DRAFT POLICY ON EDUCATION 2016

Education in Disarray
Need for Quality Upgradation
and Inclusivity
T S R Subramanian

The chairperson of the

Committee for Evolution of the
New Education Policy writes on
the committees findings
and what ails education in
India today.

National Policy on Education 2016: Report

of the Committee for Evolution of the New
Education Policy and the Annex to the
report (Vol II) can be accessed on the
EPW website at http://bit.ly/2beOlvW and
http://bit.ly/2c2hWtp.

T S R Subramanian (tsrsubramanian@gmail.
com) was the chairperson of the five-member
committee entrusted with making suggestions
for drafting a new education policy. An Indian
Administrative Service officer, he was earlier
Cabinet Secretary (August 1996 to March
1998), and Secretary, Ministry of Textiles.

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ate in 2015, the Ministry of Human

Resource Development appointed
a five-member committee to help
evolve a draft New Education Policy.
The committee, chaired by this writer,
submitted its report with more than 90
recommendations to the ministry on 27
May 2016, which is now engaged in studying it and considering the policy announcements to revamp the education
sector. The purpose of this article is not
to discuss the recommendations of the
committee or to critically appraise
themit is rather to outline the broad
contours of the education sector in India
as the committee found it, and comment
on the salient features that need to be
addressed. To put it bluntly, the committee found the current state of education
in India to be in disarray, pointing to
the need for major remedial measures.
In the course of its deliberations, the
committee discovered the vastness
and great variety in the education sector.
There are at least 200 fields of specialisation and expertise in the scope of the
sectors operations. Indeed, just as every
newspaper reader and television viewer
in the country consider themselves experts in politics, the committee surmised that there are at least 20 million
experts on educationevery parent,
schoolteacher, and anyone else connected
with the sector generally consider themselves eligible to render advice on what
needs to be done. It should also be
mentioned that many private citizens
the committee met in the course of its
work had a greater understanding of the
issues compared to many self-determined experts.
The committee also found that nobody could possibly have expertise in all
aspects of education, and that anyone

who considered themselves an allround education expert was generally

shallow, opinionated, and frequently
had an interest to defend or to promote.
As in the medical arena, with possibly
more than 200 field specialisations, the
need for a policymaker was to turn into
an expert generalist, with a broad
understanding of the overall issues, and
the ability to locate genuine experts to
address specific issues. After three months
of meeting more than 500 experts
most of them with a good understanding of specific segments and a few who
could also take a broader view of the interrelationships between various aspects
the picture that emerged was a reflection
of the insights, analyses, and recommendations of a large number of individuals
who have knowledge in specialised areas of education. The committee also learnt
to be wary of individuals who professed
expertise in the field of education.
The Indian education system is
among the largest in the world, with
nearly one-fourth of the population (or
about one-third if one includes parent
participation) directly involved in the
teaching/learning process on a daily
basis. Despite significant interface bet
ween the state and the citizen in this
process, the political machinery in
Indias states (chief minister or cabinet
ministers) in general attach less significance to the education sector compared
to issues related to law and order, development administration, or farming,
highly important as these are. The education departments in the states occupy
a relatively low position in the hierarchy
of departments that get the attention of
the political executive.
Political intervention from all levels is
all-pervasive in selecting where institutions will be located, approving grantin-aid status, selecting examination centres, and in making senior appointments, from vice chancellors to college
principals and district officials. It is undeniable that there is large-scale corruption in appointments, transfers, approvals
to affiliate and grant recognition to institutions, and even in the manipulation of
examination results. It is no wonder that

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DRAFT POLICY ON EDUCATION 2016

people who have had to deal with the

education system have generally lost
faith in its credibility. The conclusion is
inescapable that governance standards
at all levels have been poor, to say the
least. Processes and procedures have
been rolled out without due consideration for verification or ensuring that
these are implemented on the ground.
Aim of Education
Value orientation is an overarching and
comprehensive area that needs conscious
integration with general education at
each stage. Education has all through
been considered a key driver of national
development; an essential condition for
building a humane society. The core objectives of education encompass four essential componentsbuilding values, awareness, knowledge, and skills. While knowledge and skills are necessarily specific to
the objectives of study and largely determined by factors such as future employment or the pursuit of a vocation, awareness and values are universal in nature
and should be shared by all.
Along with economic objectives (that
is, creating human capital), education
should aim to develop pride in India and
in being an Indian. Indian society is
characterised not only by multilingual,
multicultural, and multireligious diversity, geographical differences, and regional disparities, but also by inequalities of income, wealth, opportunity, and
access to resources. Education should be
seen as a powerful vehicle to reduce regional and social disparities, enabling
choice and freedom to individuals to
lead a productive life and participate in
the countrys development. Education
should foster peace, tolerance, secularism,
and national integration.
Acquaintance with the tradition of accepting the diversity of Indias heritage,
culture, and history could lead to social
cohesion and religious amity. Every
teacher is to be prepared to internalise
that apart from professional readiness
and responsibility, they are role models,
inculcators of values, and are expected
to lead a value-based life. Schools must
help inculcate key qualities and attitudes
such as regularity and punctuality,
cleanliness, self-control, industriousness
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august 27, 2016

