Privatization of education may have serious impact

AK Ghosh, The Statesman, Asia News Network, Calcutta, India

The success of economic reforms of the last decade, primarily achieved through participation of private capital and initiative, has prompted many commentators to plead that similar involvement of the private sector in higher education will help achieve the objectives of quality and access in the long run.

For the votaries of privatization, the answer lies in privatising universities in our country like several universities in the U.S., the UK and many European countries. But this sort of motivation needs to be seen in the context of reality. In fact, education is too important a matter to be left to private enterprise.

Over the years there have been private initiatives in education in India by the corporate sector, sometimes for philanthropic reasons and of late, to meet the growing demands of business and the required skilled manpower.

That the opening of new conventional colleges and universities should not be encouraged as stated in the recommendations made in the Eighth Plan (1992-1997) was the first indication of the government's policy change.

Also, the involvement of voluntary agencies and private sector participation in the opening and conduct of higher education institutions with proper checks to ensure maintenance of standard was a significant recommendation. In early 1995, the UGC formulated a set of guidelines for establishing private universities but nothing in the form of a Bill could be introduced in Parliament.

Then came the ministry of finance's paper on government subsidies (1997), which put higher education in the "non-merit" category based on the reasoning that higher education benefited individuals more than the society and, as such, suggested that the government should not subsidize it. It should be left to private bodies to provide the requisite finances instead.

Till the mid-1980s, most countries financed their higher education systems almost to the extent of 90 percent and India was no exception. The scenario has changed with the shift of emphasis from higher to primary and elementary education.

This has led to the assumption that subsidy on higher education should be reduced. Even the Birla Ambani Report suggests that government subsidies to higher education should be minimal and funds thus saved should be invested in expanding facilities at the primary and secondary stages of education.

However, it is hard to conceive of the qualitative development of primary and secondary education in the absence of qualified and competent teachers who must be the products of good colleges and universities.

Trained technical manpower coming out of universities is also a prerequisite for the socio-economic development of the country. Naturally any reduction in financial investment for this sector will prove counter-productive. The unrestrained enthusiasm towards privatization will open the floodgates of commercialization in the education system.

Also, there has been a mushroom growth of capitation fee charging institutions providing professional courses to the highest bidders. Many self-financing courses have also come up with exorbitant fee structures.

Private institutions have proved to be centers of exploitation of human resources. Teachers are paid a meager salary and required to work hard. This is detrimental to the quality of education imparted in such institutions because it is difficult for teachers to deliver their best under such conditions.

At the time of seeking recognition and affiliation, these institutions agree to abide by all the conditions laid down by the university and the government, but later default.

Corporatisation of higher education, which is creeping gradually into the university system, has the grim possibility of the commercialization, domination of elitist groups in admissions and loss of moral values on which the university system in our country should be based.

There will certainly be no academic freedom in these universities as they are likely to work like an industry for deriving profits out of their large investment and not for the advancement of learning. A massive erosion in the quality and standards of higher education is likely to take place.

Article 41 of the Constitution provides that the right to education, including higher education, is subject to the economic capacity of the state.

Complete privatization of higher education has certainly to be ruled out. In fact, complete privatization does not exist anywhere. In Japan, Korea, Philippines and Latin America mass privatization exists alongside restricted public sectors.

A mixed system with the domination of the public sector exists in South Asia, Africa and Western Europe. In the Netherlands and Belgium both co-exist under public funding. In Sweden, the UK, France, Spain and Thailand, limited private entrepreneurship exists.

In India, private participation in the financing and management in higher education should be encouraged. In a developing country like India there is a need to ensure the access and equity for masses in higher education.

Even the advanced countries have lately realized their wrong policies of under-investment in higher education. The white paper presented by the Tony Blair government in the UK in January 2003 shows that if a country needs to keep pace with the progress of others, the state has no alternative but to invest in education.

According to a report, between 1997 and 2006 the proportion of GDP spent on education in the UK will rise from 4.5 to 5.6 percent. Spending on higher education will rise from a total of around US$7.5 billion in 2002-2003 to almost $10 billion in 2005- 06 -- in real terms an increase of over six percent each year.

Privatization may cause tremendous social upheaval as it is always accompanied by large layoffs and heavily biased course controls in favor of professional excellence, irrespective of human excellence which springs from the inculcation of human values.

The recommendation of the "World Declaration on Higher Education" issued by UNESCO may be recalled: "The fundamentals of human ethics should constitute the essential component of and be applied to each profession and to all areas of human endeavor".

The writer is Reader in the Department of English, Gurudas College.