What is the Impact of Privatization in The Indian Education Sector?
Just after independence, the education sector was on the top priority for the country and several initiatives were taken up by the government of India to provide education to the masses.
Originally posted on https://www.academiaerp.com/impact-of-privatization-in-the-indian-education-sector/
Just after independence, the education sector was on the top priority for the country and several initiatives were taken up by the government of India to provide education to the masses. Some areas which belonged to the masses like elementary education were still under the government purview. For private institutions, there was always a feeling that they take care of the quality aspect in a better way but are meant mainly for the elites rather than the masses.
But now at the school level, the demand for private educational institutions is on the rise, across the classes. This is mainly due to the limitations of the government in providing quality education to the masses. Private institutions offering higher and professional education are getting popular due to the limitations of the public sector in fulfilling the needs in this area.
Participation of the private sector in the field of education are available under the following stack of ownership:
- Individual owners and Trusts: Under this type of ownership, Educational institutes/organizations are owned and controlled by trusts created for the educational purposes by the individual(s) and corporate houses
- NGOs (non-government organizations): Under this type of ownership, organizations help in providing education to the segmented sections like women, disabled, rural and urban people
- Religious bodies: Under this type of ownership, religious organizations such as Buddhist monasteries, Vidyapeeth’s, Christian missionaries, The Khalsa group, Arya Samaj, Ram Krishna mission promotes education
- Corporate houses: Under this type of ownership, corporate houses like the Tatas, the Birla’s, the Reliance group etc. are actively involved in providing education
The government on its own cannot take care of providing quality education to the masses. However, the constitutional provisions make the government responsible for providing elementary education and hence it is felt that the government should allow the private sector to handle higher and professional education.
In the field of higher and professional education, there are many private institutions that offer quality education. Private professional institutions offer better infrastructure, follow a dynamic curriculum, provide research facilities for quality education. Thus, enabling the private sector to function as centers of excellence for providing quality education.
Now, it becomes all the more important to know about the factors leading to the growth in Private institutions.
- Liberalization: Due to the implementation of several liberalization policies, the field of education too witnessed the entry of the private sector on a large scale.
- Changing Social Needs: With a constant change in societal norms. The number of people graduating from government institutions is nowhere close to private institutions.
- Quality of Education: It is a well-known fact that the quality of education offered by government schools does not match that of private schools. Hence, there exists the craze for private schools and the consequent increase in their number.
Now, it becomes all the more important to know about the factors leading to the growth in Private institutions.
Having understood the above factors, it is bound for one to see the brighter side of the grass but there exist few concerns regarding institutes privatization. Some of them are highlighted below.
- Under-Representation of the Weaker Sections: The segmented sections struggle a lot to make it to these institutions. Thus, making education a privilege to be enjoyed by the elite class.
- Quality of Education: It is a general notion that private schools provide quality education when compared to the government schools. But when it comes to the higher and professional education such notions do take a flip. As there are private institutions that offer quality education but seldom they are the first choice of those who top the merit lists.
- Commercialization of Education: Many private educational institutions charge hefty fees with students not getting the full value for their money. Such educational institutions are mainly for reaping money out of students.
To sum it up, it is unfair to criticize the private institutions for any compromise in quality. Instead one must acknowledge the fact that expansion of the field of higher and professional education is mainly due to the private sector as they outdo the government institutions in many education areas. So, it is quite natural that the expectation from the private sector is more.
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Originally posted on https://www.academiaerp.com/impact-of-privatization-in-the-indian-education-sector/
