Unsettling score

The union cabinet?s decision to increase the number of general category seats in the IITs, IIMs and central universities is an admirable effort to make an omelette without breaking the eggs.

The union cabinet’s decision to increase the number of general category seats in the IITs, IIMs and central universities is an admirable effort to make an omelette without breaking the eggs — introduce a quota for Other Backward Castes in higher education institutions, as well as win over those who will be harmed by the move. A closer look at the issue could reveal the strategy for what it is — a red herring. The call to increase the number of seats is not new. Many proposals on the same for various colleges across the country have been gathering dust in various government departments. But all of them have failed for a variety of reasons, not the least being the fact that the country’s higher education base rests on an abysmally narrow base of merely 60 per cent literacy.

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No one denies that the country could do with more IITs and IIMs. But the ways in which the problem has been addressed so far have been positively shoddy. The IIT entrance exams have been made easier, allegedly to reduce stress. This would obviously be of little help if the number of seats remained the same. A few weeks ago, a similar kind of exercise was visible in IIMs debating on whether they could hold their entrance exams in regional languages, without any alterations in the course mix. It is apparent that while this may widen the base in terms of the number of students who can appear for the entrance test, it wouldn’t open up gates any wider for those not fluent in English. Almost as if in counterpoint it was announced that up to 11,000 ITI seats were up for cancellation because the institutes didn’t have the capability to support the number of seats.

That in our view is the key. Announcing an increase in seats or token gestures like permitting entrance exams in regional languages is an exercise in futility if it’s not immediately followed by investment in infrastructure — equipment, instruction material etc. — and, perhaps most important, trained faculty. The paucity of trained faculty for higher education is likely to emerge as a major constraint.

The increase-in-seats announcement will likely remain a pipe-dream if the Union and state governments cannot do something about providing quality primary and secondary education in the country. Today’s narrow literacy base and the barely functional primary and secondary education system cannot come up with more potential IIT and IIM graduates without diluting quality.