Page 53 - Education World November 2022

democracies. Although seemingly for- On August 17, the Union educa- Whether this initiative which fore-
gotten, Mahatma Gandhi’s advocacy tion ministry issued a formal direc- tells heavy bureaucratisation and
of the trusteeship model under which tive to all Central government-fund- documentation, will enable Central
the wealthy minority should hold their ed universities to initiate fundraising universities to reduce their depen-
wealth in trust for the benefit of the programmes “for the purpose of dency on government funding is a
poor, has permeated the collective mobilizing donations, funds and con- moot point. However, it’s importance
sub-conscious of Indian society. This tributions from well-wishers, alumni, is that it has granted official approval
is evidenced by the large and growing philanthropists and industries ( sic) and conferred the halo of respectabil-
number of private schools and univer- for the development of students facul- ity on institutional fundraising and
sities supported and funded by alumni ties and institutions”. In the circular, financial independence.
and corporates which have matured the ministry has directed that all 85 Clearly, powerful new winds of
into top-ranked institutions. Central universities countrywide con- change are blowing through the
However for private philanthropy stitute seven-member CUEF (Central country’s moribund education sec-
in education to take off in a big way, University Endowment Fund) com- tor. The wide gap separating Indian
institutional managements and lead- mittees comprising the vice chancel- industry from the academy may well
ers have to learn to inspire a larger lor, a finance officer, two professors be bridged by private philanthropy.
number of wealthy citizens to fund from separate departments and three Providentially, there is rising aware-
them by building donor confidence donors nominated by the executive ness within all the great estates of the
through credible accountability sys- council to govern their endowment republic — parliament, government,
tems and processes. The good news is corpuses. Significantly, the notifica- the judiciary, media, India Inc and
that awareness of the importance of tion adds that “a reasonable percent- the rapidly expanding middle class
professionally managed fundraising age of the fund, not exceeding 50 — that education, aka human capital
and accountability to donors is begin- percent, may be spent annually with development, is the necessary pre-
ning to permeate the corridors of the a view to maintain a good corpus for condition of wealth generation and
.
Central and state governments. the future”. national development

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NOVEMBER 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 53