The visuals of the migrant labor lugging off on foot a hundred miles or more, back to their villages in search of safety security and food was a horrific sight. It raised the most fundamental questions as to why should that large a chunk of the population still continue to fend for basic needs. The story is not confined just to the misery that was brought about by the spread of Coronavirus but it also exposed the saga of missed opportunities and the consequent low levels of human development. As per the latest release of the Human Development Index, India ranks at 129 out of 189 countries surveyed.

Even after more than 73 three years of independence and planned development, a vast majority of the Indian population still has to struggle with existential challenges. The socialism of the Nehru era and the legacy thereof coupled with a penchant for state controls validated by the left inspired ideologies; from each according to his ability to each according to his need, has proactively promoted idleness and fatalism and fed the vote banks on doles and subsidies. This on one hand discouraged and discounted entrepreneurship and wealth creation and by its very design, it failed to empower and enable large populations in earning decent livelihoods and contribute to the development and evolution of a vibrant society.

India has for long gloated over its demographic advantage. We all seem to agree that a young population could be an asset; but only when this segment of the population is well educated, trained, and deployed for the reconstruction of India, through manufacturing, services and tertiary sector. Or else, this demographic advantage could well turn out to be a demographic disaster; meaning mounting unemployment and resultant social and economic unrest and disaffection. Mere statistics will not resolve our immediate and pressing challenges of combating poverty want and squalor.

Addressing these challenges together with Indias desire to become the worlds 3rd largest economy and the Vishwa Guru, it is imperative that India creates and builds an empowered and able population. In doing so, Education and Training should thus become Indias overriding priority. The existing archaic and grossly underperforming structures of education & training must be overhauled as we prepare to transact and deliver the new knowledge and competencies required in the 21st century for India to emerge as a world leader.

The first and the foundational link in building an educated and skilled population will be the K12 segment of school education. Building and fostering of skills require a firm base of good quality preparatory education starting with the preschool through Class 12. The government schools in this sector are known to have performed poorly and thus creating a vacuum which was quickly filled up by the private edupreneurs and they have apparently done, comparatively speaking, a much better job in providing contemporary quality of education. I am not saying that the governments in the past, regardless of their party or the color of their beliefs, have not attempted but those were some marginal incremental changes without first tackling the very basics. The accountability of teachers, educational professionals, and the state bureaucracy, all together, has been one of the principal reasons for the underperformance of government schools. The state board results and in particular, the performance of government schools have been around 60% pass percentage or less in class 10 and 12 board exams.

As for the private schools let us understand that private education is not philanthropic anymore and most people entering this arena do look for profits. Given the huge investments it requires for starting a private school, it is only reasonable to expect that investments must yield surpluses. The not for profit pretense is a sham and must soon be cast away.

There has been a lot of debate around whether education is a Service or Public Service. If it is Public service, then the governments must provide this public service against the taxes it collects. And if it is considered as a Service then the service providers have a right to charge for it commensurate with its quality as in any other comparable case. Since quality education creates and adds value by way of knowledge, skills & competencies leading to enhanced earning capacities of an individual, there is absolutely no harm that the individual, as a beneficiary of that value creation, pays for that value.

Such individuals not only create value for themselves and their families they also cascade that as employment and wealth creators, impacting and influencing families and lives around them. So the financial and social returns on financial investment in quality education are far greater when compared with seemingly free but valueless education. So, I would plead that instead of controlling and impeding private education, Governments must proactively partner with the private schools in lending support where needed and partner with them in leveraging their educational and intellectual resources in improving the quality of teaching-learning in the government schools in the vicinity. The left legacy of Private vs. State must be dispensed with.

As it stands today 47.5% of the student enrollments at the national level in the K12 segment are in private schools. In some states, these enrolments are as high as 83%. In the urban areas, the all India average is 73%. The aspiring middle class sends its wards to the private schools and in fact even the lower middle class wherever possible opts in favor of private school education. Such preferences clearly indicate the quality perceptions by the large aspiring Indian population.

