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Part - VIII
The cycle of wealth creation through education
Merited students strive to get admission into the most prestigious and value-adding professional institution that they can find.
The cost of such education is funded by family savings, loans based on family assets, and scholarships.
The more expensive and prestigious the school is, the more likely that the first year's salary will be enough to repay the entire cost of the professional education.
When students, from what ever back ground they come from, graduate from one of the IIMs, they join the upper most layer of the society in terms of money and status.
The level of the fee charged by the institute is not a significant factor in this process, as evidenced by ISB which charges almost 6 to 7 times the annual tuition of IIMs for a one year program, which competes head on with IIMs.
The government concern on tuition levels is not warranted, and is not a demand from the taxpayer or the voter at large!
The Opportunity
The current controversy provides a good opportunity for the Academia and the Courts to set right the many ills of the educational system in India and come to grips with issues such as: -
The role of government in primary, secondary, post-secondary and professional education
The right to manage
The right to teach
Moving from total government control to a stringent regime of self-regulation on the US pattern
Set priorities for use of state ( that is public) funds
Putting state funds in universal primary education, and not in professional education
Separation of the different functions of licensing, and accreditation
Funding agencies cannot be regulators
Removal of artificial state boundary based restrictions on where you can study
Removal of reservations once for all
Removal of undue interference in admission processes
A uniform policy on Private Universities
Recognition that for-profit corporations deliver a very great proportion of education in all levels in advanced countries
Allow FDI in Education earlier than later
Tax education, and remove the thinking that education is charity
Direct the government's energies and available funds into our state owned school system, which is a public shame
It is to be hoped this is a temporary aberration and will die with rising voice of public opinion and positive action by the Courts.
Concluded.
* Contributed by: -
Prof. P. V. Ramana; BE (Hons) Elec. Engg. from Andhra University, Waltair, India; MBA (Accounting & Finance) from Washington State University, USA; Prof. Engr. (Thermal Power), USA (equiv. to a Doctoral qualification); Receiver of Life Time Achievement award in 2003 for service to Management Education given by World HRD Congress, Boston, USA; Dr. P. N. Singh Foundation has instituted the "Prof. P. V. Ramana" for Corporate Governance; he has also founded ITM in 1991.
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