring out this change and growth.
At this juncture we certainly need to revamp the scope, content, and approach of our educational system and especially for higher education. We need to expand the scope, resilience, and especially the relevance of the streams of study that we offer in our higher educational institutions and reformat the content and approach of our system of higher education in our institutions for the students who are the one that matters. And we ourselves need to come to the realization that it is long overdue.
