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TRANSCRIPT
November 2015
Ph
oto
Cou
rtes
y:
Har
shit
a S
inha;
Tak
en a
t JN
U,
Del
hi
2
Editorial Growing up, I was oft-told the story of Arjuna, the fear-less warrior who only saw the bull’s eye he was sup-posed to aim an arrow at. He didn’t see the sky, the clouds, the birds or any other object, living or non-living, and was completely focused. This should be the kind of focus I ought to have, they told me. Laser-like focus to get good grades, a degree, a well-respected and well-paying job culminating in a ‘dignified’ life. I had one question then, and it still hasn’t been an-swered. What becomes of the bigger picture when all of your energies are focused on getting a degree in a stan-dardised framework and then being on your way? Edu-cation as an institution is standardised in nations all over the world, but we are assured it is a life-long proc-ess that can’t be confined to the books we read or to the four walls of the classrooms we have to sit in. This to me is a paradox. This special edition of Beacon is centred on an issue that affects everyone, those who care and even those who don’t. India in 2005 offered to the World Trade Organi-sation to open its education sector to foreign and pri-vate players. In light of the withdrawal of the Non-NET fellowships of M.Phil and PhD candidates at government-run universities and given the fact that the Indian gov-ernment looks well on its way to turning the aforemen-tioned offer into an irrevocable commitment at the Tenth Ministerial Conference of the WTO to be held at Nairobi, Kenya this December, the masses are in tur-moil. To fuel the fire, the government has chosen to remain mum with regard to the ordeal. The Japanese government has chosen to disregard hu-manities and the social sciences in favour of more ‘productive’ technical courses. The intellectual movement, some people say, is losing its momentum. The question we must ask ourselves is whether education is being cast into atomised moulds being fettered to suit private interests. This is not just an issue. It is a crisis. A crisis the end re-sult of which will decide what will taught at colleges and universities, the kind of ethos a classroom ought to have and most importantly, the nature of the intelligentsia-to-be. The time to get up and be aware, not to mention proac-tive, is nigh after all.
A Reality Check KAVITA CHARAN P3
All About the Nairobi Deal AISHWARYA MALL
P5
Privatisation of Education: How is the US Handling it? NEETI PRAKASH AND TAHIRA BHATTI P7
Tête a Tête with Prof. Avijit Pathak
REEYA RAO P9
Education and the Government ANWESHA CHATTERJEE P11
Uthceare CHITRANGADA SINGH
P13
And Then There Were None SMRITI CHAUDHARY
P14
Hungry for Hegemony CHITRANGADA SINGH P16
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
3
Amidst this furore against cer-
tain commitments that are be-
ing scheduled to be made to
the WTO, the Indian govern-
ment is receiving flak for not
fulfilling its duties and safe-
guarding the higher education
sector of the country. Since an
act of criticism should be
backed by cognizance of the
subject matter, this article will
furnish the reader with the
facts of the same.
Here are the facts: India’s
higher education system is the
third largest system in the
world*, after United States and
China. There are 35,539 affili-
ated colleges, public or private,
in the country. **
Our present education system
mainly comprises primary edu-
cation, secondary education,
senior secondary education and
higher education. The central
government is responsible for
formulating and regulating ma-
jor policies relating to higher
education in the country. It pro-
vides grants to the UGC and
establishes central universities
across the country. The central
government has the means to
grant university status to pri-
vate institutions, under
the ‘deemed university’ cate-
gory. State governments also
have similar authority.
The state of education has im-
proved a lot over the past 68
years since the Independence.
However, there still remains
room for a lot of reforms.
The higher education system
has several setbacks, for exam-
ple, the enrolment rate (GER)
for Higher Education was 8.0%
in the year 2000 while the
global percentage was 23.2%.
Corollary to this, there are
large variations among the
various categories of popula-
tion based on gender, urban or
rural habitation and econpmic
standing. Also, the quality of
education is not exceptional;
the Nasscom-Mackinsey Re-
port (2005) had said that not
more than 15% of graduates of
general education and 25-30%
of Technical Education are fit
for employment. ***
This state of education led the
government and other institu-
tions (with their own vested
interests) to believe that priva-
tisation of higher education is
the best thing that they could
do. With the aim of privatisa-
tion of education, Mukesh Am-
bani and Kumar Manglam Birla
submitted a joint report titled
‘A Policy Framework for Re-
forms in Education’, to the
erstwhile NDA government.
