Page 44 - EW November 2024

Cover Story

cal makeover. And the best option available to attain both
these objectives expeditiously is to roll out the red carpet
for the brightest and best foreign education providers ready
and willing to offer their superior campuses, contemporary
curriculums and smart pedagogies to India's eager-to-learn
student community. But for this win-win outcome, some
heavy ideological baggage in government as well as Indian
academia has to be jettisoned,” wrote your editors.
NB. Continuous advocacy by progressive academics and
media (including EducationWorld), resulted in the BJP/
NDA government, voted to power at the Centre in 2014, to
permit top-ranked, bona fide foreign universities to estab-
lish brick-n-mortar campuses in India in 2023.
EW India School Rankings. The inaugural EducationWorld
India’s School Rankings field-based survey rating and rank-
Anti-reservation protestors in Delhi ing 83 schools was published. Since then, this annual sur-
vey conducted by professional market research agencies has
reservation diktat would intensify competition for admis- evolved into the annual EW In-
sion into the nation’s too-few high-quality institutions for dia School Rankings (EWISR)
‘merit’ students. “The prime objective of the HRD ministry — the world’s largest and most
should be to address the supply side of higher education comprehensive school rank-
while simultaneously upgrading academic and research ings survey — rating and rank-
activities in India's 380 universities, 15,800 colleges and ing over 4,000 schools in 458
other institutions to global standards. Legislating addi- cities and towns countrywide
tional caste quotas will surely dilute academic standards across 14 parameters of K-12
and generate social tensions in campus India and society,” education excellence.
wrote your editors. Following a huge public furore and me- EW comment. “The objective
dia (including EW) criticism, a special government com- of EWISR is to aid and enable
mittee recommended expansion of institutional capacity of parents to select the most ap-
Central government institutions to avoid reduction of the titudinally suitable school for
merit students’ quota. their children. Simultaneously, a parallel objective is to
stimulate and motivate institutional managements to strive
Foreign Educational Institutions Bill. Re- for delivering balanced, holistic education and benchmark
sponding to persistent calls from a minor- themselves with globally admired schools,” wrote your
ity of academics and media (including editors (EW August 2007). Since then, the annual EWISR
EW), in March the Union HRD ministry has transformed primary-secondary education, impacting
released a Draft Foreign Educational In- the importance of holistic (cf. academic) education upon
stitutions (Regulation of Entry, Opera- the entire K-12 sector and promoting healthy competition
tion, Maintenance of Quality and Prevention of Commer- among schools to be top-ranked in their categories.
cialisation) Bill 2007, for public comment. The Bill while
allowing foreign universities to set up physical campuses in EW blueprint for supplementary educa-
India also set out a plethora of preconditions and regula- tion budget. Union Budget 2008-09 was
tions for them to fulfill. However, the tabling of the Bill in presented by Union finance minister P.
Parliament was scuttled at the last minute by the commu- Chidambaram. In his 90-minute budget
nist parties which formed part of the ruling UPA I coalition speech, the finance minister acknowl-
government. edged that “education and health are the
EW comment. In a cover feature titled ‘Time to welcome twin pillars on which rests the edifice of social sector re-
foreign universities’ (October) your editors welcomed forms” and announced that the Central government’s ex-
the Draft FEI Bill. “With only 9 percent of India’s youth penditure in the education sector will be 20 percent higher
in the 18-24 age group being able to access institutions of at Rs.34,400 crore in fiscal 2008-09, of which Rs.13,100
higher education against 15 percent in China, 50 percent crore is for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (elementary educa-
plus in Europe and 80 percent in the US, and widespread tion for all) programme; Rs.8,000 crore for the mid-day
protest in India Inc. about the employability of the great meal scheme (to cover a massive 139 million children) and
majority of India’s 2.5-3 million graduates per year, quite Rs.4,554 crore for upgrading secondary education.
clearly the country’s tertiary education sector needs a radi- EW comment. With the Union Budget 2008-09 making a

44 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2024