The Hindu Business Line : Is education a service or industry?

There are number of reasons for the commercialisation of education. Parents are willing to pay ridiculously high fees to admit their children into popular educational institutions. The Government spends very less on higher education system. It has also failed to provide the funds to develop the required infrastructure to cope up with the increasing demand, which has lead to the establishment of private institutions in the professional education field, with an aim to ear n high profits.

When these private institutions are established with huge investments, how can anyone expect them to have service motive?

Though it may sound a bit harsh one should accept that education is just an industry in today’s world.

Education is both an industry and service. For staff and students it is a service and for the owners it is an industry. When the owners forget ethics, education becomes a business.

R. Swaminathan, e-mail

Education is the responsibility of the state. But the state has failed to make much progress even though the Constitution calls for providing free primary education to all children up to the age of 14 within a period of ten years. At least 6 per cent of GDP should be made available for education.

The commercialisationof education has, however, led to students getting degrees without gaining adequate knowledge. Quality education should be made available to all students. Incentives such as scholarship, mid-day meals, free textbooks and good library having both books and CDs should be provided.

T.S. Sundareswaran,

New Delhi

If education isconsidered a service, can it serve the aspirations of the country’s huge population is a moot question?

While the literacy rate varies from State to State, higher education is growing at just 7 per cent.

V. Subburam, e-mail

While education should necessarily remain a service, it should also be borne in mind that the Government can ill-afford to allocate huge sums in its yearly budgets for higher education as. Those who undergo specialised courses in the institutions of higher learning, get attractive pay package after their graduation.

Hence, providing higher education to such students should not be subsidised. Now, professional colleges are run by large industrial houses and businesses. Banks must come forward to help students pay the huge fees these insitiutions charge. This will surely go a long way in achieving the ambitious plan of the National Knowledge Commission in doubling the enrolment of students.

S. Nallasivan, e-mail

Education is not merely mean being literate. It helps to increase awareness about surroundings, social and political issues. It helps people to develop knowledge and wisdom. As the Government is not in a position to provide substantial help for all, the private organisations play an important role in bridging the gap. When these private institutions try to make money it becomes an industry. While the Government must grant autonomy to various research institutions, it must also demand accountability.

V. Venkitasubramanian, Kochi

In today’s world education has become an industry and it is no longer regarded as a service.

Those who accept education as an industry should not mind paying high fees as long as industry standards are adopted and they get quality education.

K. V. Rao, e-mail

With the reduction in Government subsidies to the education sector, right from primary education to research, private sector has stepped in to fill the vacuum. To meet their financial needs, the private institutions go for capitation and higher fee structure. Periodically, Income-Tax Department conducts raids on these institutions and a lot of black money is unearthed. These incidents reveal that service motto takes the back seat with profits remaining as the main motto.

To meet the resources requirements, obviously the private institutions have to look for capitation and higher fee structure etc. Apart from main stream institutions, we now have parallel educational institutions at various levels - coaching, information technology, etc. Recently, there was a news item, that a foreign PE firm, has invested in a private coaching institution of Mumbai. Obviously the private sector is looking to the pot of gold, at the end of the spectrum. We also hear periodically that Income Tax Dept. had raided certain institutions and found lot of unaccounted money. Let us admit that service motto is only secondary and profit is the sole criterion.

Apart from that, the mindset of the teaching staff has also changed over the years. Many of us still very vividly recollect our teachers and lament the present falling standards. Commercialisation is the main reason behind it. Though the issue had been discussed at various levels by the educationalists and planners, it is sad unfortunate that nothing much is being done to change the situation.
Krithivasan, e-mail
Though education should be treated as service, some people have started treating it as a business. The field of medicine bears witness to such a situation. Education is service. But nowadays, it is seen that the education field isindustrialized and some people treated it as a business, both the teachersand students are members of this community. The main business in this fieldis medical field. It is both education and business. This should be changed.
S. N. Thiruvazhiode, Kochi

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