and a spirit of entrepreneurship, sense of

duty, desire to serve, responsibility, creativity, and an obligation to preserve the
environment. A vast majority of children
come from subsistence-level backgrounds,
and many of them are first-generation
learners. With the joint family system
gradually disappearing, it is all the more
necessary that schools play an important role in inculcating values in the
minds of growing children.
Weaknesses in Education
The 2014 Annual Status of Education
Report (ASER) survey found that nearly
half of Class 5 students were not able to
read at a Class 2 level, and nearly the
same proportion of them did not have
basic arithmetic skills. Quantitatively,
India is inching closer to the constitutional and Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009
guarantee of universal access and participation in elementary education. While
the gross enrolment ratio (GRE) is satisfactorily high, the quality of education, in
terms of learning outcomes, is undeniably
poor, particularly in the government
school system. At the all-India level, the
number of children in rural schools in
Class 2 who could not even recognise
letters of the alphabet increased from
13.4% in 2010 to 32.5% in 2014, while
reading levels for children enrolled in
government schools in Class 5 showed a
decline between 2010 and 2012. In the
last year of their primary education in
Class 5, almost 20% of children could
only read letters or were not literate
even at this level. In sum, half of all
children in Class 5 have not yet learnt
basic skills that they should have learnt
by Class 2. Close to half of all children
will finish eight years of schooling, but
will still not have learned basic skills
in arithmetic.
While the Indian higher education
system is one of the largest in the world,
the quality of universities and colleges
and the education they offer are far from
satisfactory. The number of high-quality
institutions is limited. Even the topmost
Indian institutions do not figure in international rankings of universities.
While there are a few high-quality institutions, there are also very large numbers
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of mainly private-run teaching shops

and so-called non-profit institutions,
which are generally ill-equipped and operate with unqualified staff. Such institutions seek to take advantage of the
widespread demand for acquiring degrees. Students, mainly from rural and
semi-urban backgrounds, often fall prey
to them.
The other basic weakness of the current education structure relates to the
issue of inclusivity. In particular, this
refers to the lack of adequate opportunities available to students from the economically and socially backward classes,
who do not get what they deserve from
the current system. Given the economic
and social inequities that exist in the
country, the present structure is oblivious
to the need for extending a helping hand
to economically and socially deprived
groups. This issue is generally not recognised in policymaking circles, but it is
imperative now to address this in a
meaningful way.
It is necessary to highlight that there
are critical stages in the learning periods of children where they need a helping hand to guide them, with some extra
training or coaching, or an advisory
facility to enable them to fully use their
educational opportunities. This observation relates, in general, to children from
economically backward segments and
socially disadvantaged groups. While
such periods for each child cannot be
defined accurately, in general, many children need assistance and help at three
stages. One, in the primary schooling
period, when it is important to learn the
basics of language and arithmetic.
Two, in early Class 11, where the courses
become tougher, a system to help students feel at home in the extra-competitive atmosphere of the class. Finally, in
the early periods of technical courses,
particularly for rural youngsters who
are schooled in their mother tongues, to
acclimatise them to the prevailing conditions of urban learning centres.
A new major element in our education
system should encompass a wellthought-out programmebased on local
resources, conditions, and circumstances
to assist such students in these critical
periods. This has to be designed to
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DRAFT POLICY ON EDUCATION 2016

neutralise the economic and social

handicaps faced by such children.
Role of Information Technology
Major developments in information and
communications technology (ICT) in recent decades have brought in new advances in the transmission of data, and
the use of information technology (IT) as
a vehicle for monitoring and management, among others. New possibilities
have already opened up for use of IT in
different ways, to not only manage the
sector, but also directly assist in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning.
Many new applications are in place. As
developments in IT advance rapidly, new
opportunities keep emerging, which
could be appropriately harnessed and
adapted to assist in education. The other
significant development relates to the
Digital India programme being rolled
out under the initiative of the Government of India. As the implementation of
this game-changing process advances,
the likelihood is that the urbanrural divide will be bridged with a reliable communication information network. Work
is proceeding apace and the network is
likely to be in place in the next three or
four years.
Many experiments have taken place
in the past few years, but a clear picture
has so far not emerged as to the specific
ways in which IT can be utilised in the
classroom and elsewhere. Sufficient experimentation in specific fields has not
been undertaken, either sponsored by
the government or by individual initiative, though some sporadic attempts
have been made. These include using ICT
in education as an aid to the teacher in the
classroom, as an aid in remedial education; to train teachers, for adult literacy,
for modules as learning tools in higher
education, and as a management and
governance tool. Some remarkable experiments have been undertaken in the use
of IT as an aid for teaching and remedial
education, as also for teacher preparation, which show great promise. Yet, no
major attempts to convert these pilot activities to large-scale field applications
have been seriously attempted. The large
and rapidly growing area of distance
education, with enormous potential,
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particularly in the higher education sector,

