All for a decent education
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The gory, frightening and distressful pictures of Indian students in Australia being brutally beaten up is a shameful and disgusting outcome of Indian universities’ inability to provide quality education and absorb discerning Indian students, compelling them to seek admission abroad and set the ball rolling for hurt and abuse. It speaks of the sad development of human resources in our country that the best known institutes in India—the IIMs— do not figure anywhere in the world’s top 100 MBA schools (as per the FT’s rankings, the only Indian school to make the cut is ISB). There is an urgent need to revamp our entire education edifice so that we are in a position to create world-class universities of the highest standards. In fact, education should be beyond the control of government authority and its concomitant rules and regulations. Even in the case of the IITs/IIMs, HRD ministers from Murli Manohar Joshi to Arjun Singh to now Kapil Sibal have seen much merit in pronouncing their views on what these institutes need to do, no sooner these ministers assumed power. That is hardly the way to go if one has autonomy as a desirable goal in mind. Besides, there is much regional disparity when it comes to the quality of educational institutes in India. My city Gwalior has all sorts of institutes—engineering (both government-funded and private), medicine, graduate schools of arts—but their quality is so poor that no one passing out of them can hope to reach anywhere respectable on the dint of his/her academic credentials. If a university’s place in the rankings is determined by the quality of its teaching staff, why can’t the government work at establishing at least 10 world-class universities in each discipline and demand higher fees from students to run these places? The salaries that the university pays its staff will not be a constraint then. When people can mortgage their properties and what not to send their children abroad, there is no reason they would not pay a premium to let their wards attend an Indian school which had the likes of Noam Chomsky and Amartya Sen as guest faculty. That would go some way in preventing students from studying in countries where they have no security of life or limb. |
(8 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)
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June 5th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Saying that students flock overseas just to obtain a better education is an oversimplification of things. India has a few private universities & institutions coming up that can address this perceived lack of quality.(ISB actually did make it to the rankings that you quote). The reality is that many students aspire to land jobs (& work visas) in the countries where they study. Most students would prefer to study in an IIT or an IIM rather than abroad but cannot make it through the competitive selection procedure. In my view, our status as a knowledge superpower is largely due to the quality of our educational institutions, which do a pretty good job given the funds they have at their disposal.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Just because some people are illtreated in Australia, I would not worry. Have you really though that there might be a problem with us. We need to understand that there is a fundamental difference in our and western culture. In western countries students earn while they study and I notice that unlike in the US most indians who are going to Australia to study are rich brats who wanna buy a degree. They blow up money enjoy life and return to india to handle there business. This will for sure infest jealousy, “be a roman in rome” don’t just show off and buy drinks for girls. If you do that you will get thrashed, wether in OZ, EU or the US.
Why shud i not live and add to the GDP of the US. I see no harm in it, just because I was born in a country does not mean I shud live there. It is not a caste system that we are trying to ape. I was born in a doctor family but want to be an engineer, why not. The same way if I was born in a country and settle in another one i see no harm. Yes the quality of life is better, yes everything around me is more organized. You cannot force your choice on others, just because you are happy in a state does not mean everyone else would also. I worked hard for a better life I slogged to get into an ivy league Bschool. I work hard to earn money, not to give it away to some lazy guy who does not wanna work.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
I tend to agree with Shilpa, she has many valid themes in her argument. I have lived and worked in three continents, and empathise with her cogent points.
However as India’s infrastructure improves,many many NRI’s will be heading home,purely for cultural attraction and wider opportunities.Recently in the F.T. I read an interview with Global Head of the Manpower Group,and he was very vociferous that Indians are Going back to India, from N.America and Europe and assesd the economic impact it will ahve on the host countries, in the long run. Even the Americans are now saying after all Mumbai is not that bad , the standard of living is quite acceptable. Unfortunately some Indian have persecution complex.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Mr GNS,
How dare you say that people who stand up for their countries are scoundrels?..If want to call ppl who respect their country as scoundrels then you are a hypocrite..and you only make a statement that “India is left far behind”. India is left behind because of hypocrites like you who want to stay abroad even after being abused and beaten up. If ppl had thought like you then there wouldn’t be Abraham lincoln, Roosevelt build strong nations like USA. They also could have chosen the easier path of staying in a country which gives better quality of life. Remember it is our very own Indian foreign affairs ministry which asked for explaination of attacks in Oz. That is when u buggers suffer abroad, India still comes to your rescue!!. And u want uninterrupted power supply and good sanitation na, how can it be implemented when our ppl (intelligent ones) want to improve America/UK/Australia’s GDP.
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Have you heard the expression ” patriotism is the refuge of scoundrels ” ? In today’s border-less world,young people everywhere,including India or even Singapore,go where the living conditions are good for themselves,their children.Our India’s politicians,including Bal Thackray, endlessly talk about mother tongue but ALWAYS send their children / grand children to the best English medium schools.There is no point in crying hoarse about brain drain.If our cities can assure continuous uninterrupted power supply,more Indians will return home for enjoying Indian ethos.Power supply & sanitation should be taken out of government hands.Same is the case with our universities / professional colleges.Look at China for inspiration.They recruit teaching staff from all over the world while India is mired in red tape for recruiting even locals.
Wake up India.India may have improved but rest of the world has moved far ahead leaving India even far behind !
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Well Said.. I would also like to tell you that India is still a developing nation. Nothing can happen overnight here!!. The quality of education has improved considerably in the past few years. It is not that bad as you are shaping it. It is our very own Indian students with all their basic education in India who have made it to the top rankings in top universities. But the irony is that with all the basic qualification from India and only a Post graduation in USA/Australia, these students contribute to US/Australia’s GDP!!. Most of them stay back and hardly return to India. The top reason given is great “Quality of Living abroad”. Guys wake up, if u can’t do it for your country no one else will do it. If u can’t contribute to India, no one else will!!. U cannot expect the government to spoon feed you with world class universities without funds and so much of a brain drain to foreign countries . Forget about education infrastructure, India is struggling for essentials like rural healthcare, defence services. Fact is India is giving the basic education and majority of the cream is flying abroad to boost another country’s economy and how would you expect a world class faculty/institutions when the bright ones donot want to stay in India. I agree developed countries can offer them better pay packs, better quality of life but can never treat them on par with their citizens. Indians can never be given the freedom and liberty, the way their own home country gives them. This freedom, fairness, priority is invaluable compared to any set of fat paychecks.