Education reforms - I
Are education reforms finally on the anvil? That’s what the latest reports say. The approach, according to those in the corridors of power, will be along the lines of those proposed by the YashPal Committee and the Knowledge Commission.
I’ll talk about the Knowledge Commission (which I was on) in my next post. The YashPal committee, if I recall, had suggested reforms that brought in more autonomy for institutes, and stopped the process of recognising institutes as ‘deemed universities’. One of the things their report especially bemoaned was the ‘loss of primacy’ for Indian universities. The committee argued that universities ought to be made self-regulatory, and that our regulatory institutions right now - such as the UGC - had taken up too many of the university’s functions.
It also recommended that courses be restructured so that undergraduate students have access to all disciplines. If this comes through - I’d written about it in an earlier post - it would be an enormous step for innovation and quality in our education system.
Such reforms are not going to be easy. Now that the planned steps have been made public, there will be plenty of lobby groups readying for protest. People and groups in power don’t like to lose control, and these reforms are ambitious - task committees have been recommending similar steps since the Kothari Commission in the 1960s, all of which were quickly gutted by university groups, bureaucrats and politicians.
Will we be fortunate this time?
Tags: education reform, YashPal
June 5th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I totally agree that reconstruction of the courses is vital for a definite progress, though it is not easy to implement, but, I have a firm belief that this dream will convert into reality.
I also want to mention that the admission process of post-graduate management courses need to be scrutinized and it should also incorporate the counselling procedure so as to provide easy, quick and equal opportunity to all the applicants. This is because various magazines are providing ratings to the institutes which completely misguide the applicants.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
And, reservations ? If they still prevail, I don’t know what (projected) achievement we are talking about.
June 6th, 2009 at 3:45 am
There are IITs and other Tier 1 institutions in India that cater to creme de la creme of Indian talent. Then there are Tier 2 and Tier 3 education institutions, comprising of Regional & Local institutes, including engineering and medical colleges run by mostly political patronage. In terms of real impact, it is this tier 2 and tier 3 institution block that any education reform should target. I think providing access for undergraduate students to all disciplines will go a long way in making a democratic choice match to talent needs. While the course access/content is one aspect, another issue that needs to be looked at is how private institues are simply hawking medical/engineering seats to the highest bidders. Most of these institutes are owned by political patronage. That is the real struggle in India. We have to find a way to keep politics out of education. I do believe that is key factor why IITs and other autonomous institutes have succeeded. I think the silent majority that does want to see the education completely commercialized business of political families need to have their voice heard. Policies to distribute the licenses to open more educational institutions, that UGC does currently, may need to be administered by a more professional and qualified council. My experience indicates that Tier 1 output of Indian institutions is superb. Tier 2 is good and then Tier 3 suddenly drops off a cliff in terms of productivity & quality. This can be directly traced to both the course content and the nature of control on admissions in these Tier 3 institutions. This is where education reform needs to make most impact. I would propose that we should initiate a HR Talent Management mission along the lines of Green Revolution to tap into this huge reservoir of talent in India and harness it for not just IT, but many other areas.
June 7th, 2009 at 3:02 am
well yes, the reservations…
will they be continued to be the same way???
June 8th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
well Mr Nilekani, Good luck with your important task of redefining our education system, which I think will make way for stronger india.Personally, I felt sad, when I read that you were not considered for HRD ministry (only because you are technocrat and not politician). All the Best, and waiting for your next post !!
June 8th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Is anybody looking at primary school? Kids need to be provided flexibility to choose to learn subjects from different grades and not forced to learn same grade subjects. This will allow identification of skills so they can be channelized appropriately to help the kid keep school interesting.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Sitting in Pakistan even I am optimistic about it. But UGC has to make sure how this independence of choosing subjects is going to be used as it ll vary from university to university as it happens in Pakistan since Undergrades here can choose the subjects from cross disciplines.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Alongwith Infrastructue reforms, educational reforms are much needed. Corruption, black marketeering and evil politicans have been the bane that have held India back. Grassroots campaigns may be one of the answers. With awareness comes change.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
[...] Nandan Nilekani of Infosys [...]
June 11th, 2009 at 2:20 am
ನಾಗೇಶ್ , Nitin Juneja: Yes, the reservation issue remains. And I doubt that the new government will change that policy.
idontspam: I agree, primary schools remain a critical concern. The government is promising more accountability for primary school schemes and partnerships with private schools. Let’s hope the final policies are ambitious ones.
Prashant Bendre: Absolutely. Education needs far more autonomy from the government than it has now.
