Education is what remains with us once we have forgotten everything that was taught in classes and written in books. The books and the classes are just the vehicle of education and not prime beneficiary, our children should be the beneficiaries, and yet the system lays so much importance to the vehicle and so little to the beneficiaries. The fact that higher education is in deep and profound crisis is undeniable. Higher education is fast becoming a commodity by its very nature and is being limited to a package. No wonder the process of commoditization of education is going hand in hand with the process of its destruction. By this faulty process, creating students with open and inquisitive minds is fast disappearing.
Books and the internet are only sources of information. When this information is processed by a good teacher, made simple to grasp and easy to understand for the young and impressionable minds, what they get in turn is knowledge. Then in the children utilize this knowledge in their day to day life, season this knowledge with values they imbibe from their homes, their schools and the society, then what they acquire is wisdom. Wisdom, once acquired, is never lost. This entire journey from information to wisdom is what we call education!
So today, when we find students burdened with books and notes from their colleges, tuition and coaching classes on one hand and with the Frankenstein expectations of over-ambitious parents on the other, it is not surprising to see that they have no idea about the world around them. They are continuously trying to learn a package of things, which they memorize and reproduce in the examinations. In this vicious way we are only ensuring a complete destruction of their creative minds. But the very purpose of education was just the opposite of this, and today we seem to be absolutely oblivious of this big picture!
Remember how as children we would go outside the lines with our crayons while filling colours in our drawing copy. While to the Gurus of yesteryears that was creativity of the young mind, not ready to be confined by lines drawn by someone else, in today’s grammar it is indiscipline and dirty! The main objective of education - to open up the minds, is failing miserably by compelling every child to chase the same standard format of perfection. And now this malady, something that began very early at the school-level, has permeated the higher education system as well. Our education system is proceeding fundamentally in a direction opposite to one that was committed to by stalwarts like Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda and Prof. Ashutosh Mukherjee.
We must have a system that produces the intellectuals of free India, and not of the colonial order. We need young men and women, who are committed to the building of the nation and not yet another horde of clerks to run our offices. And for this we have to redefine our goals of higher education.
Whether one considers higher education to be a commodity or a human right is often determined these days by one’s philosophical, ethical, political, or economic outlook. There are divergent views on this issue which spark polarization and fierce controversy. In many western countries higher education was treated as a right for many years and some countries are still trying to maintain this tradition although it places an increasingly large financial burden on their governments. The reality is that, today, higher education has become a commodity which is for sale. Post dated certificates, diplomas and degrees are now saleable items of high value and they are in great demand in the national and global marketplace. Developed countries create vast income by exporting education and cunning investors in India have realized that education sells like hot cakes!
The main drivers of this commodification or commercialization of higher education are scarce public funds, the knowledge-based economy, the prevalence of information and communications technology, and globalization. Many governments are now unable to fund post-secondary (tertiary) education and they are now charging their students expensive tuition fees. Austerity measures imposed by governments in these harsh economic times have led to deep cuts in higher education budgets. This is the reason why we see a mushrooming of private Medical Colleges, Dental Colleges, Engineering colleges and Law colleges.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed on December 10, 1948, declares in Article 26 that “Everyone has the right to education” and further declares that higher education “shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.” To this, because of our peculiar social milieu and our commitment to upliftment of the backward and disenfranchised, we have added the rider of reservation. Since higher education is a right, governments must do everything in their power to facilitate it and make it accessible to working-class and lower middle-class students. Higher education is a public good which empowers individuals and communities to understand, relate to, and improve their existence. It is an avenue for individual, social and economic development. In the interests of preserving democracy and equality of opportunity in higher education, governments need to prioritize the provision of higher education for students in the lower socioeconomic brackets.
In the era of Privatization today institutions and teachers have become providers and students have become consumers in the growing higher education commodity market. This has changed the nature of teacher-student relationships in a negative way and medical colleges are no exceptions. The marketplace has also changed the value we place on different subjects and forms of knowledge. Knowledge and skills are being taught more and more for instrumental reasons such as getting specific jobs. Private companies are becoming more and more involved in the funding and curricula of higher education. In this context only knowledge and skills relating directly to the marketplace will be taught. Critical areas will be neglected and genuine education will suffer. Already, more and more students are abandoning the humanities as getting a job is easier with a professional degree.
Some of the ideals of education have been forgotten, such as the upliftment of the masses, and concern relative to social and ethical issues. Governments must find creative ways to protect equality of opportunity for all students in higher education. Teachers must inspire the weakest student in their class and remind him time and time again that he or she is precious and has a sacred purpose to fulfill in this world. Parents too must do their bit and every time I hear about yet another young man or woman committing suicide in the coaching factories of Kota I see yet another set of grief stricken parents who have miserably lost out in the exciting and gratifying game of parenting.
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