14 facts about Indian education system and a remedy



FACT I:
Just one out of nine children finishing school joins a college. India has one of the lowest higher education enrollment ratio of 11 per cent. In the US it is 83 per cent.

FACT2:
To meet its target of increasing enrollment levels to 15 per cent in 2012, the Eleventh Plan estimates that India needs to invest Rs 2,26,410 crore. Yet it has set aside only Rs 77,933 crore-just a fourth of the total needed.

FACT3:
a recent ASSCoM-McKinsey study showed that only one out of Ten Indian students with degrees in humanities and one out of four engineering graduates are employable. So much for India’s boast of having one of the largest technical and scientific manpower reserves in the world.

FACT 4:
A study by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council showed that 90 per cent of the colleges and 70 per cent of the universities that the council graded were of middling or poor quality.

FACT 5:
Shortage of teachers was endemic with even the IITs reporting a 20 to 30 per cent shortfall in faculty.
FACT 6:
On an average most Indian universities revise their curricula only once in five to 10 years but even then they get defeated in both letter and spirit.

FACT 7:
Over-regulation by the government and a multiplicity of agencies have seen higher education stagnate and corruption become institutionalized.

FACT 8:
In 50 years, only 44 private institutions were granted deemed university status by the University Grants Commission. In the last  5 years, it has granted that status to 49 more, leading to charges of impropriety.

FACT 9:
The shortage of good institutions has seen cut-off percentages for entry into good colleges soar to genius levels. This year’s qualifying marks for RCom (Hons) course in Delhi’s SRCC was 98.75 per cent.

FACT 10:
Studies show that the number of students committing suicide because of the pressure to perform well in secondary board exams is rising alarmingly.


FACT 11:
Indian students now spend $7 billion to go abroad and study in foreign universities because of the poor quality of education at home. Yet the government drags  it feet over permitting foreign universities to set up shop in India. Where in same cost we can successfully implement and run around 10 more IITs.

FACT 12:
The quality of school education hasn’t improved. A recent study found that in rural north India on an average day, there is no teaching activity in about half” of the primary schools
FACT 13:
The US currently accounts for over a third of the entire world’s output of articles in science and engineering. India, in contrast, accounts for less than 3 per cent of research papers published and in terms of citations barely 1 per cent.

FACT 14 :
Almost half of the country’s population is below 25 years. Almost 10 per cent of them or 12 crore are between the ages of 18 and 23. If they are equipped with both knowledge and skills, they could drive India’s entrepreneurial and Competitive spirit and make it into global power.
Why Bother?
Brilliant! It’s good to know what exactly India is missing out on because of all this apathy and sloth. Over a decade ago management guru Peter Drucker had declared: “The Knowledge Society will become far more competitive than any society we have yet known… there will be no poor countries, there will only be ignorant countries… thus the competitive position of every country, industry, institution . and individual will depend on the ability to harness and capitalize on knowledge.”

Now consider following graphic;

click on image to see it clearly.
what government is doing for it,
on February 28 2008 a committee under the chairmanship os noted scientist, prof. Yashpal was set by HRD ministry to suggest ways to bring about considerable changes in higher education in India.
committee submitted its report on march 1 2009. it is available at this link.
recommendation:

• Setting up a National Commission for Higher Education & Research (NCHER) as a super-regulator replacing all UGC, AICTE n all.
• developing IITs and IIMs as world-class universities,
• a common GRE-type entrance exam for admission to universities
• inviting the top 200 universities from abroad to set up shop in India
• few suggestions to improve the working of universities.

are some of the key highlights of the final recommendations of the Yashpal committee on higher education.
Some more text direct copy paste from the report:-
For students
…..Currently, many students passing out from institutions of higher   education do so without obtaining the kind of skills they really need to work in a real-world environment. Among the drawbacks many students face are lack of ability to analyze or solve problems, relate problems to different contexts, communicate clearly and have an integrated understanding of different branches of knowledge…..
…. the student is  asked to face a question paper at the end of the year, or in some  universities, at the end of the semester. This archaic  examination system,…….., unfortunately does not really test the kind of  skills they require to be successful in either the pursuit of pure theoretical knowledge or in practical real world situations…..
(The solution given in report  is the first 2 points in can we change this article….)
….there must be a provision for student assessment of teachers, for the students can provide an experimental assessment of the quality of teaching….
For  teachers…
…..It is also necessary to enhance the quality of teacher education within higher education. At present, Academic Staff Colleges are serving to provide refresher courses required by faculty  to acquire eligibility for promotion…..
…..It should be mandatory for all universities to have a rich undergraduate programme and undergraduate students must get opportunities to interact with the best faculty.….
Well there are lot of more recommendation to reform our education system, I just want to say that, the point which I have mentioned in previous article(some of them) are not just problem of FAMT/ mumbai university but of whole nation and CHANGE is utmost important here.
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consider another story…

friends you spend 50000+ as your annual fee for your higher education, it is your right to get it most appropriate manner as it is a commodity n basic need today. unfortunately most of us INDIANS doesn’t even know/care what r our rights and what we deserve, n remain happy in our conservative world.
i just wanted to create some awareness through this 2 article series. i have asked some of teachers for changing there way of teaching n expressing with help of new IT techs.
i didn’t want to hurt anyone as there is nothing personal its all professional.
thanks a lot for your support.