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Privatisation of
higher education Parents
resent fee hike Campus
Notes n
Faculty members taken to task
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Privatisation of higher education The recent recommendation of opening 1,500 new universities in the country by the National Knowledge Commission has drawn attention of state governments. Punjab should certainly increase its level of only 8 per cent of students of age group of 18-23 years getting into higher education. Thus, well-planned expansion of higher education is necessary. However, probably with other priorities, there is little scope for financial support for this sector, which is clear that even the existing public sector institutions of higher learning are fund starved. This has probably led to the situation where privatisation has been found an alternative by the policy makers. However, there is lot to be considered as far as privatisation of education is concerned since ethical considerations are fundamental for quality education. The draft of “The Punjab Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Bill-2008” is at the final stage of becoming an Act through which the Punjab government aims to establish and incorporate self-financing private universities for bringing reforms in higher education. The proposed draft has been prepared by a high-level committee, which was set up by the government to prepare a blue print for establishment of private universities in the state. A careful study of the draft, available on the website of the Directorate of Education Department (Colleges), Punjab, reveals that there are several points which need consideration to prevent deterioration and bring qualitative improvement in the standards of higher education. Though a little better than the previous drafts, there is still a room for improvements to remove contradictions and introduce safeguards. The most important role of higher education in public interest is the production of knowledgeable, meritocratic society and intellect capital relevant to the growing needs and to excel in global competition through indigenously-created knowledge economy and intellectual culture. It is achievable only through dedication, commitment and selfless services offered for the noble cause which is evident from past experience that institutions backed by missionary zeal tremendously contributed in imparting quality education. It is of paramount importance to ascertain and fix a baseline for experience and expertise of the sponsoring body in education. Equally important is to critically evaluate the track record, credibility and motive of the promoters to eliminate, as much as possible, the commercial interest involved in this venture. The promoter must have at least 10 years of experience with proven credibility in management and promotion of higher education. The system of admission of students to various courses in the proposed universities under the expected Act is rather a sensitive issue. To avoid compensation of low merit with capitation fee, it would be important to impose a uniform admission system for state as well as private universities. Extracurricular activities and sports are integral part of education. It is correctly provided that the sponsoring body has to define playground facilities available or to be created. Whereas, it is contradictory with the condition of having a minimum of 35 acres of land only for such a university. How playgrounds and other such facilities are possible to be created in such a meagre area of 35 acres of land. Hence, at least 250 acres of land should be the minimum limit for the establishment of a university. Similarly, endowment fund should not be less than Rs 100 crore for a humble beginning. There should be no provision of taking over of any such university by the government in the event of its closure. It can be misused as a tool for turning ashes into gold through closure of the university and selling the land at high price. The proposal also lacks assurance by the sponsoring body to adhere to the policy matters framed by the government from time to time. Efficient delivery system, classroom teaching and teacher-taught interaction have no substitute. Therefore, the proposed Act should check the required student/teacher ratio, which was highly imbalanced in many previous private universities. It is worth consideration that the field of studies of the proposed universities should not adversely affect the interests of existing state universities. Further, the vision behind opening up an arena for players with commercial interest is not free of apprehensions. The question is: Will privatisation help achieve the objectives of higher education? Will it reduce or promote knowledge dwarfism? There is fear that later may prevail unless strict code and regular accreditation are imposed. It is evident that the privatisation of primary and secondary education has already created a divide in society. The present pathetic condition of government schools, particularly in rural areas, is known to everyone. One can rarely find teachers serving in such schools and opting for these schools for their wards. Similarly, the fear looms large that the problems of existing state-funded institutions of higher learning, which are already fighting financial crunch, may not multiply and the changed situation may not push them to meet the fate of the government schools as the large-scale exodus of intelligentsia as well as dent in intake is expected with overlapping of catchments areas. It should be clear that the social returns expected by higher education are not quickly obvious or quantifiable. Thus, we need to develop a vibrant system under a sustainable and sound education policy. Public funding has an advantage to maintain quality in higher education through various pressure groups, whereas there is no scope for such mediation or intervention under privatisation. It is a well-known fact that privatisation and commercialisation are inseparable. Social culture, vision or altruistic mission cannot be expected from market players. Seeing “globalise knowledge” as “tradable commodity” and offering large market to such players and converting higher education into “Super Bazar Education” can be detrimental in many ways. If at all there is any compulsion to share financial responsibilities, go slow and be highly judicious in selecting the sponsor. At least, there can be limit on the opening up of private universities per year in the state which will help in getting experience and making experience-based corrections. The writer is Director of Research,Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