has not been given sufficient recognition
in policy formulation. Indeed, even the
need for a regulator in this field has not
yet been officially felt.
Even though the Government of India
sponsored the District Information System for Education (DISE) in 1994 as a
powerful instrument for gathering data,
its implementation has been tardy over
the years. It must be noted that its validity depends on the reliability of the information/data being fed into it. Once
reformed and revamped, an IT-enabled
information system riding on Digital
India has the potential to be a game
changer. Every student (in every school,
college, university or higher education
institution), every teacher, principal, and
school could have a unique identitywith
real-time monitoring of the educational
progress of students, teachers contribution to it, principals performance, and
the role of schools/institutions in the
education process. This can be a powerful monitoring and management tool to
sharply upgrade the education process
in an open and transparent manner.
Aim of Higher Education
One of the recommendations of the committee refers to campus activities in institutions of higher learning, largely
stemming from an excessive focus on
political or communal issues not directly
related to academic work.
One frequently hears of agitations, disturbances, gheraos and other movements in
various campuses from time to timenot infrequently examinations are postponed, in
some cases students lose a year or more due to
unsettled conditions. Many of these circumstances arise out of the activities of groups of
students and other interested parties, whose
priority may not be that of the mainline student.

Recognising the importance of the unfettered generation of ideas, free speech

and association on campuses, attention
has been drawn to many circumstances
where the students right to pursue academic work undisturbed, in which they
have invested heavily in terms of time,
energy, and emotion, is adversely affected. The question being asked is whether
there should be an enforceable code of
conduct or a restriction consistent with
Article 19 of the Constitution, asking for

a non-emotional examination of these

issues on a nationwide basis.
It is noteworthy that editorials in
many national newspapers have raised
the issue of a move to ban all political
activities, expressing alarm at the undemocratic and unrealistic recommendations made by the committee. It is
equally noteworthy that most Englishlanguage television news channels have
not found it necessary to have a discussion on the state of education in the
country, or on the need for reforms
based on the major recommendations of
the committee. The only suggestion from
the committee picked up for national
debate relates to the reasonableness or
otherwise of throttling the right conferred by Article 19 (freedom of speech,
of ideas, and of association)!
One needs to remember that the primary purpose of the university is to educate. No charter stipulates that the prime
purpose of a university is to generate
politicians. If the by-product, desirable
or otherwise, is to trump the main objective or purpose of the university, it is
time for us to review the charter of these
higher education institutions and declare
that their main objective is to generate
national leaders; that education of the
student is only a desirable by-product.
Reorientation
There is insufficient recognition in our
governance mechanism that subjects
such as education need to be treated
on a different footing than the other responsibilities handled by government
departments while implementing public
policies. Thus, for example, the beat policeman or the patwari is the field representative of the law and order machinery
or the revenue department, who supervises and oversees the implementation
of procedures and policies of the department at the lowest level. Contrast this
with the role of a teacher or principal.
They are not meant to implement procedures, but to meet the learning needs
of students. The nature of the field machinery in the education department is
quite the reverse of other regulatory and
management agenciesa teacher is the
transmitter of knowledge and a catalyst
in educating the child.

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Once this fundamental role of the

teacher is understood, the entire philosophy and approach of the state and central governments could be reoriented.
The education department needs to shed
its attitude of being a regulator, and
transform itself to becoming a facilitator,
to arrange the transmission of knowledge from teachers to students. Today,
the focus of every states education
department is on the minister, secretary,

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august 27, 2016

director, inspector of schools, State

Council of Educational Research and
Training (SCERT), etc. This thinking and
orientation need to be transformed
the key is the teacher, the principal, the
school, and, of course, the student. The
pyramid has to be inverted.
It is no exaggeration to say that new
policy measures are imperatively needed
to revamp and upgrade the entire education sector. Band-aid solutions, ad hoc

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measures, or ushering in new miscellaneous schemes are not approaches that

will transform the sector for the better.
We have to recognise that investing
national energies on quality and inclusivity is possibly the only route that can
lift the country from an also-ran status
to being on the international stage.
Even more importantly, it is the only
way of meeting the needs of citizens in
this democracy.

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