Education systems always reflect and conserve the existing social hierarchy and in a period of rapid social change such as India has experienced over the last two decades the education system has struggled to keep up. As would be expected, as India has embraced consumerism and a more liberal economy, so too has education.
In the last decade, there have been many changes in the education sector. For the highly privileged there has been the development of ‘World schools’, the introduction of international qualifications, the development of new pastoral care initiatives, and the provision of specialized education for those with ‘special needs’. This section of society has also gained the opportunity for more diverse higher educational subjects, and vocational training as well as greater opportunities for international study both here and abroad.
For the not-so-privileged middle classes the boom in the growth of private schools has been a mixed blessing. Some of the new schools are an improvement on those provided by the State, but many provide a very poor service. This section of society has had to rely on the phenomenal growth of computer education centres, cramming centres, and specialized vocational centres to enhance their educational qualifications.
At the bottom of the social hierarchy, the rural and urban poor have seen a slight rise in provision, a large increase in funding, and the usual jam-tomorrow promises of the political and bureaucratic classes. The effects of spending of education cess is kicking in and more provision is being put in place, but the old problems of extremely poor management by bureaucracy and resistance by some cash strapped state governments means that the increase in funding is not as effective as it could be.
This year’s budget saw a large increase in funding and it is planned that Five lakh additional classrooms are to be constructed and 1.5 lakh more teachers appointed. Allocation for the Midday Meal Scheme for 2006-07 has been hiked to Rs 4,813 crore in 2006-07 and this should have a positive effect. Around 120 million children are now covered under the Midday Meal Scheme, which is the largest school meal programme in the world. The scheme is working and school attendance is up.
Over the last twenty years Indian business houses have increasingly realized how lucrative schooling can be, and this has led to tremendous growth in the number of schools that now compete with the established traditional schools for the places at those few Indian universities that provide a reasonable learning environment. This coupled with the population explosion has led to the tremendous growth in demand for places and subsequently ever higher grades for admission.
These same higher admission marks and the poor reputation of Indian Universities have fuelled the move towards higher education abroad for the children of the wealthy. In the USA tens of thousands of Indian students swell the coffers of colleges, and Australia too is seeing exceptional increases in the numbers of Indian students who opt for their colleges and institutions of learning. Educating Indians has become big business for the colleges in the west, to the extent that Indian students are now paying over $3 billion a year to train abroad. This trend is set to continue and growth rates for Indian students going abroad is predicted to be 25% per annum!
The Globalization of education has led to the benchmarking of institutions of higher education world wide, but only three Indian institutions rank among the top 500 in the world, and none of them are universities. Very few Indian institutions are globally accredited or recognized, and while universities around the world are earning large incomes from tens of thousands of Indian students, hardly any foreign students are being attracted to our universities. The number of foreign students seeking places in Indian institutions has plummeted to below 4000.
Indian businessmen and Industrialist have not been slow to exploit the market for western schooling and large numbers of new ‘World Schools’ are being built. These schools combine the ‘Palace on the Hill’ approach of traditional Indian public schools, and modern western curricula and western trained staff. Five star resources, huge campuses and large fees combine to produce an exclusivity that was once reserved for the Doons and Bishop Cottons.The major attractions of these “World Schools” include a far more child-centred curricula, more modern subject options and most importantly, freedom from the tyranny of the Indian exam systems. In the next 18 months over 100 new World Schools will open in India. These schools are expensive. (Expect to pay fees of between 5 and 15 lakhs a year) but they are luxurious and different.
The move towards adopting modern education is also occuring in other schools for the wealthy. The International Baccalaureate (IB) and the Internationl General Certificate of Education (IGCSE) to which the World Schools are affiliating are also being adopted by more and more upper middle class schools, and with these affiliations comes teacher training, new ways of study and assessment, and a move towards teaching the child to think!! Our traditional schools and their copyist clones are changing their programmes, and even Doon school is scheduled to start the IB programme from April of 2007
The demand for modern education is growing in line with the income of the middle classes, and nowhere more so than in the stagnant university sector. Initially, the failure of the government to provide Universities to meet demand was met by a few Indian entreprenuers but foreign universities have not been slow to see their opportunities and the stage is set for a rapid expansion in better quality higher education facilities. Colleges and Universities from the USA, and Europe are developing strategic partnerships with industrialists in India to open colleges here. Partnerships that offer higher and vocational education are already thriving and expanding at a prestigious rate, and foreign universities are seeking entry into the Indian domestic market by tie ups with existing private Indian colleges. They plan to position themselves for the time when they can set up their own campuses here. Getting a qualification from an English University in India is almost a quarter of the cost of getting one in the UK and English accomodation and travel costs do not need to be met. (At the time of writing there are 65 British colleges in India offering vocational training, and the number will multiply several times in the next few years)
The overall increase in State funding of education is reflected in some improvement in provision for the poor and in a decrease in literacy rates. . However, according to the latest studies, education provision in India is continuing to fall behind other countries because provision in those countries is being improved at a faster rate than here. Given our ever increasing population, and the years of neglect the increases in spending of recent years this trend will continue.
The new Right to Education document has been watered down but the antagonism between the States and the Central Government over the funding continues and it is increasely obvious that implementation will require a political will that has been noticeable by it’s absence over the years since independence. The continued increase in population, which is, and will be, particularly acute among the poor, and the wasteful ineptitude of our bureaucracy will mean that even if funding matches that allocated in other countries, improvement in India will continue to fall behind
A new phenomena that will affect the not so privileged middle classes is the entry of township developers into education. All the leading developers are seeking to add education to their activities and in the next five years this will create thousands of new schools for those buying houses and apartments in new townships. Given that these Schools will be community specific the opportunities to develop US style ‘community schools’ or UK style ‘extended schools’ will be numerous.
The boom in the number of graduates in recent years has seen a huge growth of the numbers of graduate hamburger servers, shop assistants, fizzy drink salespersons, and telephone answerers etc. etc. This trend is bound to continue and with the coming of the foreign colleges and schools, the higher education curricula will change to incorporate more soft subjects and less academic degrees. (Football is an A level subject in the UK).
So what does the future hold for you, and your family, and the country? The answer, as always , depends on where you are positioned in the heirarchy, and how wealthy you are. As in all globalisation the changes it brings in education increases the gap between those with wealth and those without.
For those trying to protect a privileged position and those with a realistic chance of aspiring to it, the new globalisation of education brings many benefits. Not least of which is that these children get a modern western education, and not one stuck in the colonial early 1900’s. Not only this! They get an internationally recognised qualification without having to compete against those with memories good enough to get 90% in a Indian exam. For the poor the improved allocation of funds will make a little difference. There have always been significant differences in the education of the rich and poor and these will be extenuated considerably over the next decade.
