Education Act in India Contd..

 

 

Involvement of Private Schools

No school without recognition
 Conform to the minimum standards prescribed
All unaided schools to provide free education to at least
25% children from the weaker sections in the
neighbourhood
 Costs to be reimbursed – @ per child expenditure
incurred by the State

Protection of the Right

Independent Monitoring of the implementation of the Act is
assigned to the National council of Protection of Child
Rights (NCPCR) the main responsibility of
 Examine and review safeguards for rights under this Act,
recommend measures for effective implementation
 Inquire into complaints relating to child’s right to free and
compulsory education
 Conduct Periodic social Audit of the status of
implementation

RTE Implementation Road Map

RTE Implementation Road Map
Establishment of neighbourhood schools      :   3 years

Provision of school infrastructure                  :   3 years
–All weather school buildings
–One-classroom-one-teacher
–Head Teacher cum Office room, library
–Toilets, drinking water, kitchen sheds
–Barrier free access
–Playground, fencing, boundary walls

Provision of teachers as per prescribed PTR   :   3 years

Training of untrained teachers                          :   5 years

Quality interventions and other provisions      :   With immediate
effect

Education Act in India

Right of Children:

To free and compulsory admission, attendance and
completion of EE in a neighbourhood school
 Free: removal by the state of any financial barrier that
prevents a child from completing eight years of
schooling
 Compulsion: on the state; parental duty to send
children to school
Not enrolled/dropout children be admitted to age
appropriate class after a period of Special Training
No child shall be failed or expelled from school upto class 8
(– corresponds to the age group 6-14)

Schools:

Norms and standards specified – applicable to all schools
 Minimum Infrastructure
 Teacher-Pupil Ratio of 1:30
 School days (200 to 220 days) and total instructional
hours (800 to 1000 hours)
 Working days for teachers – weekly hours of work
To be applied in every school

Teachers:

Qualification for appointment of
teachers laid down at national level
Academic responsibility of the teachers
specified
No private tuition by fulltime school
teachers

Bringing Community and Schools closer:

Community participation ensured through School
Management Committee comprising parents, teachers and
elected representatives
 ¾ members from among parents of children in the school
 Proportionate representation to weaker and deprived
sections
Allocates major responsibility to the Local Authority –
Panchayati Raj system
 To proactively monitor the delivery of rights and
entitlements of children

To free and compulsory admission, attendance and
completion of EE in a neighbourhood school
 Free: removal by the state of any financial barrier that
prevents a child from completing eight years of
schooling
 Compulsion: on the state; parental duty to send
children to school
Not enrolled/dropout children be admitted to age
appropriate class after a period of Special Training
No child shall be failed or expelled from school upto class 8
(– corresponds to the age group 6-14)

EQUITY AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION – ENROLMENT AT DISAGGREGATE LEVEL

8.1 Enrolment at disaggregate level
After having assessed the progress at aggregate level in the last chapter, attempt
has been made to look at the progress with respect to certain special groups and
also at the inter-group disparities of multiple natures. The present chapter
devotes on a study of the disparities between (a)rural and urban (b) States (c)
Inter-caste (d) Inter-religion (e) Male-female (f) different occupation groups; and
(g) Poor and non–poor. NSS data for 2000, which provide detailed information
at disaggregate level, has been used..
8.2 Rural and Urban
There are significant disparities in enrolment ratio between rural and urban area.
In 2000 the GER for rural and urban area was 5.58% and 21.74% respectively-
GER in urban area being four times higher compared with rural area (Table
4.10).
The population census came up with the GER of 8.99% for rural area and
24.52% for urban area in 2001 – the GER in rural area being all most three time
lower compared with urban area.
The EER worked out to 51.1% for rural and 66% for urban area-later being
higher by about 15% points. This means only half of the rural boys and girls who
complete higher secondary go to higher education which is less by 15% points
compared with urban area.
8.3 Inter-State Variation
There are considerable inter-state variations in the level of higher education.
While the GER at aggregate level is about 10.08%, it is more than national
average in State/UTs like Chandigarh (26.24%), Delhi (21.16%), Kerala
(18.08%), Goa (17.54%), Pondicherry.(15.37%), Himachal Pradesh (15.22%)
and Maharashtra (14.14%) (Table 4.1(b).
By national comparison, the GER is lower than the national average in
States/UTs like Lakshadweep (0.34%), D&N Haveli (2.23%), Arunachal Pradesh
(2.42%), Sikkim (5.01%), Tripura (5.97%), Bihar (6.16%), West Bengal (6.30%),
Meghalaya (07.13%), Mizoram (7.87), Karnataka (7.96%).
8.4 Gender Disparities. The access to higher education is also low for girls as compared with boys. The
GER being 12.12% for male and 8% for female.

