RTE UPHELD BY THE SUPREME COURT

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Editor

In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of the Right to Education Act.

One of the key element of this Act is the provision of 25 per cent of seats in schools to under-privileged schools. There is only one exception to this. It does not apply to minority unaided schools. Also, Kapil Sibal has recently been quoted as saying that the government will bring in an amendment to exclude vedicpatshalas and madarasas from this provision.

So, what happens to unaided private schools?

There is no exception. Prestigious schools like Doons or Cathedral School in Mumbai will have to start making a provision to accommodate 25 per cent students from the under privileged. Fees of these students will be paid by the government, which will obviously be much lower than the normal fees. Hence, the balance 75 per cent will have to bear an additional burden.

However, the more important issue will be relating to the social integration of these students. It is the “mother” of all challenges for schools and there are no easy answers to this problem.

Click here for more information on this act :THE RIGHT OF CHILDREN TO FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION ACT, 2009

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Common Engineering Entrance

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Editor

Want to study engineering in India? Brace yourself for a multitude of entrance exams.
Come 2012, this multiplicity of exams will hopefully, be a thing of the past. Many countries, including the US, have a common entrance exam, which is accepted by all colleges.

India has a history of multiple exams, where IITs have an IITJEE exam only for their institutes. An entire industry of coaching classes has spawned around this entrance exam merely to teach a child “how to crack this exam”. Nearly 480,000 students appeared for IITJEE in 2011.

Then there is the AIEEE exams for all engineering colleges, where around 1m students appeared in 2011.
In 2012, hopefully, there will be convergence of all exams into a single engineering entrance exam. Hence, whether you want to join IIT, NIT, IIIT or a local engineering exam, you will need to appear for only one entrance exam. Sounds like “nirvana” — doesn’t it?

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HIGHER EDUCATION

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Editor
India has around 14.6 m students enrolled in higher education, making it the country with the third highest number of students behind USA and China. India also has 550 universities and around 31,000 colleges, making it one of the largest in terms of capacity.
Although annual enrolments in higher education have grown steadily at 6.3 per cent over the last decade, the GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) of 12.4 percent is way below the global average of 26%.
The Indian government has set a target of achieving a GER of 30% by 2020. However, even if GER touches the  global average of 26%, it would mean doubling of the number of students in higher education and concomitantly, doubling of capacity. In other words, India will need at least 500 more universities and 30,00 more colleges in the next 8 years.
Where will all this capacity addition come from?
Government is unable to invest such large sums of money and it will be up to the private sector to bridge this gap.

India has around 14.6 m students enrolled in higher education, making it the country with the third highest number of students behind USA and China. India also has 550 universities and around 31,000 colleges, making it one of the largest in terms of capacity.

Although annual enrolments in higher education have grown steadily at 6.3 per cent over the last decade, the GER (Gross Enrollment Ratio) of 12.4 percent is way below the global average of 26%.

The Indian government has set a target of achieving a GER of 30% by 2020. However, even if GER touches the  global average of 26%, it would mean doubling of the number of students in higher education and concomitantly, doubling of capacity. In other words, India will need at least 500 more universities and 30,00 more colleges in the next 8 years.

Where will all this capacity addition come from?

Government is unable to invest such large sums of money and it will be up to the private sector to bridge this gap.

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Teacher shortage

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Editor

In all the hype surrounding the opportunity in Education sector, an important (and probably, the most important) component has not received enough attention — teacher training!

There is tremendous shortage in the overall demand for teachers. At the primary level, there is a shortage of around 700,000 teachers, at secondary level 1.2 m teachers and at the higher education level, 300,000 This problem gets accentuated if you dig dipper and find out the demand for “good teachers”.

So, what can be done?

*    Salary for teachers really need a sharp upward revision. Unless this is done, teaching profession will not be the first choice for professionals. Teaching is a noble profession in India — but, that does not really help in attracting good talent, if it cannot lead to a decent standard of living for the teacher.

*  A massive increase in teacher training capacity is required. This would not mean just addition of more B.Ed colleges but also other training which will ensure that a teacher is able to provide quality teaching in a contemporary manner.

A teacher is central to the entire learning process of a student and it is high time we pay more attention to  addressing the problem of teacher shortage.

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Rising Spend On Education

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Editor

A recent survey done by NSSO reveals some interesting facts.

