Opportunity with challenges

The decision to allow the branches of foreign universities in India is a step in the right direction but certain issues need to be resolved beforehand

- ALOK RANJAN

The 21st century will belong to that country or society which moves ahead of others in terms of the acquisition and application of knowledge. Education is the foundation on which this knowledge society will be built. India has a great opportunity in terms of its youth population which can be harnessed as a demographic dividend if the right kind of education and skilling is provided to the youth from the primary to the higher level. We need not only expansion in the avenues of education but also in terms of the quality of education. The quality of education imparted in rural primary schools is of an abysmal quality which has been further pushed back by the pandemic, and this has become a matter of serious concern. It is the school system which acts as a feeder to the higher education system, and if the input to higher education is of a poor standard, then it shall certainly impact the output. There is no denying that higher education needs a lot of attention. We have commendable institutions like the IITs and the IIMs but there are a large number of below-average institutions as well. The gross enrolment ratio (GER) is only about 26 per cent, and the new education policy has set for itself an ambitious goal of raising this to 50 per cent by 2035. This would require a huge amount of expenditure in higher education, with new colleges being opened and a big increase in the number of children joining the higher education system. This has obvious implications regarding the logistics and management of such a vast education system.