Agri education needs a paradigm shift

Agricultural education in India dates back to the pre-medieval period when it was part of the curricula of Nalanda and Takshashila Universities. Formal agriculture education in India started with the establishment of six agricultural colleges at Kanpur, Lyalpur (now in Pakistan), Coimbatore and Nagpur in 1905, at Pune in 1907 and at Sabour in 1908 under general universities.

The pressing challenges of food insufficiency soon after Independence accentuated the government’s policy focus on strengthening Indian agriculture. Parallelly, meeting quality human resource requirements in the sector became an overriding priority. The concerted efforts of government coupled with able assistance of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) led to impressive capacity building in agricultural research and education.

The country has 75 agricultural universities (AUs) enrolling more than 45,000 students — around nine times that in 1960, at graduate and post-graduate levels. The four deemed universities of ICAR — Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi; National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal; Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, and Central Institute on Fisheries Education, Mumbai — are the milestone in the field of quality human resource development in agricultural research and education.

The number of applicants for under-graduate courses in agriculture has significantly increased in the recent past, but for each seat at the under-graduate level in 2019-20, there were only around 85 applicants — far below that for medical courses where for each seat there are about 50,000 candidates.

Further, the All India Survey on Higher Education report for 2018-19 indicates that tbhe gross enrolment ratio for higher education in India is 26.3 per cent, while for agricultural education it is only 0.03 per cent indicating that there is still a long way to go.

According to the recent report of Agriculture Education Division of ICAR, around 52 per cent of students admitted at the under-graduate level in agricultural universities through the All India Entrance Examination for Admission, 2019-20 had secured 80 per cent and above marks in their qualifying Intermediate board examinations.

It is encouraging to see many talented students opting for agriculture as a choice for the profession. But agriculture is not a career option for urban students and is largely opted by those who do not get admission in medical or veterinary courses. Therefore, talent within the available pool needs to be nurtured by providing excellent teaching environment and facilities.

Critical concerns

Despite significant contributions made so far by the ICAR and AUs, the existing Indian higher agricultural education is fraught with challenges.

Since, State agricultural universities (SAUs) are established through the respective State Legislature Acts with major financial support from them, the administrative and policy control primarily rests with the State governments.

Various reports suggest that inadequate State funding, reduced faculty strength, basic pay to new faculty during probation period in some SAUs, inadequate faculty development programmes, lack of modern infrastructure for education and research, etc., have affected the pace and quality of human resource development in many of the agricultural universities.

Nonetheless, the budget of Agricultural Education has constantly increased, however, with time, the number of agricultural universities and their constituent colleges and departments has also increased, but there has been no commensurate increase in the budgetary provisions. Sectoral division of SAUs into different subject areas has also contributed to their rising numbers and falling financial share.

Consequently, the financial health of SAUs, in general, is precarious. It is imperative to enhance budgetary support both at the Centre and the State levels to attain and sustain enhanced capacity for technology development and quality of research and education.

Inbreeding in the faculty recruitment is a well known problem. Studies show that 51 per cent of the faculty in agricultural universities have degrees from their alma mater. Further a long gap between advertisement of faculty posts in universities and final selection process demoralises potential applicants.

Ashok Dalwai, Chief Executive Officer of the National Rain-fed Area Authority, in his address at the national conference on ‘National Education Policy 2020’, also pointed out that roughly 30 per cent of students who graduate from agricultural institutions choose to work in fields other than agriculture.

Establishment of new SAUs and new faculty/colleges without providing necessary financial and faculty support is another serious concern. The Paroda Committee (2019) report also said that the recent mushrooming of private colleges and universities is a serious threat to the goals and objectives of present day agricultural education.

These institutions entice academically mediocre students into various courses and charge them exorbitant fee, which is disproportional to the infrastructural facilities and quality of education they offer. Therefore, the Paroda Committee recommended the urgent establishment of an Agricultural Education Council of India (AECI) by Parliament which will be a regulatory authority to maintain quality of agricultural education on the lines of the Veterinary Council of India (VCI).

Strengthening agri education

Agricultural education must evolve with the rapidly changing national and international scenario. Instead of being the world’s largest ICAR-AU system, the country needs to have the world’s finest ICAR-AU system.

Agricultural is a state subject and so is agricultural education, but higher education is on the concurrent list in our Constitution, and therefore, the modus operandi for implementation has to be modified accordingly. Agricultural universities have the mandate of research, education and extension, which makes them different from traditional universities.

Thus, while aligning with the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), the ICAR must continue to strive for the quality of agriculture education. It is perhaps the right time to bring agriculture on the concurrent list.

World class agricultural institutions on the lines of IITs and IIMs, focussing post-graduation teaching and research, need to be established to attract and nurture the best talent from across the world.

Success of an educational institute also depends on demand and marketability of its product, i.e. quality of students and their placement in market. Focus should be shifted to instill employable skills in agriculture graduates which are expected by the employers in today’s competitive business scenario.

Rather than increasing the supply of graduates, both the ICAR and SAUs need to focus more on skill and professional capabilities of students to deal with the concerns confronting farmers and other stakeholders.

Choudhary is a scientist at ICAR-IGFRI, Jhansi; and Sharma is Principal Scientist at ICAR-IGFRI, Jhansi. Views expressed are personal

COMMENT NOW