The report focused on ways to
bring in reforms in the present
education system, they
wanted to “change our mind-
set- from seeing education as
a component of social devel-
opment to realizing that it is
a means of creating a new
information society, resplen-
dent with knowledge, re-
search, creativity and innova-
tion. It is not a social expendi-
ture but an investment in
India’s future.”
The higher education sector
of India is considered as the
‘sunrise sector’ for invest-
ment as it is a market worth
15 billion USD. Private play-
ers are eyeing the education
sector as they see education
as a ‘frontier market’ in the
emerging economies. The
World Trade Organization is
one such institution.
This organization has three
main multilateral agree-
ments. These are General
Agreement on Trade and Tar-
iff (GATT-1994), Trade-
Related Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS) and General
Agreement on Trade in Ser-
vices (GATS). Education is one
of the sectors listed under
GATS.
The main aim of GATS is to
promote trade liberalisation
of all kinds of services.
India has submitted its
‘offers’ for ‘Market Access’ in
‘Higher Education Sub-Sector’
to GATS in August 2005 as
A Reality Check Kavita Charan
4
part of the Doha Round Trade Negotiations.
Basically, when a country offers its education
sector to GATS, it commits to liberalise its poli-
cies for operation of foreign players in education.
The host country can’t discriminate between the
foreign and domestic institutions in term of sub-
sidies, qualifications, licenses, standards etc. It
will have to provide a level playing field to the
foreign universities and this will lead to rampant
commercialization and privatisation of educa-
tion. India has made offers but has still not made
commitments for the same because the WTO
negotiations were disturbed for over a decade.
The government set up various committees to
look into the offers and various committees ad-
vocated for investment from the foreign players
in view of lack of funds with governments.
According to the World Bank Data, globally 4.9%
of GDP was being spent on education in 2010
and India had spent only 3.3% of the GDP. Our
government is withdrawing its responsibility as
an education provider and is facilitating foreign
investment.
The NDA government is working on turning the
‘offers; into ‘commitments’ and this will be done
during the Tenth Ministerial Conference in Nai-
robi, Kenya (15th – 18th December). Once India
makes the commitments, under GATS, the for-
eign universities will be coming to India to make
profits only. These will further deepen the crises
of higher education of India as it is already over-
commercialized. The students will be turned into
consumers who would have to pay service
charges to receive any kind of higher education.
Unlike IMF and World Bank, there is little free-
dom for the members of the WTO and hence,
only little scope of revision at the ‘offer’ level, as,
once the ‘commitment’ is made, it will be irrevo-
cable.
The immediate ramifications of such a commit-
ment would be as such: the government would
stop subsidizing its own institutions, the privati-
sation of education would not only increase the
fees and exclude certain sections of society
from education but would attack the very char-
acter of knowledge. If the character of knowl-
edge is altered in such a away then only mar-
ketable knowledge will be popular.
And even if the government does agree to pri-
vatise this sector against popular disapproval, it
has to realise that for a smooth transition, cer-
tain provisions are to be made for institutions
that have for decades, relied on government
funding and special privileges. One doesn’t
make a child ride a bicycle without making
them practice with training wheels first. So,
where are the training wheels for our education
sector before it is forced to race around extem-
poraneously.
Sources:
*http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/
R e s o u r c e s/ 2 7 8 2 0 0 - 1 1 2 1 7 0 3 2 7 4 2 5 5 / 1 4 3 9 2 6 4 -
1193249163062/India_CountrySummary.pdf
**http://www.dreducation.com/2013/08/data-statistics-india-student-college.html
***http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/278200-1121703274255/1439264-1193249163062/India_CountrySummary.pdf
5
The World Trade Organisation
(WTO) is the only international
organization that deals with the
rules of trade between nations.
It was set up in 1995 with the
goal of making trade more effi-
cient, better organised and solv-
ing disputes between nations by
providing a framework of rules.
There are 162 members of the
WTO who come together to ne-
gotiate and decide upon these
rules regularly. Every two years,
this organisation hosts a ministe-
rial conference which is its top
decision making body. This year,
the Tenth Ministerial Conference
will be held in Nairobi, Kenya
from the 15th to the 18th of De-
cember. There is not enough
awareness surrounding the con-
ference even though this year
important issues with regard to
education, environment and ag-
riculture will be discussed. The
Director-General of WTO,
Azevêdo said that the 10th Con-
ference is crucial for determining
the future role of the organiza-
tion as a forum for trade nego-
tiations.
