Higher Education: Issues and challenges.
Presented by AHMED NOOR, Teacher in Urdu High school , Jalna
ABSTRACT
Education unfolds innate qualities of man. It is the medium for the youth with the help of which they can quench their thirst for realizing their potentialities. Higher Education has greater specialization which is used in different fields. It plays a pivotal role for youths self reliant, prosperity, development and welfare. It makes contribution in society and the nation. India has the largest higher education system in quantities but as the same time, it is least quality. The higher education faces many problems and challenges. Low-quality, obsolete courses, rigid curriculum, incompatible to students and society. Higher education fails to solve large scale employment. Lacking employability is major challenge in our education system. Shortage of faculties, competent teachers, staff and infrastructures are hallmarks of colleges.. Mismanagement, corruption, political interferences have crept in colleges and Universities. Examination and assessment system are defective. Research and innovation are nowhere in higher education institutes. There is needs greater transparency and accountability, the role of colleges, universities and teachers and UGC and government should be defined and made their accountability. Infrastructure, funds and competent faculty are essential components for better education.
Introduction-
A decent education is a passport to a good, comfortable, and secure life. It provides hope and opens avenues for a secure future for intelligent, hardworking, and productive men and women of our society. It enables develop individual faculties and makes youngsters to become contributing members of society through knowledge, skills, and character development. It is a significant instrument to radically transform society. Higher Education is considered the apex stage of formal education. It includes greater specialization necessitated by rapid socio-economic and industrial development. Down to the corridor of time, higher education has come to mean production and dissemination of knowledge. Higher education system connotes academic institutional bodies that include university, colleges, and vocational schools. These bodies prepare professionals for all sectors of the economy. In a vibrant system, institutions of higher learning are enablers of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, addressing problems facing society, nations, and preparing individuals for lives and careers. Thus it plays a very important role in shaping our future. The county has one of the largest university systems in the world. The university system has expanded in a big way after Independence, when there were only 20 universities. A great quantitative expansion in the field of higher education has taken place in the country during the last four decades. It has reached 800 Universities and 40,000 colleges. Now a question arises can our universities and colleges fulfill the aim of education and our objectives. If not what issues and challenges are before the high education system.
Challenges before Higher Education.
Quality of Education-
The quality of education depends to a great extent on three factors the quality of teaching, the infrastructural facilities available in the college and the manner in which examinations are conducted. If the quality of teaching is good, the academic standards of the students is bound to be high. Ineffective teaching and high standards of students do not go together. As the Kothari Commission rightly observed, of all the factors which influence the quality of education, the quality, competence, and character of the teachers are the most significant. Unfortunately none of the universities and institutions from India are in the list of top hundred higher education. As per the data provided by the NAAC, as June 2010, not even 25 percent of the total higher education institutions in the country were accredited. And among those accredited, only 30 percent of the universities and 45 percent of the colleges were found to be of quality to be ranked at A level.
Defective Curriculum:
The curriculum and teaching at the university level are rigidly compartmentalised and unrelated to the human and social concern of the students. Existing curriculum suffers from many deficiencies and defects. It is subject-centered rather than student centre. It is purely academic and theoretical and fails to meet the life, needs, and aspirations of the individual. In order to make the courses relevant and significant to the students as all as to the nation as a whole, it should be restructured in the line recommended by Kothari Commission. To allow greater freedom to the students in choosing different elective subjects according to their interest and ability the courses should be diversified, especially to cover newly emergent and inter-disciplinary areas. Side by side with the improvement of courses at the under-graduate and post-graduate stage, modern and dynamic methods of learning should be adopted with vigour and determination.
Lack of Employability- High education is least co-relate employability and professionalism. The major professional courses account for only 18 per cent of the student population and so the question is how to get the remaining 82 percent to obtain minimum levels of competence and employability. Unfortunately, the main objective of those who seek higher education in our country is to secure government service. It is obvious that the Government cannot give jobs to all. The result is that our educational system, instead of enabling people to become useful members of society, makes them superfluous and turns what should be an asset into a liability. If many of these educated persons had received no education, they could at least have earned their livelihood by some kind of manual labour. Referring a report, former chairman of Atomic Energy, Dr.Anil Kakodkar at a Higher education conference held in 2018 at Jalna, said that the aim of higher education should use local resources and provide students an easy access to knowledge and content and self-reliant. It means higher education should be fruitful for student as well the society. Economists Santosh Mehrotra and Jajati K Parida revealed depressing trends. They stated increase in joblessness among educated youth; it almost doubled from 6.1 percent in 2011-12 to 17.8 percent in 2017-18 across all categories. Employment in the country decreased to 465 million in 2017-18 from 474 million in 2011-12,while the unemployment rate increase at all-time high 8.8 percent in2017-18 from 3 percent in 2011-12, mostly among educated youth. There is vast gap between demand and supply. Our first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad said any maladjustment between demand and supply at this stage would create problems which the State must at all cost seek to avoid. In the field of economics , there is always a close correction between demand and supply. Any deviation from such correlation leads to social crises. Absence of Accountability There is lack of accountability among students, teachers, colleges and the University as a whole. Students are expected to be accountable for their studies, teachers for their teaching and research and University as a whole, for the quality of education. At present, there is no mechanism for ensuring the accountability and performance of professors in universities and colleges. This is unlike foreign universities where the performance of college faculty is evaluated by their peers and students. Shortage of resources. The bulk of the enrolment in higher education is handled by state universities and their affiliated colleges. However, these state universities receive very small amounts of grants in comparison. Nearly 65 percent of the University Grants Commission (UGC) budget is utilised by the central universities and their colleges while state universities and their affiliated colleges get only the remaining 35 per cent. Apart from the highly recognized higher educational institutes in India most colleges and universities lack in the basic and high-end research facilities. Many institutes are running without proper infrastructure and basic facilities like libraries, hostels, transport, and sports facility. The condition of non-grant colleges is horrible. The absence of basic infrastructure and qualified lecturers have crippled higher education.