June 11th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I have two comments on the current Indian Education Systems, and their possible reforms. 1. The quality of the universities, even the federal and state universities have come down. The state universities have become degree distribution centers and diminished their role as learning centers. This trend has to be addressed - may be we have separate degree churning and research pursuing universities.
2. We do not select students based on aptitude for any of the professional courses. Academically (socially advantaged) students do not necessarily make effective professionals. We need to somehow correct this anomaly. A basic college degree must provide a well rounded education, and professional education can be pursued when a student gets the maturity to decide about his/her role in society.
June 13th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
The current thinking in the concerned circles, Yashpal Commission et al., has been top heavy i.e, reforms in Higher learning. And then comes this issue of dealing with Varsities. Makes me wonder whether our leaders are taking pot-shots at this issue or taking it by its Horns. Your suggestion to broadbase the curriculum at the undergraduate level is very pertinent, that’s were the masses (in terms of educated pool) lie and most of them are unemployable. I would also like to add a step further & see whether the reforms could also examine the system at the elementary level? Dont you think that the current ‘rote’system of learning is outdated in this information explosion age
June 14th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
[...] Imagining India » Blog Archive » Education reforms - I Connect and Share [...]
June 16th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Respected Nilekani Sir,
I am myself a student of a private university in India and I seriously fear of autonomy given to these institutes.
In our university, since there is no external check, the teachers are free to toy with education by teaching any nonsense and then forcing the students to cram that.
I hope you understand that how probable and easy toying with education becomes, when institution are left unchecked and unregulated.
I do not understand that why in this information technology world, we are still so disconnected. Why don’t top universities who have already proven their mettle design the curriculum and conduct the tests for other universities like the central board does for all the schools or the JEE does for admission in IITs.
Not everybody gets selected in IIT but many learn a lot while trying to do so, because you cannot hope to clear the exam by learning nonsense. This desire to clear a top notch exam motivates the student to master the concepts.
There are many who want to contribute to human kind by their innovations but are sadly stuck in these private autonomous universities oblivious of the right know-how to achieve their goal.
Even if one single guy knows, what these young and smart brains outside IITs should do, why doesn’t he tell everybody about it?
June 25th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
We need a national cuuriculum at college entry level and for graduate schools. and a national exam along the lines of SAT-I &II or ‘O’ level and ‘A’ level. there can be two levels of grading in all subjects. Admissions to all institutes including the IITs should be based on the scores and the student’s resume and an interview.
This will prevent corruption at the ‘deemed university’ level and save students the agony of preparing and appearing for multiple exams.
Industry leaders, scientists, doctors and educationists can help make the curriculum relevant and appropriate
‘Affirmative action’ should be in the form of extra help for social and economically backwards through special classes, online classes, nutrition supplementation, financial help, study material provision and study rooms or library facilities. Reservation should be phased out.
Premier institutes must have some international faculty to keep them updated and abreast of the latest.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Sir, I am perturbed by the dangerous trend in the name of education reform. In my view Reform in Education should mean, even the rich class being able to and wanting to study in a government school. Which means making the government run schools efficient. Reform in my humble opinion is not leaving the govt schools to die and promote private schools, many of whom in the name of quality are running it for profit and exhorbitant profit. Indian eduction system is not suffering because of lack of foreign players, private investments. Prof. Yashpal ironically is talking about private investment which is in a very big responsible for commercialisation of education. IIM’s, IITs - are these not govt institutes. Prof. Yashpal in suggesting scrapping of UGC seems to be suggesting to cut the handing instead of trying to heal the wound in the hand. One needs to thing deep in these issue. I am writing in a hurry, so I am not able to delve deep. To draw again a comparison, reforms in health shouldn’t mean allwing private sector and then allowing them to charge exhorbitantly all in the name of quality. Quality should be at a reasonable affordable cost. What is requiered is good leadership. Reform in health in my opinion is the reform of the govt hospitals where people feel like going and getting treated. Lets think more comprehensively on this issue. After all governments belongs to us…lets make it efficient.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I am happy about your being appointed to head the National Unique Identity No project. I have always felt that it is time for your and for people like Narayan Murthy to head to public life.