The conference this year deals
with issues of trade that affect
India directly. One of the main
issues that must be addressed in
this conference is that of the
Doha Declaration of 2001. The
Doha Declaration addressed
three main issues- of agriculture,
non-agricultural market access
and services.
The non-agricultural market ac-
cess includes the reduction and
elimination of tariffs on export-
able goods which include min-
ing products, fish, fish products
and forestry products. The de-
veloped and developing coun-
tries have opposing views on
this topic. While developing
countries are in favour of pro-
tecting the emerging indus-
tries, it is apparent that the
developed countries want to
make profits. With tariff bind-
ing being implemented, a ceil-
ing will be set and countries
will not be able to charge a
tariff higher than the one de-
cided upon, thus reducing
profits.
A successful outcome of Doha
looks like a long shot because a
key member in the organisa-
tion, USA asked the developing
countries to keep
‘expectations in line with real-
ity’. Many countries also want
to focus on the twenty-first
century ‘modern business and
trade’ issues which apparently
do not include agricultural is-
sues. Prime Minister Modi on
the other hand said that the
Doha Declaration will be pur-
sued and it was time for the
developed nations to be on the
backburner instead of those
which are still developing. Is-
sues related to the safeguard-
ing of farmers, food security
and subsidies in this sector will
also be addressed.
Yet another agreement which
will be pursued is the informa-
tion technology agreement
which was the first agreement
made in relation to the reduc-
tion and removal of tariffs on
products like computers, tele-
communications equipment,
semiconductors, software and
scientific instruments and the
accessories to these products.
In July 2015, the members de-
cided to expand the list of
products under this agreement
with 201 new products. The
new products include medical
equipment like ultra-sonic
scanning apparatus, GPS navi-
gation equipment and optical
lenses. With the expansion of
the ITA, the manufacturers
would gain accessibility, pre-
dictability and certainty of
products in the market because
the WTO members would have
to ascribe to not taking any
duties or customs.
The environmental goods ne-
gotiations relate to the reduc-
tion of tariff and non-tariff bar-
riers on environmental goods
like catalytic converters, air
filters and consultancy on
wastewater management. The
signing of this agreement will
simulate the purchase of envi-
ronmental products which will
aid in invention and improve
many countries’ ability to ob-
tain environmental technology
All About the Nairobi Deal
Aishwarya Mall
6
which will ensure cleaner air,
water and better sanitation.
GATS is an agreement which
was introduced in 1996 with the
main aim of removal of barriers
of trade in various fields like
banking, insurance, movement
of goods and persons and edu-
cation. The members of the
WTO are still free to choose
which sectors of market are to
be ‘liberalised’ i.e. privatised
and sold in the market. The
agreement also has the power
to decide the extent to which
liberalisation will take place in a
given period of time.
The documents available on the
WTO website fail to mention
anything about education as
being a part of the agreement.
A lot of information is provided
about the financial and move-
ment of goods and persons sec-
tors, yet no information is pro-
vided about what seems to be
an important part of the deal
under wraps. The government
might not acknowledge it ex-
plicitly, but its gradual retreat-
ment from what were strong-
holds of the public sector
(health and education, for in-
stance) are raising a lot of ques-
tions.
As mentioned in the docu-
ments, the financial sector
which includes banking, venture
capital, insurance and financial
consultancy will have unbound
access by foreign companies in
the national market. Venture
capital is needed by new start-
ups to establish themselves and
insurance is extremely impor-
tant for individuals. Foreign eq-
uity stakes can be up to 51% in
Indian financial companies
which in turn gives them im-
mense power to change the way
the companies work. Unbound
access will also be given to tele-
communication companies with
a 25% stake holding of Indian
companies by foreign compa-
nies.
Moreover, education will be
categorised as a commodity
which will make students the
consumers. The opening up of
the education sector will allow
foreign companies to establish
profit driven institutions in the
country which will bring down
the quality of education. A state
funded university will not be
given subsidies anymore
thereby making it extremely
difficult for students from eco-
nomically weaker sections to
have access to quality educa-
tion. As far as government in-
volvement goes, they will no
longer have the obligation to
provide state funded research,
institutions or keep a check on
the quality of education.
