Page 51 - EW July 2024

2020 commitments, including freeing
universities from GST and other tax
burdens.
“ THIRD THE NATIONAL steer-

ing committee proposed
above should deliberate
on ways and means to ease
governance in higher educa-
tion. Moreover in light of the recent
NEET-UG scandal, the entrance ex-
ams system should be reimagined
to build trust, credibility, efficiency,
transparency and accountability. And
last, but not least, Institutions of Emi-
nence certified by government should
be granted full autonomy, freedom
from all regulations to enable them Dr. Raj Kumar (centre): 5-point priorities prescription
to evolve into truly world-class insti-
tutions. These are priority initiatives is among the highest worldwide. “This 2023-24-260-million-children-short-
Pradhan should urgently undertake to is doing deep damage. For the sake of changed-again/) and forwarded to the
realise Prime Minister Modi’s dream the country, we must not hide behind minister who has never acknowledged
of a Viksit Bharat and $30 trillion GDP slogans, must put politics aside and it. Neither has he responded despite
by year 2047,” says Dr. (Prof.) C. take corrective measures,” he tweeted. repeated requests to an innocuous
Raj Kumar, the polymath (alum of Basu is right to be alarmed. An questionnaire (see box) forwarded to
Delhi, Oxford, Harvard universities) estimated 10 million youth with his office well before this feature was
Founding Vice Chancellor of the top- weak foundational ECCE and school written.
ranked O.P. Jindal Global University, learning are streaming out of higher This communication deficit which
Sonipat (estb. 2009), ranked among education institutions countrywide, has been a conspicuous feature of
the global Top 1,000 universities by equipped with paper certificates reck- Pradhan’s first four-year term in of-
QS, the well-respected London-based lessly issued by the country’s 45,000 fice needs to be remedied. It’s high
universities rankings agency. colleges and 1,026 universities. Most time the minister shed his indifference
Implicit in Prof. Raj Kumar’s pri- of them are not employable in jobs and contempt for the media and Edu-
orities prescription is that in his first commensurate with their qualifica- cationWorld (estb.1999) in particular.
four years in the education ministry, tions. As a result, the Indian econo- Over the past quarter century of unin-
Pradhan has not done enough to my illustrates the paradox of a huge terrupted publishing, this sui generis
translate the visionary NEP 2020 into shortage of sufficiently educated and human development publication has
ground zero initiatives. Therefore in skilled youth and unfilled and rising provided solutions — or seeds of solu-
his second innings in Shastri Bhavan, vacancies in India Inc because of mis- tions — for every problem plaguing In-
Pradhan has to exhibit greater dyna- alignment between the academy and dian education and the failed national
mism and courage than he did in his industry. human resource development effort.
first innings during which he prepared Therefore in his second innings It’s high time the Hon’ble minister
the ground for reforms. Over the past which has got off to a shaky start, and his advisers in Shastri Bhavan, ac-
four years, a consensus has emerged Pradhan needs to speak up forcefully knowledge that your editors are driven
within media and society that educa- in Union cabinet meetings for greater by the mission to “make education the
tion — especially public education — expenditure allocation for education # 1 item on the national agenda” and
has been on the back-burner for too which has to rise to 6 percent of GDP are not adversaries intent on embar-
long, resulting in a snowballing youth as recommended by the Kothari Com- rassing the minister or government.
unemployment problem. mission way back in 1966 and prom- To this end, we invite his cooperation
In an X (Twitter) post (May 29), ised in every BJP election manifesto. in our common cause to provide high
Dr. Kaushik Basu, former Chief A blueprint for mobilizing Rs.8 quality pre-school to Ph D education
Economic Advisor (CEA) to the Gov- lakh crore for investment in educa- to the world’s largest child and youth
ernment of India and currently with tion has repeatedly been provided population, to enable India to attain
the World Bank, warned that at 45.3 by your editors (see https://www. a place of honour and respect in the

percent, India’s youth unemployment educationworld.in/union-budget- comity of nations in the 21st century.
JULY 2024 EDUCATIONWORLD 51