People's Democracy

WE entered the twenty-first century with unprecedented demand for higher education: general as well as professional. Instead of meeting this demand for higher education and ensuring further growth of the country, the BJP government at the centre and the UGC have resorted to several measures with ever-faster speed under the dictates of the World Bank and as a part of ongoing negotiations with the WTO on trade in services. Raising of fees, autonomy to institutions with practically no control over managements, funding linked to mandatory assessment and accreditation, and students loan scheme are some of their decisions taken in order to usher in massive privatisation and commercialisation of higher education.

"Major efforts have been mounted for mobilisation of resources and it has been recommended that while the government should make a firm commitment to higher education, institutions of higher education should make efforts to raise their own resources by raising the fee levels, encouraging private donations and by generating revenues through consultancy and other activities," said the HRD minister, Murali Manohar Joshi in the Country Paper presented in the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education held at Paris, in 1998.  Justifying privatisation of higher education, he added, "It is not only justifiable but desirable to raise money from private sources in order to ease pressure on public spending."  Trying to mislead the people he said, "The government wants to encourage private initiatives in higher education but not commercialisation." What we are witnessing today is, in fact, commercialisation of education at all levels.

Mukesh Ambani and Kumarmangalam Birla, in their Report on "A Policy Framework for Reforms in Education" submitted to the prime minister's Council on Trade and Industry in April 2000 considered education as a very profitable market. These two industrialists made a case for full cost recovery from students and immediate privatisation of several segments of higher education. The Ambani-Birla Report, if implemented, will convert the entire system of higher education in the country into a market where profit making will be the only consideration. Only those who will be able to pay exorbitant amount of fees will enroll in higher education. For Ambani and Birla, education is a very profitable market over which they must have full control and for their industrial requirements "education must shape adaptable, competitive workers who can readily acquire new skills and innovate." In view of this, Ambani and Birla want that legislation should be enacted "banning any form of political activity on campuses of universities and educational institutions". Even the normal trade union activities will not be allowed.

A large number of students enrolled in universities and colleges situated in small towns are first generation learners. These students could go to institutions of higher education because of the subsidy given to higher education and the prevalent fee structure. But this is also a fact that only about 6 per cent of the students in the age group of 17-23 years could afford to go to universities and colleges. What about those 94 per cent who we left out? They could not bear even the so-called "paltry fees" which the government wants to increase several folds.

It must also be noted that the percentage of students belonging to SC/ST category, despite the increase in their absolute number, has decreased from 13.76 per cent in 1957 to 12.25 per cent in 1996. Despite the existing fee structure all India enrolment of students has been decreasing in percentage terms. This percentage has fallen from 7.4 per cent in 1989-90 to 4.3 per cent in 1999-2000. This process has been accelerated by starting profit making institutions called "self financing" institutions, which do not get funds from the government. The number of such institutions started in between 1994-95 and 1999-2000 all over the country is about 3000. This has resulted in the increase of student-teacher ratio from 15.7 : 1 in 1990-91 to 21.7 : 1 in 1998-99. By reducing the subsidy and financial support to the institutions of higher education and with a big rise in annual charges, the students from the lower middle class, weaker and less privileged classes would be denied access to higher education. Therefore, a decrease in the enrolment from even such a low present figure of 6 per cent, which is less than the average of that in developing countries in Asia (9.7 per cent in 1995) would be inevitable.

In order to strengthen national intelligence, to increase contacts with the scientific and intellectual community of the world, and to increase capabilities and upgrade knowledge for further development, our country has no option but to strengthen its public higher education system. These key issues cannot be delegated to private institutions.

 It is absolutely clear from the recommendations given in the Tenth Five Year Plan Proposal and the Report of the NIEPA Seminar that the government is going in the direction of bringing higher education under the umbrella of GATS. Even when no specific commitment has been made, the government has already taken steps in line with the provisions of the GATS. All the modes of trade in education service are being used. The UGC has already issued instructions for reserving 15 per cent seats in addition to already existing ones as supernumery seats for foreign students. Thus the class size and the workload of teachers and employees are going to be increased without any additional funds.

The new UGC guidelines for declaring an institution as a deemed university require that the institution should be of 10 years standing with courses recognised by the relevant accrediting bodies and infrastructure, including building for administration and academic purposes of about 4000 square metres, worth Rs 50 lakh and corpus fund of Rs 5 crore in case of professional education and Rs 3 crore in case of general higher education.

For the de novo institutions in the emerging areas with the promise of excellence, no such conditions are required. These deemed universities are allowed to open their campuses anywhere in the country or abroad. Thus, any existing private institution or a new one with meagre funds and facilities will be encouraged to get the status of a deemed university in order to run courses for profits.

The UGC is not giving any funds for starting new courses or upgrading the existing ones. However, it is ready to spend huge amounts for starting courses on Jyotirvigyan and Karmakand. By starving the universities and colleges of funds, a case is being built for private funding and full cost recovery. The idea of giving incentive to universities ready to export education is to make them financially independent so that the government is allowed to give up its responsibility towards higher education.

