Imagining
the Post-COVID19 World: Importance
of Educational Reforms
Dr R Srinivasan
COVID19 figures are
just under two million as on date and the universe is already concerned about
economic down swing. The credit for the concern, justifiably, must be given to
our ability to communicate. It is but natural that saving humanity from the
scourge of COVID19 ought to be the immediate objective. The real objective,
however, should be to get our engines of economy firing on all cylinders from
the day COVID19 is brought under control, if not before.
In the developed West
the resuscitation may take lesser time since established knowledge and
technical wherewithal for such resurgence already exist. Unless political
leadership bungles these so badly, the developed nations should get back to
their status sooner the pandemic is under control. In the developing and
underdeveloped countries, the story is likely to be different and substantially
more difficult.
One of the key
challenges that developing world faces is in their ability to transform into
knowledge economies. Peter Drucker made an important observation when he said, “Traditional
economic factors such as monetary capital, physical labor, and raw material,
are becoming less important in comparison to the capability of adding value
through knowledge development, improvement, and innovation”[1].
Further he summarized the importance of knowledge capital as a key ingredient
in economic growth when he said, “The economic challenge of the post-capitalist
society will therefore be the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge
worker”.
Research, innovation
and application of science in the developing countries needs to be ably aided
by a strong educational system from early school onwards which promotes merit. Schools
and higher educational institutions in public as well as private sector must be
evolved to become world class centers of knowledge with excellent supportive
infrastructure. The purpose of education should not merely be to produce
graduates but to produce skill at all levels that can be applied for the
development of society.
In the light of the
COVID19 environment, we find reports indicating that big firms are leaving
Chinese shores and that they will search for suitable countries to relocate.
Enthusiastic analysts are either hinting at or openly pointing at India as the
most favorable destination. Their arguments include India’s economic potential
and infrastructure growth in recent years. They also enthusiastically point out
that India can offer a larger and younger pool of manpower almost on par with
what was available in China. These forecasts are also getting debated and
analyzed across social and print media. Scholarly attention obviously is in
tow.
Such a euphoric
forecast needs to be also analyzed on the basis of certain realities. Without
going into elaborate discussion on the educational sector in India (for, such a
discussion would go beyond the space limit here), it would suffice to point at the
headlines of some reports:
1.
60% of engineering graduates unemployed
– Times of India reported on 18 March 2017 that less than 1% of engineering
students participate in summer internships, just 15% of engineering programmes
are accredited by the National Board of Accreditation and more than 60 percent
of technical graduates remain unemployed[2].
2. In June 2018, the Economic Times
reported that 94% of engineering graduates are not fit for hiring[3].
3. On 21 March 2019, India Today reported
that Over 80% Indian engineers are unemployable, lack new-age technology skills[4].
4.
In so far as non-technical graduates are
concerned, a survey by Wheebox, People Strong and CII in December 2019 found
that employability of Indian graduates jumps to 47% in 2019 from 33% in 2014[5], a
rise of 14 percent over a five year period.
As the moral of these
reports show, the challenges present before India (or for that matter, any
other nation in the developing part of the world) are: how to revamp the
education system in order to produce substantial number of graduates who are
skilled and employable? More importantly, can that be done in a short while,
since the COVID19 opportunity may not come again (yes, we pray that it never
comes again).
There is no doubt that
the silver lining from the dark cloud of COVID19 is casting its promising glare
on India. Hence, educational sector reform is an important aspect India must
look at this juncture. This point is equally applicable to any other nation
that is looking forward to gaining from this unique situation created by a
pandemic. The strength of the educational sector and its ability to produce
skilled and employable man power will significantly decide whether in the
post-COVID19 phase a country emerges victorious or not.
