The Hindu Business Line : Missed, a great opportunity

It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. A secular, sustainable GDP growth of 9 per cent, tax collections growing at 30 per cent, forex reserves of $180 billion , and a growing feeling that India can make it. At the same time 700 milion people left out of the gravy train, farmers committing suicide, a literacy rate of barely 67 per cent.

Bold action and a great vision are needed to solve the biggest challenge that India faces — of educating its people and training its workforce. Today, there are more jobs than qualified people in all areas and wages are shooting up. India is in the danger of losing out on creating large-scale employment and losing its competitive edge in the global market. India faces a shortage of masons, tile-layers, electricians, plumbers, drivers, waiters, engineers, doctors, accountants and the list goes on. The reason is the wide divergence between a broken education system, driven by state control, and the needs of a rapidly growing economy.

What do we need to rectify this urgently? The liberalisation of the education system and the creation of more private-public partnerships; greater autonomy for universities and colleges; free entry of reputed foreign universities so that students get the best education within the country; a National Scholarship Programme so that no young person is deprived of higher education for lack of economic resources; a massive expansion of the education system with public funding and private execution; increase in the enrolment of youngsters in the age group of 18-25 in universities from the present 10 per cent to 25 per cent; a national skill development programme in partnership with industry so that skill development is taken up in a massive way to create jobs for semi-skilled and unskilled youngsters; a large-scale training programme for farmers to increase agricultural productivity and expose them to betters practices in agriculture.

What do we get? A token increase of Rs 3,000 crore for higher education mainly to fund the quota regime, lots of platitudes on higher education and attempts at greater state control. Instead of spending this on enhancing capacity for the quotas in the IITs, this amount could have paid for scholarship of one million students at Rs. 20,000 per annum; no small sum but transformational.

For the sake of a few, sacrifice the whole. This is the real tragedy of India, a lack of vision and compromises on the future of our students. Is the money there? Yes, lots of it. Is the will there? No, what is there is an abject surrender to electoral politics.

But our fellow citizens have responded massively to this need. Families will eat one meal less but send their children to a private school and seek out good education. Mothers will sacrifice their comfort to educate their children.

Everywhere we see coaching classes coming up, the urge to do better is visible. But policy-makers make policies in the ethos of the past.

One more Budget, one more golden opportunity missed to change the context and make the future.

(The author is Director and HR chief of Infosys Technologies.)