One of the most important issues facing parents is the education of their children. The state of education in India has led to despair and in some cases, destitution.

The education at university level is based on extreme competition and a gruelling selection process. A whole industry has grown out of this eco system, and it needs a closer examination. One of the most daunting aspects is the payment of capitation fees to private higher education institutions, the so-called management quotas and the reservation system based on caste. We believe that some fundamental issues have to be tackled urgently. .

The establishment of private colleges and universities has indeed increased capacity in the sector, but at what cost? Most of these institutions are registered as charities and pay no tax. However, they also seem to be able to collect management fees and allocate seats on management quotas. This dichotomy needs to be addressed.

Make audit mandatory

In the first instance, there should be strict rules regarding allocation of management quota seats in the study of medicine and engineering. These are areas where there is a vested public interest: doctors are licensed to practise and at some level engineers build things that the general public consumes or utilises. The risks and costs associated with non-deserving students practising these professions and endangering the lives of the public under authority is tantamount to culpable manslaughter on behalf of the government.

CAPITATION FEES

It is fair that institutions registered as charities need not pay tax; however, the caveat is that they should be indeed be charities and not profit-making institutions. In the current system, educational institutions are registered as charities, and yet actively seek and in some cases flagrantly demand capitation fees for admission (in cash, of course).

The payment of such fees, though illegal, cannot be stopped immediately, so instead we ask that the accounts of education institutions be audited as per the requirements of the Companies Act, and that such accounts be filed mandatorily annually.

Further, all revenue and surplus generated must be exclusively used for the institution and no funds must be disbursed for any other purpose, unless prior government sanction is gained and this information is made available to both the students of the institutions, their guardians and the public at large. If the surplus of the institution is not used within three years of it first being generated, then the same should be taxed by the government or returned proportionately to the contributors. What is the use of charitable institutions collecting money for “charity” if it is not used expediently?

We both were at university when the findings of the Mandal Commission were adopted and reservation was mandated across the nation. It has been nearly 25 years, a generation, and yet the statute remains on the books, is extended, and used as a political tool with the customary disruptions and accusations that such extension entails.

We believe it is time to make reservation needs-based and create an enlightened admission policy that awards points to students of schools from disadvantaged areas, irrespective of their caste. The usage of caste as an identity and as a means of social change has run its course. In this millennium, India and Indians must forge their identity on the individual merits of achievement and ability, not on an accident of birth.

Foreign Universities

The latest trend in education is the setting up of foreign universities with Indian partners within India. This raises some interesting questions regarding not only the rationale but also the politics of the policy.

Foreign universities do not set up outposts in other countries out of altruistic motives or on the basis of universal education. They are driven by profit and economies of scale. The student travelling abroad experiences a new country and culture and gains invaluable education outside the classroom, which cannot be replicated within India.

However, the notion that being issued a certificate from a foreign university makes the student more marketable to employers or intellectually more mature is ridiculous at best and racist at worst.

It is also interesting to note that foreign governments, on behalf of their universities, want India to change the investment policy on education; at the same time, they are tightening the policy on student visas to their country. Greed, to paraphrase Gordon Gekko, is legal, but has hypocrisy been added as a requirement too?

The changes that India needs have to come from within, they cannot come from abroad or from private investors/institutions.

There has to be stricter enforcement of new university registrations, the collection of fees, the focus on creating a nationwide 12th standard exam and the reduction in the number of entrance exams. The citizens must demand more from their institutions and themselves.

Population statistics show that India has the largest youth population in the world. We will fail them and ourselves if we let things go on as usual. Education is claimed to be great equaliser of society and it is a privilege not for the privileged.

Manghat is an academic in the UK and Balasubramaniam is an independent consultant in India.

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