Higher Education – Autonomous Colleges

India consists of a large network of more than 17,000 colleges. Out of
them, there are 204 autonomous colleges spread over in 44 universities of
10 States and 1 Union Territory. These colleges form the bedrock of
higher education. They are also the unit of higher education to promote
access, equity, quality, relevance and research. The recommended
measures are:-
– Teachers of autonomous colleges should be treated on par with
those in the Universities.
– Special recognition should be accorded to meritorious autonomous
colleges.
– Autonomous college be granted degree awarding status.
– Cluster colleges should be created. Clear and well-defined
guidelines should be formulated for these to function.
– The academic council of autonomous colleges must be empowered
to start the undergraduate or postgraduate courses just like the
‘deemed to be universities’.
– Networking of autonomous colleges be done in such way that the
students benefit by credit transfer from one autonomous college to
another autonomous college, for the purpose of conferment of the
degree , so as to enable students’ mobility.
– University Grants Commission should support creation of
specialized schools in the campus.
– A permanent status of autonomy and degree awarding status is
conferred to colleges, which have gone through the experience 15-
20 years of autonomy.
– Special grant for CPE and Autonomous colleges to initiate the
Deemed University status with the aid of and in consultation with
the State Governments.
– Additional grant as second phase of CPE for existing CPE

Higher Education – Use Of Technologies

 

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD in its 172nd Report
has recommended that we must exploit our ICT potential for its
penetration to the Country remotest corner to expand the access to
higher education.
• ICT has tremendous potential to extend and augment quality in higher
education. Its full potential has not been tapped.
• Under the Eleventh Plan, Central Universities can lead this process by
providing campus based wireless Internet facilities, 24X7 computer labs.
• In collaboration with corporate houses, a laptop initiative can be put in
place for post-graduate and research scholars. This will greatly enhance
equitable access to knowledge base
• Satellite uploading equipment for each Central University should be
established.
• The State universities have fallen behind in modernizing their
administrative machinery and introducing e-governance.
• Funds should be provided to State universities for ICT faculty.

PUBLIC EXPENDITURE ON HIGHER EDUCATION: AN OVERVIEW

Process and Nature of Planning for Higher Education
• The plan size is determined by the Planning Commission in consultation
with the Ministry of Human Resource Development, UGC and other
experts through the constitution of an expert group on higher education.
The development grant is essentially in the nature of ad hoc grant
provided once in five years by UGC to the Central Universities on the
basis of negotiations. In allocating the plan grants to the universities, UGC
has scheme-based approach to fund higher education. Plans prepared by
the universities are scrutinized by the UGC and allocations to the
universities are made under the different schemes.
In the light of above observations, it would be profitable to explore the
possibilities of alternative method of planning, considering one or more of
the following issues and aspects: –
– Scheme based approach of the plan support to universities and
colleges should be restricted to the few major schemes only.
– Universities and colleges should be allocated a block grant. The
block grant can be disbursed against a 5 year perspective plan
prepared by the universities and colleges under the guidelines
issued by the UGC.
– Perspective plan of the universities and colleges should clearly
mention the vision, mission and objectives of the institution. The
detailed plan should review the status of teaching and research and
contribution of the institution in terms of access, equity and quality.
– Guidelines of the UGC may provide for the norms and the financial
support for the separate programme.
– UGC should develop an effective online monitoring mechanism
along with the review missions for supervision of implementation of
the programmes.

