Transcending decline in education in Karnataka

Time of India

8 hours ago

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By Prof. Harish Ramaswamy
Education in Karnataka in recent times has lost its lustre. Once renowned for its universities, egalitarian thinking, producing ideas that were forward-looking and championing free speech, the education system has since downgraded itself in almost every aspect.
Especially since 2006 under a coalition government, public universities were forced to move away from block and development grants to corporatised HRMS and administrative systems, denying these institutions the financial autonomy that had originally empowered them. The introduction of the NEP—planned for an Atmanirbhar and viksit Bharat—fell victim to impetuous implementation exacerbating this decline.
A pattern of poor implementation cost the universities their worth; and the introduction of various technologies—a mundane exercise routinely taken up to support higher education everywhere—stripped universities of their freedom in both examinations and general administration. It did not help that officers were posted to administrative roles who had barely any knowledge of or interest in the nuances of academic administration.
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A telltale sign was the uniform calendar of events introduced to a jurisdictionally governed university system where diversity evaporated. Rather than empowering institutions these steps championed regressive centralisation in an age when technology has been fiercely making the case for decentralisation as a means of effective progress. The cherry on the cake is the Higher Education Council which instead of forging the cause of the universities has been made political and fundamentally weary of working for universities.
Its ill effects have been predictable.
The liberation of universities, and higher education more broadly, is the need of the hour in Karnataka. Not liberation from the state but liberation from politics and legislative representatives in the region. To drag universities into the 21st century we need to mould the mindset of politicians, bureaucracy and faculty stuck in the 19th century. We should start better collaborations with industry, not merely an industrial manufactory of future employees.
There is a need for more effective assessments and greater support for innovative thinking in line with Internationalising Higher Education (IHE).
Even as the UGC policy remains in tune with 21st century demands, such as improving skills and introducing internships to help students get job-ready, political and academic ideologues mislead the state into think narrowly, downgrading the vision of IHE. Consider vice-chancellors roped in from outside academia: any such appointees must necessarily have substantial experience in academia itself; but we will do better to also value the multidisciplinary approach, the industry-advised curricula and hands-on exposure that such appointments may bring.
The choice of the Syndicate needs a second look, its not a party forum.
Our education should offer not only opportunities to serve in government or private sectors but must also help graduates earn their living by engaging in socially valued activities, leading the life of a business and social entrepreneur. For this, teachers and students will have to work more closely with restructured curriculum. But teacher training is only the beginning: continued learning should be awarded salary benefits and promotion based on recognised channels for training, like the UGC Madan Mohan Malaviya Teachers' Training Centres.
The state must also develop and promote funding and scholarship provisions with income tax incentives through standardised, extensible public–private partnerships. Output from universities should go far beyond publication metrics to include, in subjects where it is relevant, the jurisdictional economic output, policy advisory, industrial partnerships and community engagement efforts. These are just a few examples of alternative, and far more meaningful, measures of a university.
Lastly, university leadership should not be walled-off based on age. Promising youngsters must instead be given priority. Academic achievements and competence ought to play a higher role. In this, Karnataka is falling short of its vision. It is high time the state liberates its citizens and universities alike, allowing for greater engagement with economic activities merely facilitated through better policy and not through direct transfer of benefits or freebies.
Competition between entities is important, including the government itself: competition between parties on meaningful policy are key to discarding the counterproductive political tendencies to which we have grown so accustomed. Kautilya spoke of how a political institution, including the state, is expected to work for the betterment of economic growth in society and how knowledge development contributes to this seamlessly.
Indeed education has historically always been the silent driver of change in our economy and of social progress. Politics should facilitate this change, not dogmatically stifle it. If Karnataka does not pay heed quickly enough, the state will decay under the only competition it does seem familiar with: a competitive offering of freebies paving the road to election victories. It will also do well to heed to such advice from career academics, not bureaucrats and self appointed custodians of universities with inflated views of their own opinions.
( This write is a former vice-chancellor and professor of political science)