Its a great step, for the first time a non politician, has been given the status of cabinet and taken directly for a govt project, instead of the traditional method of appoinint govt officers. I would have been even more elated had you been appointed the DIG (police)or SP, wherein you would have been a civilian DIG, SP with all the powers . We need civilians to parallely head the police at different levels, so that reforms in police will be possible. Only community policing can make democratic rights real. Because all our political rights boils down to the police station. if the police are not efficient, upright, we will not be able to enjoy our political rights. Think about it.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Congratulations on your appointment as the National UID card project chief, sir. With people like yourself, PM Manmohan Singh and Kapil Sibal ( he seemed to be in tune with what parents all over the country want), India is in good hands.
June 26th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Dear Mr.Nandan,
First, my hearty Congratulations to you, for being appointed as the head of UIAI.
I totally agree with your point and I strongly believe that Change is vital, Change is painful and Change is the only constant.
Regarding the scrapping of UGC and AICTE, yes, these institutions are supposed to be the two top regulators but over a period of time, too much of political interference, interruptions, lots of things under its umbrella etc., led to the poor governance. So, hats off to Yashpal committee for having given such a splendid advice to the MHRD. But, when talking about the employees, you would know it better, that they will feel insecure when there is a change. In corporate terms, be it a merger or acquisition or change in management personnel etc., for every change, the low productive and low capable group, which is sticking to the organization for a long time like leeches, will highly feel insecure and will involve in protests or strikes for sure. For such a reform, the government should make it clear, that all the employees of both these regulatory bodies will be taken care of, and they will be given alternative posts in some other governmental bodies, appropriate to their capability and productivity. This is one way of making sure that the change is smooth.
The other kind of people are those who are capable and productive, but dont want to lose control (as like you have mentioned). These kind of people, based on their previous achievements and performances, could be posted in a higher ranks, so that they get more responsibilities and challenges than the present one. This again, needs to be carefully managed and taken further. Or, they could be given an option of VRS.
My intuition strongly tells me that, India is undergoing a revolutionary change, than it had been for the past 6 to 7 decades. Also, I feel that slowly, the Indian Administration is getting into the right hands after a very long time in the history of India.
June 26th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
I sincerely hope and wish that these succeed.
I am really happy that Kapil Sibal has promised to implement all those in 100 days… .
All the best in your new role.
June 26th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Dear Sir, Congratulations again. I would urge you to also take a keen interest on egovernance initiatives. I wish Dr.Singh will later put you as the head of all egovernance initiatives in india. I would urge you to take up this issue with the PM or suggest some good name who can really revolutionalise the goverment, its departments and functional through use of technology. I would urge you to particularly fouuus on eJudiciary, wherein the entire courts are connected, people are able to file cases online, and every work right from filing of cases to judgment would happen online with minimal manual work. Please include police station and court structure, building in the definition of Infrastructure. These are crucial. I urge you to take great interest in egovernance along with National ID card initiative, now that you have access to the govt. Congrats again sir and hope you will think about this. Egovernane and reduce corruption all the way.
June 27th, 2009 at 8:37 am
For everything one must ask the “why” before the “what”. Th why gives shape to a “goal”. The goal gives shape to “metrics”. And the metrics proofs the implementation.
This is the pattern that the British followed in India, and almost everything we see around us is a direct result of what happened before 1947, not after. The same with education.
Our mentality is not to do all of these things. We end up with more qustions than answers.
June 27th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Dear Sir,
My hearty congratulations to you for heading the prestigious National ID Card Scheme. I also foresee your involvement in National Educational Policy.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Dear Sir,
Congratulations on your appointment as head of UIAI
I feel that honesty,hardwork,dedication,pragmatism,positive competitiveness,nationalism & imbibing proper work culture will be very much necessary for reforms in all types of education streams.Hope good governance prevails as far as implementation of ideas of people of your stature.Recently there has been a ray of hope and it is “enough is enough” kind of feelings expressed by people of India.Awaiting the reforms to build a strong nation
– Dr.Shashank Date
June 30th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
The most vital part of your blogpost is that educational reforms should allow all undergraduates access to all disciplines. This is in fact the secret ingredient of American education system. It permits students to learn any discipline provided they take the required credits. This will be in line with the educational status of student. Something on this line is being done by IGNOU. Such empowering educational reforms will open up learning to every aspirant. This will certainly give hope to the disillusioned youth and drive them to achieve more, while simultaneously contributing to the nation.
June 30th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
I really wonder why are we not talking about the unproductive population that is getting added to the bottom of the pyramid?
All the ills of India is like a circular linked list(One pointing to other).
We don’t have systems which can manage a population. For instance - there are simply never going to be enough schools for the exponential increase of new students getting into the schooling system every year!
