High cost of low fee

The issue at stake in the controversy over the ministry of human resources development slashing the fees charged by the Indian Institutes of Management is not the affordability of management education in India. It is about institutional autonomy and government’s priorities with respect to spending in the field of education. These larger issues should not be lost sight of in the heat of the controversy generated by the drastic reduction of IIM’s annual fee from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 30,000. Consider these facts. The IIMs and IITs are among the better run institutions in India. They can also generate funds given the well-being of their alumni and their market credibility. In a country with an educational system burdened by many ills, the last thing the government should be doing is meddling with what is working reasonably well. As they say, “don’t fix it, if it ain’t broke”.

Second, scores of students at these institutions have said that the higher level of fees charged in recent years has never been an issue considering that those who cannot afford them are able to secure loans on the security of an assured job. These students are the last to complain of high fees, so why the fuss? There are many private institutes that fleece students, often on false pretenses, and the government ought to do something about them rather than interfere with decisions that should ideally be left to the competent governing bodies of the IITs and IIMs. There is also the larger malaise in education. HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi has established a track record as a “control freak”. When the NDA government has liberalised almost every sector, Joshi’s increasing bureaucratisation of the education sector seems anachronistic. He has unleashed a new wave of ministerial interference in education. Bureaucratic nationalism masquerades as perverse populism. Distinguished academics who head institutions of national importance are being forced to behave like subjects on call in the Joshi durbar. This is wholly unacceptable and deserves to be condemned by all reform-minded persons irrespective of political affiliation.

It has taken a long time for the middle class in this country to accept the fact that while higher education is highly subsidised, there are inadequate funds for school and vocational education. Rather than devote funds and energy to the latter, Joshi is trying to increase the dependence of “elitist” institutions on government subsidies. Their elitism is not defined by the fee they charge but by the credibility of their brand. Minister Joshi’s policies may be aimed at cutting fees, but will end up damaging the brand, especially if mediocre officials from his ministry call the shots and instruct qualified academics on how they should run their institutions.