Challenges in Indian Education Sector

Anubhav Singh,, ,

s

Assistant Professor,Faculty of Commerce and Management Rama University, Kanpur

inghanubhav05@gmail.com

Abstract

Keywords:

No doubt, Education has attained a key position in the knowledge society both at national and globallevel as well. Over the last two decades, India has remarkably transformed its higher educationlandscape. It has created widespread access to low-cost high-quality university education forstudents of all levels. With well-planned expansion and a student-centric learning-driven model ofeducation, India has not only bettered its enrolment numbers but has dramatically enhanced itslearning outcomes. A differentiated three-tiered university system – where each tier has a distinctstrategic objective – has enabled universities to build on their strengths and cater across differentcategories of educational needs. Further, with the effective use of technology, India has been able toresolve the longstanding tension between excellence and equity. India has also undertaken large-scale reforms to better faculty-student ratios by making teaching an attractive career path, expandingcapacity for doctoral students at research universities and delinking educational qualifications fromteaching eligibility. However, the challenges faced are immense and far-reaching. This paper focuson to identify the key challenges like demand-supply gap, quality education, research anddevelopment, faculty shortage etc. in India's education sector.

Higher Education, Quality Education, Untrained Faculty, Technology, UGC

IntroductionIn India, education sector is one of the developing sector as if offers a huge untapped market

in regulated and non-regulated segments due to low literacy rate, high concentration in urban areaand growing per capita income.Higher education is assuming an upward significance for developingcountries, especially countries including India which is experiencing service-led growth. Highereducation is all about generating knowledge encourage critical thinking and imparting skillsrelevant to society and determined by its needs. Education general and higher education inparticular, is a highly nation-specific activity, determined by national culture and priorities. Thegrowth of India's higher educational institutions has indeed been outstandingly rapid should formthe four guiding principles, while planning for There will be four guiding principles i.e. access,equity, accountability and quality which should consider while planning for higher educationdevelopment in India in the twenty-first century.Demand – supply gap. Indian society puts a premium on knowledge and its acquisition -spending oneducation has figured as the single largest outlay fora middle class household after food andgroceries. With itsrapidly expanding middle class, India's private expenditure on education is set toincrease manifold.

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ISSN NO: 2395-0749 Anubhav Singh, 2015

To reduce the demand supply gap in school education, it has been proposed in the 12th FYP (2012-17) to set up 6,000 schools at block level as model schools to benchmark excellence. Of these, 2500will be set up under Public Private Partnership. Further, easy availability of education loans tostudents it has been proposed in Budget 2012-13 to set up a Credit Guarantee Fund for this purpose.Quality education: Indian education system, particularly public sector, has delivered with apparentdichotomy – islands of excellence (IIT and IIM) on one hand, and high proportion of below parinstitutions on the other. While there has been a remarkable improvement in indicators such as a)number of schools/colleges, b) enrolment ratios, c) dropout rates, and d) literacy rates, India needs tograpple with the problem of educated but unemployable youth.Excessive regulation results in poor quality education: Excessive government regulation has stifledparticipation of private sector in education. The ” and the “ ” results in a)lower participation of private sector, and b) wrong selection of entrepreneurs, resulting in pooreducation quality even within the private sector.Lack of trained faculties: Faculty shortages and the inability of the state educational system to attractand retain well-qualified teachers have been posing challenges to quality education for many years.The quality of teaching is also often poor and there are constraints faced in training the faculty

Many colleges anduniversities were started inIndia for removing regional imbalances and for supportingeducation ofweaker and disadvantaged classes, particularlyof women. These institutions and otherdevelopmental programs for weaker classes are still facing resource constraints, which are furtheraggravated by ignorance, poverty and disadvantages of the people they serve. This is resulting inwidening divides and in keeping many educated from weaker and disadvantages sections outside thejob and employment markets. The challenge of these marginalized and deprived to the system ofeducation is enormous.

The unit cost of traditional education, particularly of professionaleducation, is quite high and has gone out of reach of the Indian middle and lower classes. Manyprivate entrepreneurs have started educational institutions for offering creamy courses withmarketing approach; and have raised fees not affordable to majority. Subsidy to the education by thestate is not the right solution in the present situation, when numbers aspiring for higher education islarge and ever increasing. The deprived are already creating pressure on the state to make educationaccessible; and have raised an issue of socioeconomic equity and justice.

Education under the Indian Constitution ison the concurrent list, which makes it both a Central and a State subject. Over the years, lack ofcommunication and co-ordination between the two spheres of authority has resulted in creation ofmultiple regulators in this sector. The complexity is further compounded due to a number of onerousregulations governing investment in this sector.

