Funds for higher education inadequate

BANGALORE: The trend of Indian students going to foreign countries in pursuit of higher education should be reversed and there should be a two-way traffic in the field. The country’s education infrastructure and the quality should be increased, Principal Secretary of the Higher Education Department Siddaiah said.Speaking at a one-day workshop on ‘Trends in Higher Education: Problems and Prospects’ organised at National College in the city on Thursday, Siddaiah stated that a Working Group of the Universities Grants Commission (UGC) had allotted Rs 1.90 lakh crore for a campaign titled ‘Sarva Shiksha Ucch Abhiyan’ in the 12th Five Year Plan which would focus on Higher Education.“That is the kind of money needed in order to achieve goals in higher education,” he said.Presenting his views against privatisation of education, he said that a majority of courses offered by private universities were market-driven and “not focused on holistic teaching and only on getting the students a high pay package. Serious questions can be raised about their commitment to society and the nation.”Adding that the State’s allotment for higher education was “somewhat inadequate” and that a gradual withdrawal of support to private players is making them focus more on professional courses.Speaking on the occasion, former Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University N R Shetty stated that just a basic revision of pay scales was not enough to improve the quality of education and that reforms are needed at the national level.“The National Knowledge Commission, under the chairmanship of Sam Pitroda, had recommend disbanding of the affiliation system. It is a legacy of the colonial system,” he said.Under the UPA-II government, necessary actions like the abolishment of UGC, AICTE and NAAC, along with the establishment of a National Council of Educational Research, are long pending.“Fifteen bills are pending for the past three years. There is a paralysis in higher education sector currently and till reforms are brought about, it won’t go away,” he said.Shetty added that another way of tackling the problem of affiliation is to establish more and more autonomous colleges. Making a case for groundwork research being the basis of policy framing, former Secretary General of the Association of India Universities, Prof K B Pawar said that the present method of having policy reforms through legislation is devoid of grassroots research into the need for policies.The workshop also contained various paper presentations and other sessions by academicians from around the country.