The Hindu Business Line : Not up to the mark

A India Inc is worried. Nothing to do with the state of the economy or competition or any government policy. But it is not something for which quick-fix solutions can be found. And, dealing with it is not just in its hands alone. It is the government that has to play a leading role. The issue in question is the shortage of employable graduates, be they from engineering colleges or from non-technical institutions. Corporates are worried that this shortage will derail the growth story, which explains why industry associations have taken up skills improvement as a major theme of their activities. Yet, industry can at best flag the problem; it is for the government to act and act fast. The solution is a complete overhaul of the country’s education system. While every one is agreed on this, quite often any serious talk degenerates into polemics, resulting in the issue getting sidetracked. Despite the huge sums of money being pumped in, higher education is in a mess. True, students have a larger number of colleges to choose from, but the quality of most is suspect.

Consider what the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said recently about higher education: Almost two-third of universities and 90 per cent of the colleges are rated below average on quality parameters. There is a nagging fear that university curricula are not synchronised with the employment needs. Nothing can be more damning than this. No wonder there is a general dissatisfaction among HR professionals about the quality of graduates passing out of the vast number of educational institutes. Unfortunately, there is not even a curriculum framework for undergraduates, especially in the arts and science streams. Most countries would have clearly stated what a graduate would be, what attributes he would possess and how the educational system would fulfil his aspirations. There needs to be greater flexibility in both the course content and the curriculum to give undergraduates a wider perspective, while the private sector should be actively encouraged to invest in the vocational education stream.

Needed, therefore, is greater private sector and pepole’s participation, not merely in setting up educational institutions but in openly debating and deciding the quality parameters. It must not be difficult for the country to set up at least one centre of educational excellence in each of the 600 districts involving top companies and attracting the best talent. There also needs to be a greater and sustained interaction between industry and educational institutions, as both stand to gain from such a cooperation. As the Prime Minister noted, the higher education system needs to be revamped so that it walks on the two legs of access and excellence. Till then, India Inc’s worries will remain.