It is a truth not always acknowledged that the index of human security depends on development of education. As India aspires to be one of the more relevant powers of the 21st century, it will pay to bear this in mind. Despite good intentions, the country has done a poor job, overall, so far. Partly as a result of resource constraints, India has been able to spend only 4.1% of GNP on education. Now, as the post-industrial phase necessitates an information revolution to turn the country competitive in the knowledge economy of the 21st century, we need universities that can support research at the cutting edge of global endeavour.
India?s modernisation and newfound prosperity, even the parts dependent on high-tech industries such as information technology and biotechnology, are not yet displaying leadership on the world stage. If India commands attention at international gatherings, it is still largely for moral leadership (say, at the Bali conference on climate change). The education challenge is to gain the former without losing the latter.
Remember that India?s main competitors, especially China, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea, are investing heavily in higher education. The Indian government intends to upgrade the educational system, and it has almost doubled funding for this. For 2007-08, the sum earmarked for improving secondary education is Rs 3,794 crore, up from Rs 1,873 crore.
Will more money help? Research and teaching have been relegated to one of the lowest levels of compensation in the sector (and perhaps even economy), and more realistic pay may attract the brightest, as was the case a generation ago. Yet, this is a sector that displays a profoundly weak correlation between spend levels and results. While financial incentives do work in this sector, as in any other, it takes a temper and dedication of another kind as well. This makes educational reforms difficult to carry out. Yet, without a radical transformation, the country could find itself left far behind competitors that are keen to replicate and outdo the scientific base that India managed to create even on low budgets.
The corporate sector has a long-term stake in the performance of India?s education sector. But private sector efforts have not been impressive; they typically opt to either capitalise on mass market demand for ?paper qualifications? or run programmes so self-serving as to produce task-fulfillers rather than truly educated personalities. Similar criticism may be levelled against state-run institutions as well, but at least the objective was not to maximise returns by churning out assembly line automatons that can serve as cogs in some mechanical workframe.
This is not to disparage the thousands of jobs being generated by the services sector boom that require only modestly intellectual skills. Better education can indeed help the sector meet the challenge of improving its productivity, and this would have vast potential for further large-scale employment generation. Students of science, commerce, arts and other streams, not just engineering, could find ready sources of income, and the impact of financial freedom on other pursuits cannot be underestimated.
In fact, education reforms could result, over time, in BPO units taking to rural areas, as is already the practice in some South Indian states. This will open up new development possibilities, balance the real estate crunch and bridge the digital divide.
It is important for the Centre to implement the 86th amendment to the Constitution which provides free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14 years. Inclusive growth is a non-starter without an earnest effort to see this done. At the rate of India?s current economic growth, once distant goals are looking closer within reach, and if this opportunity is squandered, future generations may never forgive us. Economic growth, be clear, is not a sum of short-term statistics. It is something that comes on a foundation built painstakingly for the long-term future.
The author is with Krishna Securities. These are his personal views