‘Education, the last thing on candidates’ minds’

Bengaluru: “Of the two premier educational institutions in the city, one — the IISc — was built in the pre-Independence era. Post-Independence, how many premier institutions have been set up?” questions V.N. Rajashekar, president of the All-India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO), a Leftist student body.

While most candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections have promised to improve roads and water supply in the city, they have little to say about building new IITs, IIMs and other premier institutions.

Speaking at the invitation of Deccan Chronicle, Rajashekar and journalist and social activist Vijay Grover make a pitch for urgent attention to improving the education sector, rather than focusing merely on physical infrastructure.

“Development has been misinterpreted in our country. The UN Human Development Index has several yardsticks, like education, health, food, hygiene. But when we speak of development, it’s only about traffic, electricity and other physical infrastructure basics,” says Rajashekar.

“A sitting MP talks of developing projects worth Rs 30,000 crore and promises to bring Rs 10,000 crore from the Centre if elected. What will be the contribution to the education sector?”

Grover, who believes Bengaluru has reached saturation in terms of development, says, “I don’t think the city needs any more premier institutions. I mean, look at IIM-B. How many local students are studying there? Maybe less than 10. Instead, we need to develop educational hubs like Manipal, which is known for its university, outside Bengaluru. For that matter, look at what happened to Roorkee in Uttarakhand. With the setting up of IIT, job opportunities expanded. The state needs comprehensive development.”

Rajashekar also worries about the high cost and commoditisation of education. “When education becomes costly, as it does in premier institutions, it becomes a commodity. Seats are given away on the basis of money and not merit.”

“School education in India is expensive. Nursery education is costlier college studies. What is the government doing about it? We cannot even think of sending our kids to government schools due to the low quality of education there. The government starves these schools of funds and finally it kills them.”

Grover says the solution may be to set up more Kendriya Vidayalayas and Sainik Schools, or new ones modeled on them.

Rajashekar points out the irony of a situation in which profit-making corporates get billions in subsidies but educational institutions remain underfunded.
Of course, he is quick to say that while government should pour more money into public schools, it should not interfere with the education system.

“The government’s role should only be to fund educational institutions and not interfere with the system. A democratically elected council of representatives should be formed so that the quality of education in government schools is improved and they need not depend on PPP model for quality service.”