Of course, the UPA would not think this way, but consider?as its term enters the endgame period, this government?s sole substantive achievement in higher education is the OBC quota law, which received the Supreme Court?s imprimatur yesterday. As we have argued many times, the quota debate misrepresented the higher education problem. Even if one were to argue that the 27% quota was the best way to increase access of certain social groups to higher education?this was and will remain a contestable point, despite the court?s legal clearance of the policy?the real problem is horrendous undersupply. In medical education, for example, the ratio of qualified graduates to requirements is heart attack inducingly low. The government has promised to increase seats and teachers across disciplines. But, first, that promise has to be reviewed against poor delivery record in similar cases and, second, undersupply can?t be and shouldn?t be tackled by sarkari education. A massive encouragement to quality private education is the answer. This needs policy recognition that higher education is a business, that entrepreneurs should be encouraged, that a quality-monitoring regulator far more effective than UGC or AICTE is required, and that no distinctions should be made between domestic and private foreign capital in education supply.
Compared to this, look at what Arjun Singh has done. IIMs have to anticipate ministerial outbursts on ?social justice? every time they seek to rationalise their affairs. Not one worthwhile statement, forget policy, has been made about the dreadful state of most government universities, even though all recent studies show India is nowhere in global university rankings. The prospect of foreign universities in India has been so disturbing that the HRD ministry has made rules of entry discouragingly complicated. And because there?s such an excess demand, because quality-conscious entrepreneurs are not incentivised enough and because regulation is poor, shady and/or low quality operators are entering private education. This is a terrible mess presided over by a terribly ineffective HRD minister. Arjun Singh feels vindicated today, and the Congress feels excited that it may get more votes because of the law. Those are understandable as political responses. But Singh and his party should know that many of those who might vote for them because of the new quota law won?t get a good education despite the new quota.