When there are no schools the population becomes unprodutive for the lack of skills…
July 5th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
I am glad that you are taking over the position to implement “UNIQUE IDENTITY NO” to all Indians. It is a goog move and is very much required. Following are the major issues we may face in this implementation:
(1) Govt. insists on writing full of dad, family and his name. Generally this become too long and irrelavant.
(2) Please have a place where we can feed the name as he is generally known. My name in passport is Puthucode Rama Iyer Kasi viswanathan. But I am known in all records as P.R.Kasi viswanathan.
(3) Generally the people who prepare make lot of spelling mistakes and then the name itself become irrelavant. This could get much complicated to an uneducated person.
(4) If you are going to keep a photo, how are you going to change as and when they become old.
(5) Many people change their addresses often.
(6) If the card is lost, can we get a copy of this card within two days?
(7) If the job has to be done properly it should not be entrusted to Govt.officials. It should be given to private people or volunteers.
(8) Why not you employ educated retired people or housewifes to do this work, even as free volunteers.
(9) We are really worried that this also should not become another card without lost of mistakes.
Thanks
Kasi
July 7th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Sir,
This is to my surprise that you have covered so many aspect of social, economic and political issues of our country. Sir, please look into the quality of technical education and the quality of engineers, mba a produced form the private colleges in India.You can make a change with your team. Regards
July 8th, 2009 at 1:13 am
See the idea on Gurudakshina at: http://imaginingindia.com/explore-and-discuss-the-book/explore-the-chapters/ideas-in-battle/higher-education/
July 9th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Hi Nandan,
We are very happy that you accepted the role of Chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India offered to you by the prime minister. Hearty Congratulations! Not many would venture into something like this which would require one to relinquish all that he has been/done for the last few decades. But you have done! And you have done it with a purpose to serve a better cause…
Infosys is a good example to indicate how systems with a strong base and clear values reach success. I hope you will lay a similar foundation for this national project and bring in some changes into the not-so-good Indian governance system which may eventually and hopefully inspire others to follow the path set by you.
We have always dreamt to do something to build the nation that brought us up and with you joining the Indian government with a vision for change has actually reinforced in us the desire even more strongly.
Here is an honest wish for your success. May you have the strength, support and luck to succeed in the endeavour.
All the very best wishes…
Best Regards,
Chaitra and Harish
July 9th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Power brokers make education reforms very difficult to implement.
You are right when you say that people in power wouldn’t like that.
We can just hope.
On a side note, Mr. Nilekani, there seems to be an impostor on Twitter who tweets through your handle https://twitter.com/nandannilekani. Please verify if this is you.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Dear Mr Nilekani
I have been trying to find out how to contact you ever since I got to know that you are going to head the National ID Card scheme. I am Principal of a prestigious public school located in Delhi NCR. I would like to work in this scheme under your supervision & guidance. I assure you of un-matchable dedication and passion for my work. You must be in the process of forming your team for this mission. Please do give me a chnace to appear for an interaction. My email id seema_591@rediffmail.com. Please respond so that I may send my resume for your kind perusal.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Dear Nandan,
Congratulations on accepting the role of Chairperson of Unique Identification Authority of India offered to you by the prime minister.
It’s great to see a successful corporate leader helping to build a new India.
Regards,
Jomon
July 18th, 2009 at 1:36 am
Education sector surely is in need for a major transformation.The course contents,it’s practicality, and more importantly the appraoch to deliver the knowledge to children both need to be redefined.
I understand that the above stated is a humungous task, but the process needs to be kickstarted somewhere..hoping the new reforms will take us a step further.
But an social audit of the various schemes implemented is probabaly somethng can be undertaken with immediate effect.The ambitious project Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan which recognises education as a right for every kid,but are the results really achieved.Only setting up schools is good enough??Its appaling to see that many kids from schools covered under this project hardly even know to read.So how do we ensure quality..accountability. we surely arent spendng crores of rupees to achieve nothing.
Review ..Revisit policies..Restructure the process constantly..only then can we dream of a truely literate India!
July 18th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
well i was just wondering what if major indian companies like tata,infosys,wipro,then top BPO’s, Top media & enterteinment companies etc etc started their own education institutions. IF this happens then it would be a lot more eaiser for students to choose and remain committed to a particular profession. Students will then have well defined career options. They can plan their future. Since companies provide jobs good students will be absorbed in the company itself. companies can save recruitment costs and also companies will have first hand knlowdege of every student and student also gets good industry exposure.students need not hunt for projects and internships and even companies can benifit i dont know if its a good thing or if its possible..sir if you think its a good idea you’ll carry it forward……