Recently the QS world university rankings were announced. None of our country premier institutes have found a place within 200. The QS world university ranking puts IIT, Delhi, at 222. The Times Higher Education’s (THE) World University Rankings list 2013-14 has placed, IIT, Delhi, along with IIT, Kanpur, IIT, Kharagpur and IIT, Roorkee, in the group of institutions between 351-400.There have been so much hue and cry over these rankings, with even our president and prime minister expressing their deep concerns about bad performances by country premier institutes. Some are even questioning the point of having such rankings and their genuineness. However the matter of debate is not about the validity or genuineness of rankings, it is about the modal of education system we are following. Is education system we are having is world class? Is it serving the purpose of creating a workforce which can adopt itself to the ever-changing technical advancements? These are the some tough questions which need to be answered by the education policy framers of our country. We need to analyze our shortcomings and find a viable solution to them.
Now the question arises why we are underperforming in education sector. A recent study has found that about 70% of technical stream graduates and 85% general stream graduates are either unemployed or under employed. However at the same time a number of jobs in industry, government and other sectors are lying vacant for want of qualified people. What can be more ironical than this, at one side we have unemployed and under employed people and on the other the jobs are lying vacant. We need to find out the reason behind this situation and solve the problem as quickly as possible.
So what are the roadblocks in path of India becoming an education super power? The problem has to analyzed form its roots. Firstly there is dearth of good quality institutions in our country. If we exclude our so called top class institutes IITs, IIMs and AIIMS etc. the other institutes are not simply good enough. There are certain exceptions but these exceptions should not be treated as face of whole country. Till this point the whole talk is around the higher education however amid this talk we should not miss what is going on in primary(school) education sector. This is because school education is the base for higher education. To ensure the economic growth of our country we need a workforce that is minimally primary school and preferably secondary school educated. If we compare our self to China,79% of China’s workforce belong to primary and secondary school educated as compared to only 48% of India, situation is so grim. So if we have 52% workforce which is not even primary and secondary school educated how can we imagine being an education superpower. Government may be patting its back for increasing the literacy rate in recent years but literacy rate figures are only eyewash which do not represent the true picture. If the condition of school education is so worse how can we have a world class higher education. In 2009 the government passed the Right to Education Act, making education free and compulsory up to the age of 14 a legal right. However the implementation of this act has been as worst as it can be imagined. Government decided to provide financial aids to schools to implement this act. Only 80% of the schools take this aid. The remaining 20 % unaided schools serve 73% of children in school and form the backbone of school education in the country. Some unaided schools are good but majority of them lacks even the basic amenities like toilets and drinking water. The situation is worse in rural and remote areas.
Again continuing the discussion about the higher education the situation is not so different than school education. Most of the technical colleges especially those run by private bodies have their sole aim to earn profit. The world quality education does not exist in their dictionary. The apex bodies which are designated to look upon these institutes are themselves involved in corruption. In government institutes the numbers of teaching positions are lying vacant. This is the case even with the most prestigious institutes such as IITs and IIMs. There is lack of people who want to be entrepreneur. The curriculum followed is mostly outdated in most of the institutes. Most of the technical institutes owned by private bodies do not have even laboratories and library.
So what is the solution? Is solution is possible at all. Definitely solution is possible. What we require is to know our mistakes and accept them and act in planned manner to rectify our mistakes. Government need to be a torch bearer in the education reforms. India have successfully implemented the Green Revolution and White Revolution, what we need now is an Education Revolution. In revolution in which everyone has to play a role, the government, the private bodies, academicians and common people. We need to make an extensive use of information technology to bring about this revolution. The government needs to increase its spending on the school education. The existing top institutions need to be incorporate changes to make them world class. The private sector should be encouraged by the government to invest in this sector and provide a quality education.
If we want to see India as a developed country, as a technical super power we need to understand the need of hour and work accordingly.

VIVEK KUMAR SINGH
M.Tech.
IIIT Allahabad