Finetune prescription

AIIMS by 2008 out of thin air, or doubling the MBBS seats by the same year. Ditto for IIM and IIT seats. It is not that such extraordinary expansion cannot be done. But doing it in a slapdash manner would saddle the country with innumerable half-baked institutions from which it cannot benefit in real terms. We need to expand our institutions of higher learning in a manner that can guarantee the highest standards. This would require the involvement of our best minds in the field of education and other disciplines, not just the bureaucrats of the HRD ministry. It also demands huge investments. This is where private sector involvement comes in8212;we need to liberalise higher education, just as we had liberalised the economy 15 years ago. One of the reasons why the higher education sector finds itself out of limb today is because of the failure to involve the private sector meaningfully in it. Take America8217;s most prestigious educational institutions. They acquired their world class status largely due to corporate funding and private endowments. There is no reason why our captains of industry should not rise to the challenge of changing the face of higher education. They, after all, benefit directly from the process, not just because higher education is a lucrative proposition, but because it makes for better professionals and more aware consumers.

We would also counsel agitating students to calm down. Hysteria is no solution. Student leaders have the responsibility to come out unequivocally against extreme actions like attempted self-immolation. If they don8217;t do this, they would be betraying themselves, the student community and the cause for which they are supposedly fighting.