The 10th Ministerial Conference
brings with it some positives and
negatives. The Doha Declaration
along with Environmental Goods
Agreement gives India the op-
portunity to improve its situa-
tion in the agricultural sector,
whereas offer about the educa-
tion sector attacks the very
foundations of research, in-
novation and knowledge.
What is to become of the
thousands of small scale start
-ups and government-funded
colleges and universities is
unknown.
7
As the WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi,
Kenya approaches, a shiver of ambiguity rushes
through those who wonder how the popular
and much debated WTO-GATS agreement will
affect the accessibility and quality of education
in our country. Trade in higher education ser-
vices is a moneymaking industry, including re-
cruitment of international students, establish-
ment of university campuses abroad, franchised
provision and online learning.
The General Agreement on Trade in Services
(GATS) is designed to increase trade liberalisa-
tion internationally, and includes ‘education’ as
a part of the service sector. Some view GATS as
a positive force, accelerating the influx of pri-
vate and foreign providers of higher education
into countries where domestic capacity is in-
adequate. Other take a more negative view,
concerned that liberalisation may compromise
important elements of quality assurance and
permit private and foreign providers to mo-
nopolise the best students and most lucrative
programmes .
In the past, India has welcomed privatization in
many arenas yet somehow privatization of edu-
cation raises a question mark on the implica-
tions it will have on India’s education. To get a
better picture of the consequence such a step
might have one our education system and poli-
cies we look at a country that is already under-
going such a change - The United States of
America.
In the United States, the Federal Department of
Education is primarily responsible for setting
and education finance. Students have a choice
between free tax-funded public schools, or pri-
vately funded private schools. The defining dis-
tinction between public and private schools is
their different sources of support. Public
schools depend primarily on local, state, and
federal government funds, while private
schools are usually supported by tuition pay-
ments and sometimes by funds from other
sources such as religious organizations, endow-
ments, grants, and charitable donations.
Much of the argument for market reforms in
education revolves around the assumption that
private governance results in higher student
achievement at similar cost when compared to
public governance. US-based studies have
found that students in private schools signifi-
cantly outperform their public school counter-
parts. However, many studies also indicate that
the difference in achievement may have little to
do with how a school is funded and governed
rather, it may depend on other variable, includ-
ing the student’s socio-economic status (SES),
parental education, community support and
peer group.
Since the WTO-GATS agreements focuses more
on higher education it becomes necessary to
understand the implications of privatization on
universities. Much like schools, the United
States also has a well-developed system of uni-
versities, both private and public.
The quality of education at both public and pri-
vate universities varies but not by a large mar-
gin. Private colleges keep classes small, with
easy access to professors as opposed to public
universities where up to two hundred students
may be enrolled in some classes. One example
of a large public university is Ohio State Univer-
sity, home to 42,000 undergraduates. Accord-
ing to many surveys, the curriculum of both
private and state universities is set along the
same lines even though one is not set by the
government and the other is.
The main difference between the two kinds of
universities is the funding they receive. Private
Privatisation of Education: How is the US Handling it?
Neeti Prakash
8
universities charge much higher tuition than
their public counterparts, which rely on state
funds to make up the difference. Tuition and
fees for a public four-year institution cost
$20,823 for the 2011-12 school year –– about
$8,000 less than private institutions. Private
institutions rely almost entirely on tuition and
the generosity of donors, which is why students
wind up paying more. One of the main con-
cerns of anyone seeking higher education is
financial aid. In the United States, student loan
funding is jointly managed by the Department
of Education directly, called the Federal Direct
Student Loan Program (FDSLP) and commercial
entities such as banks, credit unions, and finan-
cial services firms .Some colleges may not ac-
cept either, in which case students must seek
out private alternatives for student loans. Pro-
grams like the Pell Grant Programme which are
used to provide funding for higher education to
students with financial need, who have not
earned their first bachelor's degree, or who are
enrolled in certain post-baccalaureate pro-
grams, through participating institutions, are
the main sources of grants. Federal loans are
subject to income-based payback, fixed interest
rates, and take nine months to default on, mak-
ing them a much safer loan for students to
take.
Conversely, private loans in the US have done
away with late fees, and in the fine print have
redefined the right to claim default on the loan
after missing a single payment. Tuition is rising
at both public and private universities alike,
which means more students in the US are
forced to take on student debt to pay their
way. For the 2010-11 school year, 57% of public
four-year college students graduated with stu-
dent loan debt, of $23,800. Private students
were worse off, with about two-thirds of alum-
nus leaving school nearly $30,000 in debt.
