'System's Over-Regulated, Under-Governed'

Even for a man who has worn many distinguished hats over a long career—telecom and computing guru, inventor and entrepreneur—redrawing the roadmap for education in India has proved to be an enormous challenge. Invited by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005, 66-year-old Sam Pitroda has chaired the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) for over two years. It has been a controversial stint, with Pitroda locking horns with Union HRD minister Arjun Singh and sparring with some NKC members. His comments that "venerable" institutions like the UGC need to be recast or done away with have not amused the HRD minister. At the same time, the NKC—whose tenure ends in October 2008—has etched out a detailed education framework for the country, carefully negotiating the course in an environment of reservations. Excerpts from an e-mail and telephonic interview with Anuradha Raman:

After a long, long time, a fee revision for state-owned professional institutes is on the cards. Regulation of fees is a contentious issue. Do you think fees need to be hiked? What parameters should be kept in mind before doing so?

A key recommendation of the NKC on higher education is "needs blind admissions", thereby ensuring that an applicant's ability or inability to pay shall not influence the admission decision made by a university. We feel that in no case should access to education be denied due to an inability to pay. The NKC is, however, not in favour of an across-the-board subsidy in professional education. For sustainability, it's important that fees be indexed to the cost of living, as are the expenses of institutions. However, this rationalisation of fees should be matched by an increase in scholarships, loans and fee waivers for needy students. The government has already taken several initiatives in this regard, which are in the right direction.

Is it the NKC's case that anyone should be allowed to set up universities to fuel the demands for higher education? Also, NKC's attempt to diversify sources for funding state-run universities has not met with the approval of the HRD minister...

The new regulatory framework will need to work out the details and criteria for establishing new universities and colleges. The possibility of exploiting students is largely due to shortages and inadequate information. In a well-provided system, with mandatory transparency and disclosure norms, students will have choice and will make informed decisions. Any abuse of relaxed entry norms will only be a possibility in the short term, which can also be mitigated through effective powers to take action against promoters making false disclosures. Several initiatives for expansion in higher and professional education, including collaboration with private partners, are being undertaken by state governments. In recent years, the HRD ministry and the UGC have also encouraged the expansion of private initiatives through the grant of deemed university status.

The NKC has recommended the setting up of an independent regulatory authority for higher education by an act of Parliament. How will this impact UGC and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)?

To reduce barriers to entry and to encourage innovation in education, we need to create new paradigms in regulation (which are) independent of the government, transparent and effective. We also need to ensure that uniform principles are applied across various disciplines. The commission has, therefore, proposed one body for facilitating the establishment of new universities, which will be independent of the government and will adopt a comprehensive policy for all stakeholders. This body would rationalise the existing system, which is over-regulated but under-governed and where mandates are both confusing and overlapping. Currently, the only route for private players is the deemed university one, which is ad hoc, cumbersome and entails continuing control and supervision by the UGC.

As the umbrella organisation for the coordination and maintenance of standards of higher education, UGC and other professional statutory councils—such as the AICTE, MCI, BCI and NCTE—have played a crucial role in laying down a strong foundation of higher professional and technical education. However, in view of the changing structural paradigm of domestic education, their role needs to be reviewed. NKC feels that the role of the UGC should be limited to disbursing public funds. All other regulatory agencies, such as the AICTE, MCI and BCI, could then focus on their role as professional associations that could conduct nationwide examinations to provide licences for those wishing to enter the profession. They could focus on issues such as curriculum development, pedagogy and faculty development.

Given the present skewed distribution of professional institutes in the country, a fact brought out by your report, what are your solutions to set right the anomaly?

Professional institutions have only proliferated in certain areas in the country. To address this anomaly, the government would need to establish new institutions in the under-provided states. It must, however, be emphasised that the recent growth of professional institutions in certain states is largely the result of private initiatives. A framework for public-private partnerships should, therefore, be developed in collaboration with the concerned states to establish new quality institutions. While the government has a key role, recent growth suggests that the private sector would be the major partner in this expansion.

How should the government revamp the system?

The role of the government in education is very crucial especially in terms of public outlays and addressing issues of inclusion. However, the aspirations and challenges we have require an all-round effort from all stakeholders. There is an urgent need for new institutional mechanisms, which forge collaborative models. The government is an important player, but a vital role has to be played by the corporate sector, the academic community and the not-for-profit sector.

Finally, reservation for OBCs will be in place this year. What is the roadmap envisaged by you to make this happen? What are the pressures and issues you are likely to witness in the process?

The government is already taking steps to implement reservations for OBCs in a phased manner from the current academic year. This expansion will encounter problems related to faculty and infrastructure. However, these are interim problems that can be overcome with the right initiatives, including more innovative use of technology and open educational resources.

What problems do you foresee in its implementation?

In the short term, the expansion required to implement these quotas will pose problems of faculty and infrastructure, but these will gradually be overcome. Disparities in educational attainments are related to caste and social groups, but are also strongly related to other indicators such as income, gender, region and place of residence. NKC had, therefore, suggested the use of a broad-based deprivation index. In addition to reservations, we also need a major expansion of quality secondary education to reduce differences in academic achievements.