Page 32 - EW November 2024

ANNIVERSARY ESSAY

Educational delusions

endangering Viksit Bharat goal

PRATAP BHANU MEHTA

T IS A TRAGIC FACT ABOUT INDIA THAT education India's only saving grace is that despite
still remains the Achilles heel of its development
aspirations. On surface, India’s human capital story has institutional dysfunction, Indians are
Iimproved in recent times: net enrollment in school, on self-learning and have got us to the point
paper, is close to 100 percent. There is rapid expansion of
tertiary and higher education. The gender gap in primary where human capital deficiences are less
education has closed and is closing fast in tertiary and pronounced
higher education. India is slowly improving in science
citation indices.
In many states, there is now more political concern has yielded some examples of success, like Apple assembly
for the quality of education. Delhi was the first state in lines in India. But these are too few and far between.
India to try and construct a mass political base around Third, the state of public higher education remains
improving public schools. The demand for education, and dismal and is likely regressing. Some science institutions
self-driven enthusiasm of Indian students seems to make are doing better. But the overall scene remains dismal in
lack of human capital less of a binding constraint for India’s three ways. First, we are now seeing cuts in public higher
development and its 2047 Viksit Bharat goals. Despite these education in India in real terms; the last budget slashed
achievements, India’s development prospects are likely to the UGC’s funding. This is utterly myopic since a strong
remain deeply vulnerable to its patchy education system. public higher education system is absolutely necessary for
Here are some worrying signs. First of all, there is no achieving our centenary goals. In its absence we will get
objective measure of how well our education system is more educational inequality.
doing. There are government assessment reports, NGOs Second, the misallocation of degree structures continues.
like Pratham have been at the forefront of testing learning Sixty percent of Indian students are still enrolled in arts,
outcomes. But there is no reliable measure that allows us humanities and commerce streams. This is not because
to confidently say that our learning outcomes are at least we love the liberal arts. It is because in our system these
as good, if not better than our competitors. In fact, even if degrees are, except at a few institutions, “we don’t have to
we are doing tolerably well in learning outcomes, we won’t teach and you don’t have to learn” degrees. They are degree
be able to project our quality of human capital to the world. granting on the cheap rather than providing real education.
In some ways the focus of our new education policy should And finally, the suppression of academic freedom, the
be on basics. India, for example, should be a mathematics ideological vetting of appointments in Central universities
powerhouse. This powers almost all disciplines now. like Delhi University, the conversion of universities into
Unfortunately we are not doing great in identifying and largely examination rackets like CUET means that the
retaining the top one percent talent pool, nor is India doing pedagogic purposes of universities will not be met.
well in general math education. The private university space will not fill this gap. After
Second, there is a bizarre view in India right now that some green shoots like Ashoka and Krea, the private
somehow manufacturing requires lower quality human university revolution is also stalling, not in terms of new
capital than services. Therefore, a turn to manufacturing institutions coming up, but in terms of their ability to push
through industrial policy will create millions of jobs at the India’s quality curve upward. India should have had at
lower end of the human capital scale. This assumption is least two dozen exemplary private world class universities
deeply fallacious. Modern manufacturing, where it deploys by now. The fact that Jio was granted tag of Institution of
labour, requires increasingly high-quality human capital. It Eminence and yet years after that tag, has still not taken
is not clear whether India has managed the two transitions off, tells two things. It exposes how broken is India’s
necessary for structural transformation of the economy: regulatory system. It also tells that India’s Gilded Age which
from low productivity agriculture to other sectors, and has produced unprecedented billionaire wealth, is simply
from low productivity to higher productivity jobs. This is not translating, via philanthropy, into higher education
reflected in the fact that for the past decade or so there has excellence on the scale that is warranted.
been more or less stagnation in rural wages. Even more India’s only saving grace is that despite institutional
alarmingly, stagnation in wages for much of the wage dysfunction, Indians are self-learning and have got us
and self-employed class that lies below the 8-10 percent to the point where human capital deficiencies are less
in income distribution. How much of this is a product of pronounced. But this is not going to compensate for the
human capital deficiencies and how much a consequence delusions that are being served in the name of education.
of other economic weakness is an open question. Yet there
is no doubt that the structural transformation to high (Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta is former President, Centre for Policy Research,
productivity economy is not happening. Industrial policy Delhi and a renowned public intellectual)

32 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2024