Coincidentally, India
embarked upon certain important reforms in the educational sector in the recent
years like granting 'Institution of Eminence' status to three public and three
private institutes in the country; making PhD a must for teaching at university
level for the entry-level designation of Assistant Professor from 2021; and,
introducing Prime Minister’s Research Fellowships at IITs and IISc. The
University Grants Commission has even embarked upon evaluating PhD thesis
submitted for qualitative content from 2019. Additionally, the government announced
a National Skill Development Mission in 2015. A separate ministry with a set of
institutions like National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC), and Directorate General of Training (DGT) were
also constituted. In 2020 Budget, the government set INR 3000 crore outlay for
National Skill Development Mission activities. The above initiatives clearly
indicate that the government is fully seized of the importance of knowledge as
fundamental to economic progress and greater social justice.
There are innumerable
challenges in gearing up to be a world class economy, particularly in the
aftermath of a pandemic like COVID19. But then, creating a world class economy
can never be worth just an ordinary day’s toil. There are other supplementary challenges
too that need to be addressed by the society. Commercialization of education
must be stopped by voluntary and regulatory methods. The spirit of the reforms
introduced by the government must be further strengthened by private endeavor.
India can fulfill its
destiny by becoming a world leader for it is endowed with tremendous potential.
To do so, our common objective should be to underwrite the purpose that the HRD
Minister said while launching Institutions of Excellence Program:
"The #InstituteofEminence are important
for the country. We have 800 univ, but not a single university in top 100 or
even 200 in the world ranking. Today's decision will help achieve this.
Improving ranking needs sustained planning, complete freedom & public institutes
getting public funding (sic),"[6].
Some areas that warrant
further contemplation and action in this regard are:
1. Quality
of Public Education: More than two thirds of children in
India go to government schools[7]. They
need quality in infrastructure as well as teaching staff if they are to realize
benefits of economic prosperity.
2.
Quality
in Teacher Training: Even though India has about 17000
Teacher Education Institutes with the capacity to produce 94 lac teachers
annually, the quality of teachers turned out by these institutes is in serious
question. The CEO of Niti Ayog made a pertinent observation in this regard when
he said, “reforms must be driven by administrative will and executed through a
well-established governance mechanism, clearly establishing ownership and
accountability for set work streams across multiple agencies”[8].
3.
Private
Sector Involvement in R & D: As compared to
developed countries, the number of private sector sponsored R&D
institutions in India are few. Also, the number of projects commissioned by
them through universities is still fewer. Unless this trend changes where
private sector sponsors research not merely in sciences but also in social
sciences and humanities, wholesome development of the society will remain an
uphill task. In a global comparison, India has a mere 0.63 percent share of
Private Sector R&D as compared to Japan (3.28%), USA (2.79%), Germany
(2.88%) and South Korea (4.23%) of its GDP[9]
[figures for 2015).
Mankind has faced
larger calamities and braved bigger storms. Small Pox, plague, Spanish Flu,
Ebola, HIV are just few examples. When we look around we find that there are a
plethora of other challenges too that we are engaged with. Take malnutrition,
for example, which claims millions of children annually[10].
Unless we emerge
victorious from COVID19 better prepared for economic revival as a knowledge
economy, we would find it hard to address inequality and social justice, in
addition to unemployment and lower growth rates. We must remember that history
has portent lessons of countries that foresaw their future and worked for it,
before actually emerging victorious.
[1] Drucker,
P. F. (1993). Postcapitalist Society. New York: Herper Collins Publishers.
[7] 65%
of all school-going children in 20 states, about 113 million, continue to get
their education from government schools, according to District Information
System for Education (DISE) and education ministry data. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/private-schools-gain-17-mn-students-in-5-yrs-govt-schools-lose-13-mn-117041700073_1.html
[10]
UNICEF Global Nutrition Report 2018 says, “Nearly a quarter of children under
five years of age, 150.8 million, are stunted, 50.5 million children under five
are wasted and 20 million newborn babies are estimated to be of low birth
weight. At the same time, 38.3 million children under the age of five are
overweight. At least 124 of 141 countries struggle with overlapping burdens,
while millions of children under the age of five suffer with coexisting forms
of malnutrition”. See: https://globalnutritionreport.org/reports/global-nutrition-report-2018/conclusion-critical-steps-get-nutrition-track/