Globalisation has forced the education system to reinvent itself. The main role of universities to create, assimilate and disseminate knowledge is being given up in favour of the marketplace. A professor of English in an American University earns no more than an assistant professor of accounting. More than half the full time faculty is hired on short-term contracts. Universities in the USA woo prospective undergraduate students by promising quality campus life, as if they were selling shares, with the offer of apartments rather than dorm rooms, high tech gadgetry and gyms. Faculty members at some schools feel the pressure to keep grade-point averages high to please the students who are treated like customers. The emergence of for-profit competition among the multisite schools, called multiversity or busni-versity, like DeVry Institute, Phoenix University and Jones International University, which exist only virtually have made "any time, any place" higher education a near reality. In a market-model university, departments that make money, study money or attract money are given priority. Heads of universities are now assuming the role of travelling salesmen to promote their programmes.

An important cost recovery measure being proposed as an alternative to state financing of higher education and for the benefit of the market in higher education is to give loans to students so that they are able to meet the enhanced fees. This proposal is based on the market principle that those who benefit must pay. It is being advocated that the poor students who cannot pay the fees, instead of dropping out from higher education, should take loans, get jobs and then pay back loans. There are several serious problems associated with this proposal. Education does not guarantee employment. With no employment or no ability to repay, people from relatively poorer sections will be worst affected.

The BJP government at the centre has already declared students loans and the limit of loans has been increased upto Rs 15 lakh. They prefer to cater to economically better-off students. The conditions of guarantee based on co-obligation, the mortgage of immovable property, etc. would further exclude a large section of students. Since dowry is an important social phenomenon in several countries including India, loans to students would work as a 'negative dowry' resulting in decline in the enrolment of girls in higher education. It is being argued that the student loan programme may be revitalised to generate some resources for higher education in the long run. A margin money of 5 to 15 per cent is also proposed. By this measure those who do not have resources to study would be forced to pay further for future investment. Instead of student loan programme the government must bear the full cost of education and the students belonging to the weaker sections should be given scholarships to meet fees and other expenses.

Young women in the USA and Europe are resorting to selling their eggs for a few thousand of pounds to childless couples as a way of paying off their fees and student loans they had taken to meet the cost of higher education. The average graduate begins the search for a job with debts of more than 10,000 pounds. According to a report, "American clinics are allowed to reward donors handsomely for the unpleasant and potentially risky procedure. Some of them, aware of British students' financial problems are now targeting women here. Graduates and those with high IQs are in particular demand. Many commissioning couples, desperate to have children, are also prepared to pay premium prices for specific physical attributes and good looks." Depending upon the looks, educational background, 'good' family profile, rare ethnic groups like Jewish, Asians and east Africans, the women get about 2,400 to 10,300 pounds. Eggs are collected from women by administering drugs to induce artificial menopause. The menstrual cycle is then restarted with more drugs designed to cause multiple eggs to ripen, instead of the normal once-a-month released naturally. A young healthy donor can produce 15 to 20 eggs, sometimes many more, in a single cycle of treatment. This being the situation in the USA and Europe as a result of the policies adopted by them regarding privatisation and commercialisation of education and liberalisation of trade in 'education service' under GATS and WTO regime, one can understand what will happen to the enrolment of girls in higher education in India, which has generally remained stagnant at around 35 per cent in the last ten years.

The world's trade representatives under WTO, who are leading the assault on education, are attempting to establish a 'New World Government' in order to make way for private profiteering and in the process undermining the authority of the national governments. The New World Government would be a government of the corporates, for the corporates, by the corporates -- an extremely undemocratic, authoritarian institution. In this assault, the World’s trade representatives have discovered the scope for manufacturing the thinking and attitudes of their consumers, and creating an education system to reproduce standardised people. The whole idea of culture will be threatened as this standardisation eliminates cultural focuses, thoughts, language, and educational themes. No longer will truth be sought, except whatever suits the corporate interests. As this standardisation is institutionalised through international equivalency, the uniqueness of each educational institution will vanish.

Under the dictates of the World Bank, WTO and GATS, the cherished function of higher education, the enquiry search, creation and dissemination of knowledge and instilling sensitivity or social awareness in its students in India is under fire. The steps (e.g. reducing state funding limited access to higher education, heavy cost recovery, loans to students, terming higher education as a non-merit good, assessment and accreditation of institutions, autonomous status to colleges, self-financing courses and institutions, and privatisation and commercialisation of higher education, etc.) taken by successive governments at the centre and now actively pursued by the present BJP government would lead to the dismantling of the state funded higher education system.

The World Bank, WTO and GATS dictated policy on higher education must be reversed. As citizens of India, we have to ensure that the government takes care of public interests and acts to protect public services like health and education from the predatory elements that preach the ideology of the marketplace as the solution to every problem. Otherwise, the country would be dependent on developed countries for its requirements in qualified manpower, essential for its all round development. Therefore, the future progress of our country is at stake. We cannot afford to be complacent any longer. It is the responsibility of the whole society to rise to the occasion and take measures so that the process of dismantling the higher education system in the country is reversed.