Between 1999 and 2009, expenditure on food increased by 70 % among rural families and 78% among urban families. However, spending on education increased by 378% in rural areas and 345% in urban areas. In terms of percentage of families spending on education, it has jumped to 63% in rural areas and 73% in urban areas.

Indian families realise that education is the stepping stone for a good quality of life to children. Every parent wants their children to improve their standard of living and enjoy a better lifestyle than what they have lived.

In this process, they are willing to spend a disproportionate amount of money on education of children. It is not uncommon for parents to spend their lifetime savings and also borrow money to fund education.

This will continue till a proper financing ecosystem is evolved in India where a student borrows money to fund his education and pays from his future earnings.

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International Students in US

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Editor

Recently, I read an interesting report on International education (Open Doors 2011). Some of the interesting points in the report are:

  • Total international student enrollment in the U.S. increased 5% in 2010/11 to a record high of 723,277 international students.
  • International students still comprise less than 4% of total U.S. higher education enrollment.
  • The three top places of origin for students into US higher education were — China 157,558  India 103,895  and South Korea 73,351
  • Engineering was the highest percentage (37%) of field of study for students from India
  • International students contributed over  $ 21.2 bn to the US economy in 2010.

These are some interesting statistics.

With the second largest contributor to foreign students in the US, India contributes a large number and rapid rise in aspirations as well increasing prosperity, this number is bound to increase in future.

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DISTANCE LEARNING

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Editor

A good education is seen as a stepping stone to a higher standard of living. However, many young people take up a job before they can complete their education. So, what is the option?

Distance education!

Just look at the data from Mumbai University’s Institute of Distance and Open Learning. Total enrollments have gone up to 72,666 in 2010-11 from 58,967 in 2006. Majority of those enrolling for these courses are between the age of 18 & 25 years.

This increase clearly shows that distance education is gaining popularity. These students could be the ones who have a job and want a degree to progress in their career or those who want to pursue a specific degree.

Distance education can never be a substitute for a full-time degree course in a college campus. However, it can provide a useful purpose of enhancing skills and improving job prospects.

With a large young population in India, distance education is likely to gain more popularity in the years to come.

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ROORKEE COLLEGE

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Editor

I recently came across some interesting historical trivia.

India has one of the oldest engineering colleges in the world. Roorkee College was started in 1847 and was soon renamed Thomson College, after its visionary founder. In 2001, it has morphed into Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.

Roorkee College was established to train civil engineers, when the term “civil engineers” was used to distinguish it from institutions for training military engineers.

Roorkee College was set up by the British administration as a response to the growing need for non-military engineers in India.

With such a strong legacy and history, I hope to see IIT, Roorkee in the top 200 Universities in the world.

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GLOBAL RANKINGS

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Editor

The latest QS World University Rankings 2011/12 have been released. This ranking is taken as the global standard for ranking unversities.

QS World Rankings considers over 2000 universities, evaluates over 700 universities in the world and ranks the top 400. The six key indicators which are considered for ranking are:

1. Academic reputation

2. Employer reputation

3. Citations per faculty

4. Faculty Student ratio

5. Proportion of International Students

6. Proportion of International Faculty

The top three universities are — University of Cambridge, Harvard University and MIT.

So, where do Indian universities figure in this list?

There are no Indian universities in the top 200. IIT Mumbai, which was ranked 187 last year is now ranked at 225.

In the Asian list, there are 11 Indian Universities, compared to 40 of China. Japan leads the pack with 57 universities.

These rankings lead to an interesting question — when will India have Universities of global scale and class?

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SHOULD PARENTS HAVE A SAY IN FIXING SCHOOL FEES?

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Editor

Well, if you are a parent in school in the State of Maharashtra (Mumbai being its capital), you will certainly have a say in the fees fixed by the school.

A new legislation — called Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act, 2011 has now provided that fees of private unaided schools should also be determined by the following process.

Fee to be charged by a school will be referred to a Parent-Teachers Association. If there is a 15% difference in the fee recommended by the school management and PTA, it will b referred to Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee who will adjudicate on the matter. Chairperson of the PTA will be the school principal and it will have one teacher and one parent from each class.

This Act gives detailed guidelines on composition of the PTA  — one member should be from the Backward community and 50 % of the members should be women  — and on the implementation of the various provisions of the Act.

Whilst the law may sound altruistic and with good intentions, it will add another control to schools. With each new control, the liberty available to schools to operate and focus on academic issues gets curtailed. Rather than increasing legislation on schools, the government should look at liberalising the existing laws.

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