Indian government is touting a lot on the development in the higher education sector but practically it is not focused on the education agenda. The co-relation between higher education and human resource development is undeniable. The working age population can be an asset only if their full potential employability is realized.
Reasons for the Decrement in the Value of Education
Before independence the weight of colonialism hung heavily on the higher education system as well as the economy. As a result the country suffered from economic downfall. After independence our higher education system has remained under the influence of politics and strong decisions have not been taken to improve the standards of our education system.
Higher education in India is mainly regulated by University Grants Commission, AICTE and Ministry of human resources and these are run by the bureaucrats who are not serious about education. The agenda on Higher education by the government has not been very clear and transparent and most of the decisions have not been taken due to poor implementation of policies related to education sector. The intellectuals and corporate leaders who are speaking out their mind are blaming the weak bureaucracy and lack of strong decision making power of government for this disaster.
What need to be done to beat the present situation?
Few questions that arise in our mind are what can be done to overcome the situation? And what can be done to meet the industry standard?
Judging students on the basis of their marks obtained in the examination needs to be changed. We need to focus on certain parameters like classroom training, project works, communication and leadership skills which are the basic needs to groom a student to meet the industry standards.
Secondly most of the students graduating from our colleges and universities are not clear on the basic foundation concepts and due to this reason they are facing a lot of challenges in finding good jobs.
The most important thing that needs to be improved is that the engineering and medical colleges have to concentrate on proper classroom teaching along with enough practical classes which will improve the theoretical knowledge as well as practical knowledge of the students.
The government should make education policies more transparent and take strong decisions to meet the global standards. It should attract foreign universities to set up their institutions for the healthy growth in our education sectors. Educational institutions should be given more priority to develop research labs and funds to be arisen to meet the expanses for the same. Initiatives should be taken to make our Higher Education System more flexible and mass oriented.
