‘We can’t bury our heads in the sand like ostriches, assume there’s no competition’

But why now?

The issue has been under discussion for some time now, we simply took it up now and have thrown it open for discussion. We have asked the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration to hold seminars and to initiate brainstorming sessions. Once that is done, we will take a further decision.

You mentioned that foreign universities are making inroads into the Indian education sector. What were you referring to?

Initially, several foreign universities introduced plans for distance learning for professional courses in India. Once they realised that India is a good education market, they opted for the franchising mode and then shifted to another mode where a student could partially study here and go abroad after completing a semester or two. Now, they have shifted to pure sciences subjects as well.

Are you suggesting these universities pose a threat to our education system?

Competition is always welcome. What I am trying to say is that once these universities run their full-time programmes in India, they will bring along with them their work culture and they will definitely appoint teachers on a contractual basis. We might as well introduce such a system in advance for our teachers.

How exactly does the contract system work?

It is very simple. You appoint a teacher for a period of time and once his or her tenure is over, the teacher is assessed. If the teacher is found to be good, the contract is renewed. This will not affect the salary structure though. I have been told that a few state universities in Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra are planning to introduce the contract system as well.

But teachers’ unions cried foul when their working hours were increased…

I cannot deny the fact that like all other professions, we have black sheep in the teaching profession. But teaching is a job with morality attached to it. We cannot keep our heads buried in the sand like ostriches and assume that there’s no competition. We have to get rid of this ostrich syndrome if we want quality education.

Is the suggestion made by the April 2002 Ambani-Birla report on education reforms, to leave higher education in the hands of the private sector, viable in India?

I think that for a country like India, we need to opt a mixed strategy. In India, higher education cannot be separated from social and economic realities. We have a deprived class that the system cannot leave out. But when higher education becomes a boundaryless entity—as it will be according to the recent General Agreement of Trade in Services under the World Trade Organisation—participation in the private sector will obviously increase.

Education is a huge service industry which is only going to get bigger. Though no country has opened its education sector without some restrictions, the agreement would mean that more and more foreign nations will target economically affordable groups in society to maximise their profits.

So how should India tackle the influx of foreign universities in India?

We should not open the primary, secondary and adult education sectors to other countries. And internally, we should ensure that the higher education sector is coordinated at a Central level. I know that there will be knee-jerk responses like what we’ve received to the contractual system, but we should be ready with our responses.

On the whole, the maturity level in this country is very low. We need mature people, from teachers to policy makers. One way to increase the bar would be to invite people for debates and discussions. And it’s time we realise that the teaching sector needs to be opened up. That way, there will be competition in the education sector, ensuring better quality.