Growth Pattern of Public Funding for Higher Education

The trend of the public expenditure on higher education indicates that
during 1993-94 and 2004-05, the public expenditure in elementary
education has gone up by four times. However, the public expenditure on
secondary and higher education has increased roughly by three times.
The size of the total public expenditure in India in 2004-05 (B) is Rs.
80286 crores (Rs. 802.8 billion). The Sectoral allocation of public
expenditure on education for all these years on elementary, secondary,
higher (general) and technical education remained

Summary on last ten five year plans

 

 

 

GENERAL : To achieve a profound transformation of higher education in order
that it becomes an effective promoter of sustainable human development and at
the same time, improves its relevance with closer links with the world of work and
achieve quality in its teaching, research, business and community extension
functions including life long learning.
SPECIFIC: To contribute to the transformation through improvement of the
conceptions, methodology and practices related to:
�� The relevance of higher education.
�� Quality, evaluation and accreditation.
�� Research and development.
�� Outreach activities in business and community and life long
learning.
�� The knowledge and use of the new information and communication
technology.
�� Management and financing.
�� Export of higher education, and reorientation of international
cooperation.
�� Strengthening of open and distance education system.
�� Strengthening of research institutions.
�� Mobilization of resources.

THRUST AREAS OF HIGHER EDUCATION DURING 5TH TO 10TH FIVE YEAR PLANS

Analysis of the past Five Year Plans indicates that, there have been
continuous efforts to strengthen the base by developing infrastructure, improving
the quality through several programs and schemes, introducing reforms in
content and evaluation and encouraging generation of knowledge through
research. The focus of fifth five-year plan was on infrastructure development, the
sixth plan onwards the focus shifted to consolidation and quality improvement.
The Seventh Plan laid emphasis on research and academic developments. It
was from this plan onward that the development centers of excellence and area
study programs got special attention. From the Eighth Plan onward, the need for
differential funding was recognized. Under this plan, it was envisaged that the
developing departments would be provided necessary funds to bring up their
facilities and activities to an optimum level for their teaching and general
research pregrammes. The Ninth Plan aimed at gearing the system of higher
education to meet the challenges arising out of the major social, economic and
technological changes. The focus of Tenth Plan was aimed at quality and
relevance of higher education, research and development, management in
financing and the use of the new information and communication technologies.
The Tenth Plan provided the basis for higher education in the 21st century.

 

 

Indian Higher Education Sector : Conclusion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is much work to be done – on all aspects of higher education. We believe that these Bills will lay the
foundation for creating a modern framework to improve quality and check malpractices in the Higher Education
space in India. They will create an enabling environment wherein multiple providers of education – domestic
and foreign, public and private, not-for-profit and, if the government deems fit, for-profit, can operate and
compete to provide access to quality education. Higher education is the basis for the knowledge economy. India
has a lower GER of only 11% of the 19-24 years age-group compared to 21% in China, 30% in Malaysia and
83% in the USA. Gender differences in attendance in higher education have declined for recent age-cohorts; but
social group, income and rural location still influence access. Of the 12mn students enrolled, one third study in
private sector institutions, the rest of the sector is of variable and on the average poor quality largely focused on
undergraduate education in the arts, social science and humanities on the other hand post-graduate, professional
degree and science and technology enrolments accounts for a smaller share. The scenario is even truer in private
sector. The unemployment rate among tertiary graduates is 12% compared to 5% overall, reflecting perhaps a
combination of initiatives to be taken. The present framework of GATS needs to be exploited by India to enable
it to remain competitive in the global scenario. These are exciting times for higher education. The Government
has made massive increases in budgetary allocations. It has also acknowledged the importance of private
participation. There is a wide and growing spectrum of services being offered in this sector. These are almost
entirely on a legitimate for-profit basis. We have the potential of becoming a global hub for education. The
Government should work with all stake holders and seek to harness the creativity, energy and capability of the
private sector and create synergies by working with, rather than in competition with it. The opportunity is real –
all stakeholders need to work together to capture it.

Indian Higher Education Sector : The Way Forward Contd..