“not for profit trust structure

Developmental disparities and unsolved Indian problems:

High cost of higher education:

Multiple regulators and onerous regulations:

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Primary Education

Family Economics

Higher Education

Privatization

Primary school enrollment in the 6-14 age range is over 96% in rural India (ASER report,2012) but dropout rates are persistently high.Access to education has become less of an issue; rather,the question remains whether school attendance equates learning. The supplementary educationindustry, including non-profit reading centers or private tuition classes, is burgeoning but mostchildren today still face two significant challenges to their education:Quality of Public Education The reading level of more than half of fifth graders in rural governmentprimary schools is three grades behind. Most regions in India also show a drop in basic arithmeticskills. Outdated curricula, inadequate teacher training, and poor infrastructure are to blame here, asmany schools are underfunded. Even an appropriate language of instruction can be unattainable; insome areas, it is difficult to find trained teachers who teach in either English, which is becoming thepreferred medium of instruction across the country, or other officially recognized languages. Forthese reasons, many consider quality of education to be a serious concern.

Though India has made huge economic strides, over one-third of the population still livesbelow the poverty line. As a result, children face challenges such as malnutrition, lack of schoolsupplies, pressure to earn an income, or even arduous daily commutes.Afamily's economic stabilityis the primary driver for successful school attendance, and those who can afford to send theirchildren to private school are able to avoid many of the problems present in public schools. Furtherinvestments to improve education are critical if India wants to sustain its economic growth andensure that its young workforce is employable. Interventions in curriculum development andstandardization, improved infrastructure, and teacher trainings are necessary in order to improveboth the quality of teaching and learning and reduce dropout rates

Enrollment rates for higher education in India still lag far behind that in other countries,including China, even though India has the world's largest number of higher education institutions,with nearly one-third of these institutions being less than ten years old. Despite this, India does nothave many world-class universities; only the Indian Institutes of technology consistently make itinto the Times Higher Education University Rankings of the 400 top universities and colleges.Further, employers state that less than a quarter of engineers and MBA graduates in India areemployable after graduation The major challenges facing India in the higher education sector are alack of trained faculty; underfunded research facilities, libraries, and information technologysystems; low quality research; and politicization of staffing appointments. In addition, there arewidespread regional, rural-urban, and gender disparities in student enrollment. In the past few years,India has announced several initiatives to address these issues, such as:

Currently, private educational institutions are required to be non-profit entities. The

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government is considering broadening the presence of for-profit institutions in areas where there is ashortage of higher education options and easing regulations for private players.As of Mar'15 privateinstitutions accounted for 73% of the total number of educational institutions, and 65% ofenrollment, an increase of 48% and 79% respectively from just a decade ago.

The over-arching issues affecting each strata of education in India are quality and relevance.India faces immense challenges in meeting the demands of a growing and young workforce. Qualityteachers, relevant curriculum, financial aid for students, and adequate facilities are some of the needsthat India's education sector faces. Additional challenges include the inability to meet the diverselinguistic, cultural, regional and local education needs of such a large country. Donors shouldconsider the growing opportunities, social returns, and local contexts as they make theirphilanthropic investment decisions.Recent developments in Indian regulations have made this aparticularly opportune time for corporations to contribute to the development of India's educationsystem.Anew CSR law in India will require particular companies to invest 2% of their earnings intoCSR mandated programs .Individual donors have always played a major role in the education sectorand can continue to support its growth by investing in pilot projects bringing aboutpositive and significant changes. There is enormous opportunity for creating high impact in the areaof education and, through thoughtful investments, both the public and private sectors can play apivotal role.

ASER Centre. “Annual status of education report (rural) 2012,” January 2013.Chamber of Commerce, 2010.Ernst & Young, FICCI, and Planning Commission of India. “Higher education in india: twelfth fiveyear plan (2012-2017) and beyond,” November 2012.Ernst & Young. “KNOWLEDGE PAPER ON SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA: LEARNERFIRST,” September 2012.

International Labour Organisation. “Labour market performance and the challenges of creatingemployment in india,” June 2011.N.Somashekar And Vinodh Kumar G.C. (2012)Globalization and Its Dimensions of EducationInequalities: With Special Reference to Karnataka accessed on January 20, 2013

Nilekani, Nandan. Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation, Penguin India, November 2008.PWC report on “Emerging opportunities for private and foreign participation in higher education”Indo-USPWC report on, “Redefining Higher Education for Inclusive Development in Eastern India”, IndianReports ofAICTE, Planning Commission & Ministry of HRD,Government of IndiaSummit on higher education 2010.The economist. “india's demographic challenge: wasting time,” may 2013.Times higher education. “world university rankings 2012-2013,” 2013.

Conclusion

Reference:

http://www.ugc.ac.in/page/Other-Publications.aspx

http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol4-issue6/B0461117.pdf

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University grants commissionYee, amy. “filling india's huge need for vocational training,” the new york times, june 2013.

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