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Parents resent fee hike THE hefty fee hike in the public schools affiliated with the CBSE in Ludhiana has generated a lot of anger and resentment among the parents who are now resorting to agitation. Tuition fee and admission fee have been raised by the unaided public schools, which are run by private educational organisations or individuals on the pretext of implementing the recommendations of the sixth pay commission. The hike in tuition fee and other charges has put a lot of financial burden on the parents in the wake of the global meltdown that has caused economic slowdown in the country, too. Ludhiana being the industrial hub of Punjab has attracted all the major educational organisations of the country to set up their branches. The city has schools like Delhi Public School (DPS), DAV Public School, Goenka School, Ryan International, besides Sacred Heart Convent School and the schools run by various industrial houses. These schools can be categorised as elite schools which cater to the upper and the middle classes. Various parents’ associations have alleged that besides making unprecedented hike in the tuition fee and the admission charges at the time of fresh admission, the school managements have started fleecing the students by making supply of books, stationery, school uniforms and other accessories. R. S. Patial, principal, DAV Public School, said they had raised the tuition fee by Rs 320 and Rs 200 per month for the Classes V to XII from this academic session. He said the annual expenditure of Rs 16.5 lakh would be added with the implementation of fresh admission guidelines while they would be realising Rs 9.5 lakh with the fee hike only. He said they were implementing the pay scales as recommended by the sixth pay commission. Col D. B. Sharma (retired), director, Sat Paul Mittal School, which is affiliated with ICSE, also claimed that they were providing quality education and would not admit more than 25 students in a class. A parent of a nursery class student who got admission in DPS from this academic session disclosed that they had paid Rs 55,500 at the time of admission which includes infrastructure development charges. Besides, they would be paying Rs 2,900 per month as tuition fee, including Rs 800 per month for shoes and uniform to be bought from a fixed shop. Ludhiana has about two dozen CBSE-affiliated schools. Some schools have even witnessed agitation by the parents during the past one month. The Parents also allege that some school managements are acting in a dictatorial manner and have resorted to issue school leaving certificates in an arbitrary manner. The parents allege that the school managements are exploiting their helplessness as they want to give good education to their wards for better future. There is a general perception that the government schools are not imparting good education and thus the situation is exploited by the private managements. Some parents’ associations have approached the local administration against the fee hike and other charges. The Deputy Commissioner has asked the Additional Deputy Commissioner to look into the matter. Senior educationists feel that the state government should come out with a regulatory authority to check the fleecing of the parents and prevent commercialisation of education.
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Campus Notes The recent five-day long agitation by the Central Students Association (CSA) has left many questions unanswered. The main issue, as the CSA had portrayed it, was the provision to give one more chance to the first-year undergraduate failed students to register for courses. Though the refusal of the university authorities to do so was strictly as per the Fourth Deans' Committee Report, the succour was provided to the students as not just a one-time relaxation but for the future as well. While the students had contended that the provision, which was introduced for the first time, had caught them unaware, but it is worth mentioning that the committee had made this recommendation so as to bring about uniformity among all state agricultural universities in the country. No doubt the grant of one more chance would help the weaker students, however, whether the relaxation should continue has become a debate among the faculty who opined that it would adversely impact the academic standards.
Faculty members
taken to task
While convening a meeting of the heads of departments, faculty members and statutory officers, Vice-Chancellor K. R. Dhiman sent a strong message to the faculty to come up with innovative ideas to boost research-oriented activities. Terming the 23-year-old university as one lacking in outstanding research, the Vice-Chancellor said it was unfortunate that the university had no achievement to boast of and he had to cut a sorry figure in front of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar who was keen to visit the university. As a measure to instil work culture, which he described as being abjectly missing in the faculty, he directed them to regularly visit the library where the librarian would mark their attendance. He said little was being done towards research and there was little utility of the well-stocked library and Internet facilities. He also took the faculty to task for not marking regular attendance of students and directed them to mark them on the board till the mid-term examinations commenced. A strong message was also sent to the faculty members to shun complacent attitude and be prepared to serve in far-off university stations if their work was found unsatisfactory. Being the first such grilling session, the staff were left stunned at the sudden outburst and the abrupt culmination of the meeting which lasted nearly half-an-hour.
Placement cell
Though the university boasts of being the only one of its kind in Asia, the near-defunct placement cell has failed to live up to its expectations. The Vice-Chancellor, however, promised to make it more effective by transferring more staff so that the students could find good placements after completion of their courses. The demand was also vociferously aired by the agitating CSA.
Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak The Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) of Maharshi Dayanand University has revised the schedule of admission to information technology and management courses for the 2009 session. Admission to these courses without late fee can be sought up to April 10, while admission with a late fee of Rs 500 from April 11 to April 30, Dr N.K. Garg, director, DDE, said. Thereafter, admission with a late fee of Rs 1,000 will be entertained between May 1 and May 31, he added. — Contributed by Ambika Sharma and
Bijendra Ahlawat
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THE concept of privatisation is not new, but it has got impetus since it is central to the process of globalisation under the WTO regime. Higher education has a pivotal role to play in development and economy of the country.