 

National Commission for Higher Education and Research 2010
This Bill is currently in the process of being finalized and is open to feedback from public stakeholders. It has
created a significant interest because it envisages the creation of the National Commission for Higher Education
and Research (NCHER) which will replace both the UGC, AICTE. This is based on the recommendations of
both the Knowledge Commission and the Yash Pal Committee that have reposed their trust in an all powerful
commission to ‘rejuvenate’ the education system and remove multiple regulators.
The Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill, 2010 (FEI Bill)
Overview of the Bill
The Bill seeks to include within its ambit all foreign education institutions (FEIs), whether existing and
proposed, set up independently or in collaboration with an Indian partner/ education provider, an institution that
provides education resulting in degree, diploma or certificate in India. Distance Education has been excluded
from the ambit of the Bill.
FEIs proposing to award degrees and diplomas are required to mandatorily seek notification from the Central
Government as a ‘Foreign Education Provider (FEP)’, subject to meeting specified eligibility criteria. These
requirements are clearly aimed at ensuring that only established and financially sound FEIs qualify. Those
providing certificate courses have lighter reporting requirements.
Any FEI proposing to make an application for registration needs to have the application endorsed by the
Embassy/ High Commission of the home country where the FEI is registered and situated. Every application
must inter-alia contains:
 documentation to establish that the applicant has a 20 years track record in the home country
 undertaking to maintain a minimum corpus of ` 500 million
 status of accreditation in home country and
 information on the financial soundness of the applicant.
The steps that are followed in the review of an application for notification of an FEI as an FEP are as detailed
in Exhibit 13. The Bill prescribes norms for utilizing the income received from the corpus fund. It states that
only 75% of the income received from the corpus shall be used by the FEP for development purposes and the
remaining 25% must be deposited. There are not only caps on the amount that can be utilized, but also
restriction on repatriation of surplus outside India, another measure aimed at protecting Indian students from flyby-
night operators. Quality is ensured by mandating that the quality of programs offered in India is comparable
with those offered by the FEP in its home country. It additionally ensures transparency by requiring FEPs to
publish a prospectus 60 days prior to the commencement of admission for purpose of providing information,
inter-alia, regarding fees, faculty and infrastructure to prospective students and to also provide specified details
on its website. The Bill empowers the Government to exempt an applicant FEI with a reputation or international
standing from all provisions of the Bill, except those relating to non-repatriation of surplus generated in India
and penalties prescribed for violating provisions of the Act.
Penalties have been prescribed for any FEI and any person/ Indian education provider for contravening the
provisions of the law and can range from ` 1 to 5 million.
This is a long awaited legislation which should open another avenue for capacity creation in the system as well
as expose our domestic institutions to foreign competition. The existing policy regime is ambivalent and there
are no regulations governing or enabling entry of a foreign education institution into India. It is, therefore,
encouraging that the Government has finally acknowledged the need for a legislation that provides this clarity.
The provisions of the Bill amply reflect a Government focus on quality, reliability and accountability of FEIs
intending to establish in India, thus addressing major concerns which the opening up of an otherwise tightly
regulated sector may bring up.
It has already raised extensive debate. The primary criticism of the Bill is that it would create elitist
institutions with exorbitant fee structures that will be unaffordable for the Indian masses. There are also
apprehensions of domestic institutions being unable to compete. While it is true that these institutions are likely
to have higher fees, it is equally true that they shall create new quality benchmarks and introduce a culture of
high academic professionalism – thereby raising the bar for delivery of education in India. Access to needy but
the deserving students can be enhanced by making them eligible for scholarships and the Government’s
subsidised student loans.
On the flip side, prima facie, the Bill seems to be biased towards research oriented universities (fast track
mechanism for reputed institutions). It is important to understand that given the huge demand-supply gap, the
bulk of the institutions that are likely to have an interest in India are those whose focus is on teaching and vocational/skill building. In this scenario it would be unrealistic to expect the top-notch universities like Harvard
or Oxford to set up standalone campuses in India and have their autonomy and quality potentially compromised
with all our regulatory constraints. Media reports have indicated that Oxford has no plans for setting up in India,
Yale has merely accepted to act as mentor to the 14 innovation universities proposed by the Government and
Harvard is content with providing executive programs to Indian corporate executives. In this scenario, it is only
the next level of universities that might be interested in India. Many of these have very high standards and
quality of education and accommodate the majority of the Indian students studying abroad. But they have no
fast track mechanism under the Bill and are potentially subject to all the regulatory rigours and restrictions on
autonomy.