Assessment/ Examination Assessment is one of the most important functions in higher education. It is usually confined to the examinations conducted at regular intervals. Universities seem to be pre-occupied with examinations most of the time, from preparations to conduct them to announce the result. The real quality of education acquired by students can not be determined by subjecting them to a test for a few hours at the end of each year of the three or two years or four years course. There should be continuous assessment of the student throughout the period of his study.
Political interference. Most of the educational colleges and universities are governed by political leaders. They are using educational institutions for their selfish means. Students are being exploited for political purpose as result functioning in the colleges and universities are crippled and excellence is at stake.
Research and Innovation
Research is not only critical to the economic and social development of society; it is also critical to the mission of our University. For some research the benefit may not be so obvious. As Albert Einstein once remarked: "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" The universities became increasingly distanced from societal needs and have been reproducing graduates without necessary skills required in the workplace, including academics with Ph.Ds. without necessary research skills. It is this research which is the foundation for knowledge that makes possible so much of the innovation and application that provides wider benefit. However, Do our researchers contribute for society and their research beneficial. In the words of vice-chancellor Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University Dr Pramod Yeole said research paper becomes a mere paper, our Ph.D. holders takes a photo holding Ph.D. degree and frames it and puts on wall and nothing. Suggestions -In order to achieve this, we need good governance in the higher education system which would encourage optimisation of resources and infrastructure. - Steps should be taken to have world-class multidisciplinary institutions of research. The University needs not merely be an examining body, as Anil Kakodkar suggested that University should give private agency of holding examinations and focus quality education. Vocationalisation in education is still a distant dream. The programmes and courses that develop skills of self-employment and self-reliance should be encouraged. - Identify skill gaps in different sectors and offering courses for enhancing employability in them has been recommended. -Knowledge should not be confined to the four walls of the institution. It should percolate outside, reach out to the needy and the unreached, for this purpose, extensions centres of Universities should be opened. -The Government and the UGC also need not be a mere funding agency releasing funds or grants towards the salary of the teachers without bothering to find out the kind of work that is done by the teachers. -The University and the Government together should periodically send to the colleges, teams of experts who will sit in the classes and see for themselves the kind of teaching that is imparted and the report about it to the University and the Government. -Urgent steps should be taken to develop educational research and relate it effectively to the formulation of educational policies and improvement of education. In order to promote innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, incubation centres should be established. -International collaborations and networks should be promoted for developing human resources required to sustain new knowledge with special focus on inter-disciplinary research and studies. -Mobilize funds in state universities should be explored through other means such as endowments, contributions from industry and alumni. -Introduce Biometric attendance of lecturers and students. The new draft national education policy lays out an ambitious agenda for transformation higher education, it should be implemented in letter and spirt. Conclusion. Sixty years ago, first education minister Abul Kalam Azad said the happiness and prosperity of millions demand that this revolutionary reconstruction of society should be carried out not by violent or disruptive methods but through a process of legislation and planned change. Obviously, the universities must play an important role in initiating such changes and serve as agencies for the creation of new ideas and the training up of workers in their cause. If this is not be done, it would be happened as suggested by Azad, then British educationist had right said in the British parliament in 1833 while advocating the introduction of English education in India that successful implementation of our education will enable the British to rule over India without physical presence. How right he was! If you want to subordinate people, pervert their education. Let us rise and the change education system. ----------
References
Education in India by Padma Ramachandran and Vasantha Ramkumar. Speeches of Maulana Azad- Publication Division. Lokmat Times Times of India The Hindu speaks on education. -Speech Vice chancellor of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar University given Diamond Jubilee Celebration of JES College,Jalna Speech of former chairman of Atomic Energy, Dr.Anil Kakodkar on Higher Education held at Agrasen Bhavan,Jalna. Researcher is a teacher and works as a correspondent Lokmat Times and a stringer in Press Trust of India (PTI) AHMED NOOR -cell phone 9422725907
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