Dr. D. Mukhopadhyay
India is the land of Lord Buddha who attained highest order of wisdom and the same have been disseminating over the centuries across the globe. India does have a pride history of Gurukul system of education, Nalanda and Taxshila and she has distinct culture and civilization of past 5,000 years or more. Today , India may take pride of having one of the voluminous education delivery systems in the globe. But contemporary quality of education delivery system in terms of teaching and research is becoming less significant in comparison to the economically advanced countries. There are more than 700 Universities who churn out lacs of graduates every year majority of whom are not employable and more specifically they cannot meet the contemporary needs of the society. Hardly any University of India is in the league of top 200 Universities across the globe. Quality of research and teaching are the two fundamental parameters by dint of which a University is respected in the academia in particular and society in general. Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and MIT have been occupying the top positions in the rank list of global Universities constantly and continuously across the globe and this is because of their significant contributions in the field of research and education delivery system in varied fields of specialization. It is now high time to ponder over this serious issue as to how to bring about Indian education at par with that of world standard. Primarily, it is the teacher who functions within the given infrastructure of a University to discharge his/her responsibilities to the society. To attain excellence in higher education is not possible until and unless the teachers are given freedom to think, innovate and create.
The Universities are the temple of learning but they hardly get due supports of government to act freely. Even a Vice Chancellor of a University is appointed with political backing and link and not by merit. Moreover, he/she is also not given freehand to think in the best interest of the University. Roughly, there are one million teachers to meet the needs of the 25 millions of students who are currently enrolled in the institutions of higher learning in India. It may be wiser to state that Student-Teacher Ratio in India is 25 and in some cases it is even more and it is one of the bottlenecks in higher education delivery mechanism. To call a spade a spade, the ideal Student -Teacher Ratio should be 10 to 12 in Research Universities, not more than 15 in the Universities who are primarily called to be the teaching Universities and not more than 20 in case of College level educational institutions. According to the available statistics, more than 30% in case of Central Universities and more than 50% in the State run Universities’ sanctioned posts for teachers are lying vacant over a long period of time. Right now, there is shortage of 1.5 millions of teachers in the higher educational institutions and Universities in India. The Universities are somehow managing their operations by employing teachers on contractual basis who just teach and research is not a priority for them. Moreover, teachers appointed on contractual terms and conditions are being paid just INR 15,000 to 18,000 and even less in certain cases. Even many Universities across the country do not pay anything besides Basic and Dearness Allowance to the permanent teachers on roll. There is no incentive for undertaking research in order to produce knowledge. The future of the country is in the hands of the teachers but they are neither in the list of priority of State Governments not that of the Central Government. To find out the reasons for such dismal situation in education scenario in the country is not far to seek. In one sentence, it is lack of visionaries in the higher education delivery system. Education should be made free of politics and the Government’s political agenda should not be mixed with that of education. During last several years, there is significant restlessness in higher education management in the country. One of the biggest challenges the world is coming across today is the shortage of skilled manpower and the same is not exception to India.
There is hardly any sincere approach of the Governments to make the Universities true temple of learning. The proportion of performing Universities in India is getting reduced day by day. Research and innovation activities whatever being carried out is subject to criticism among the people of wisdom. The Universities focus primarily on teaching and then research if it is possible at all. Research in the field of Humanities and Social Sciences hardly get any significant room in comparison to Science and Technology. The Universities are struggling for having suitable infrastructure for undertaking research. The University Grants Commission, the highest apex body for controlling and monitoring higher education, in the country gives certain grant to the researchers in the field of Social Science, Commerce and Management but it is too meager. However, Science and Technology discipline receives little more priority over others and it should definitely be so because advancement of Science and Technology is the prerequisite for attaining socio-economic development of the nation but a balance needs to be in place somehow and somewhere since science and technology brings about development on the thoughts and hypotheses developed by the philosophers in general. Research in every field needs to be encouraged and facilitated. The Universities should focus on quantitative as well as qualitative research. It is a persistent trend that Indian scholars are struggling to undertake and carry out research in their respective fields of study and there is hardly any incentive or rewarding system to motivate the researchers in the best interest of the nation at large. The researchers need to be motivated by Universities in the same way as a corporate professional is motivated by the corporate employers. In many cases, there is only entry and exist in the entire career of a University teacher who is never counseled, motivated or given any scope for thinking about research and producing knowledge.
There is a complete absence of professionalism in teaching profession since the Universities are hardly allowed to think out of box. However, there are certain self motivated researchers who are backed by thirst of acquiring knowledge and dissemination of the same to the noble causes of the society. Talent is hardly attracted and the decision makers in corridors of power merely think that teaching profession is different from that of any other source or means of earning of living. Large number of job seekers are allowed to take teaching as a source earning by compulsion and not by choice and they are not given any understanding as to what is their true role in the society. Moreover, there is absence of continuing education facility for the teachers. It may not sound much to say that India is not in a position to produce world class teachers because of lack of continuing education mechanism for the teachers. Continuing education is required at least for the teachers who are mostly engaged in teaching since the teachers remaining engaged in research do regularly update their knowledge though intensive reading their application of research-generated knowledge to solve real problems of the society.The Indian Universities do not have any facility for interdisciplinary research which is of high relevance in today’s contemporary world. The socio-economic problems of the contemporary society cannot be solved by an individual discipline. To solve a problem needs varieties of inputs from different experts in different fields and thus answer to complex problem of the society is interdisciplinary research. Research is to find the answer to the problems and collaborative research is hardly found in the curricula or agenda of the Indian Universities.
In simplicity, India is in the state of the dilemma that we are poor because we not developed and we are not developed because we are poor. Indian Universities are suffering from severe shortage of funds. There is hardly any private or philanthropic trusts that want to support the time-honoured programmes of the Universities. If we look at the American, Canadian and British Universities, we can understand that they are mostly financed by private trusts and corporate stakeholders. In India, some industry houses do support the academic activities but it is in insignificant scale. In India, research projects are financed by Ministry of Human Resource Development, University Grants Commission, All India Council of Technical Education etc and that is quite insufficient to meet the requirement. Universities should understand their roles in the society and transformation of the society to an economically advanced state of being.
The Universities are to understand that their role is not simply degree awarding but in the version of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru , “a University stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march to the human race towards ever higher objectives. If the Universities discharge their duties adequately, then it is well with the nation and the people”. But hardly any University in the country is achieving what they are meant for.
(The author is Professor of Management, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra)
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