As I pen this piece, the New Education Policy has been announced by the Government of India. While I do welcome some of the provisions, for that matter even the older policies of 1986 and 1992 pointed more or less in the same direction, it is the issues of poor governance and apathetic implementation that failed those policies. I would, therefore, urge that the government creates innovative structures and processes and fosters a culture of high accountability, transparency, and performance and purge the current system of petty politics. Without structural reforms and a vibrant work culture required in this digital century, this policy too may meet the same fate as its predecessors.

In fact, the poor quality of education imparted by government schools is not free. It is the taxpayer who pays for it and some recent studies have conclusively proved that the total cost of education that includes capital, operating, and maintenance costs, in the government sector is substantially higher as compared to private schools. Furthermore, as you compare the value creation by way of units of learning outcomes and skills & competencies, the equation emerges to be far more adverse. The cost of lost opportunities, for individuals and collectively for the society and nation, are far greater as such losses endure the whole life cycle of a generation. But if we were to view from macro levels, the expenditure, whether private or public, is a part of financial and opportunity cost at the National level. The nation needs to maximize returns on national investments and every single citizen becomes not only the beneficiary but also the benefactor in due course. That is the only way, the nations and vibrant societies are built and sustained.

The state bureaucracies that have failed to operate their own schools are now exercising control and supervision over some very successful private schools and treat them as personal fiefdoms. The District Education Officer and thorough this office, State directorates or governments keep issuing directives and threats to schools resulting in a very high number of cases pending in courts across the country. This must stop.

As a first step, the governments must stop meddling in the operations of private schools except for such supervisory as was recommended by the Supreme Court in the TMA Pai Foundation case.

Secondly, the government must immediately explore the possibility of socializing the educational assets belonging to the governments and vest all academic and financial operations with the teachers bodies who are currently assigned to these schools. The basic premise of this argument is that limited ownership rights, coupled with the financial gains tagged to performance, will help lift the standards of education & training countrywide.

In line with the grant of ownership rights to tillers of the land, India abolished zamindari and with it, the exploitation of the farmers. Over time, such a move also led to growth in agricultural production. In a similar vein and taking a cue therefrom, with limited ownership rights and financial gains tagged thereto, the same teachers and schools could well begin to flourish and teachers may ensure full enrolment and attendance together with desired learning outcomes. The details, however, of such a scheme can be worked out separately. While such teachers effectively run the schools they would also be held accountable for the overall enrollment rates as well as the quality of learning outcomes and the results of those schools. Instead of giving fixed salaries and wages, the government should examine the possibility of giving the schools and its teachers, school vouchers of such value that does not exceed the current per capita expense on students and the teachers be allowed reasonable freedom to manage their finances and their revenues and expenditure together with the academic processes and learning outcomes.

A separate independent regulator should be set up to oversee the functioning of the schools and ensure 100% enrollments and minimize, over time abolish school dropouts. Together with the local Industry and Busines, a viable and a well-defined vocational training program be launched followed by apprenticeship opportunities for the students passing out of such schools. The options of higher education shall, of course, remain open. A strong and well defined Industry-academic partnership will be essential.

In line with the postulates of the New Education Policy, separate silos must be abolished and a trans-disciplinary department of Skills and training at the central government and also in states must be merged with HRD or Education.

Given the track record of the Modi government, this could well be the best chance for the education sector to embrace a transformational change and get ready for the goals that India is pursuing. While Modi will throw his full weight behind a transformational change, it is for the centre and state governments directly in charge of education to grab this change opportunity.

The Covid disruption has created a very piquant situation for private schools caught between the devil and the deep sea. The governments and the High Courts have confounded the situation by passing conflicting orders. Schools are not able to realize their fees. With the fee revenues scaled down considerably more than the reduction in expenses, some schools are not able to pay their teachers or for other essential expenses. There is a crisis brewing up. A fair amount of schools are in a grave financial mess and may face closure in the near future. It is not just about some private educational enterprises winding up, it is about the future of students going to such schools. The process of finding new schools and the attendant changes in learning environments and social arrangements will be tough for our young school goers.

Going forward, Education, Skills, Training and Empowerment shall be the key drivers we can only ignore this at our own peril.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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