In the United States, privatization of education
has been on the agenda for many years now.
Many believe that competition, emblematic of
the private sector, is the best guarantee for
the best outcomes. Competition compels par-
ticipants to adopt the most efficient means
and maximizes motivation by threatening ex-
tinction if a company does not excel. For many
Americans, education offers a tremendous
source of profits when private, for-profit com-
panies are allowed to move in. This line of
though gels in well with the capitalist society
of USA. In India, however, there are mixed re-
actions about the steps being to privatize edu-
cation. Many believe in education is a process
that should not be controlled by companies
who are obligated to share holders and profits
instead of students. However many are also of
the opinion that to improve the standards of
education in our country a large investment is
required. In the given context, according to
many Indians, there is a pressing need for the
Private Sector to pitch in and that at the risk of
privatization and monopolization of higher
education by the Private Sector.
Much like the US, there has been severe de-
bate in India regarding the issue of privatiza-
tion of education. It was only after US Presi-
dents like George. W. Bush and Barack Obama
privatized many domains like the supply of
food, the infrastructure for housing soldiers,
the use of special security forces, that privati-
zation of education was welcomed in their so-
ciety albeit reluctantly. In India, however, this
sort of support privatization is found only in
very small pockets of the society. In a society
like ours that advocates socialism and hence
an equal access to essential resources like edu-
cation, pushing education in the private do-
main can increase the already existing dispari-
ties in India. Privatization of education may
deny many in this country their fundamental
right. Education has always been a top priority
for the country and how we deal with privati-
zation may change the entire game. Will India
be destined for education or privatized profit ?
Let’s wait till December to answer that.
9
In our endeavour to probe into
the matter for further understand-
ing, we went to the Jawaharlal
Nehru University to interview Pro-
fessor Avijit Pathak.
Professor Pathak - who has been
teaching at the Centre for the
Study of Social Systems, School of
Social Sciences since 1990 - has
devoted his interests to and writ-
ten profoundly on topics such as
modernity, globalisation, educa-
tion, knowledge in a multitude of
books he has authored such as
Globalization and Identity: To-
wards a Reflexive Quest; Recalling
the Forgotten: Education and
Moral Quest; The Rhythm of Life
and Death; Indian Modernity: Con-
tradictions, Paradoxes and Possi-
bilities; Discontents of a Culture
and Social Implications of School-
ing: Knowledge, Pedagogy and
Consciousness.
Hence, it was rather enriching and
riveting to know of his trajectory
through different stages of life, his
thoughts on the relationship be-
tween academia and activism, the
receding role of the state from the
sectors of health and education, as
well as privatisation of education
which is consequential to the De-
cember WTO Conference.
Q1. How has your experience
with education played out- as a
student, then a teacher, a re-
searcher and finally a writer?
In my linear stages of develop-
ment in terms of formal institu-
tional education, there were ex-
periences which were pleasant
and there were some which were
not-so-pleasant. So, out of the
mixed bag as a student, when one
begins to teach, all these experi-
ences are there in one’s mind;
and, as the process begins and you
come to the class everyday and
make an effort to make it more
lively and meaningful for the stu-
dents. Whether we teach History,
Mathematics, Sociology or Physics,
teaching as a profession means
engaging with human souls and
educating them and I believe, this
is the essential mission of teach-
ing. However, with time, there is
no engagement. Teaching is also
become commodified and priva-
tised and a teacher is being re-
duced into a kind of a hired expert,
knowledge provider, service pro-
vider and student, a consumer.
But, a teacher-taught relationship
is not that of a producer and a
consumer, it is a deep relationship
which collectively constructs the
world and evolves it. The day the
logic of the market enters into it
and begins to pollute it, there is
something very deep about educa-
tion which will be impacted.
Q2. Are there any new elements
in the current education system?
If so, what are they and how are
they different from when you
were a student?
It is paradoxical, on the one hand,
a lot of new facilities are there, all
over the world, also India, like the
school education today, and on
the other, the sort of teacher-
student relationship, the mechani-
cal way of learning – rote learning,
mechanical way of examination
and have emerged after a lot of
research on Education and the
metaphor of nature has become
absent. Also, the different poten-
tial of the child is not allowed to
take birth because of the notions
of competitiveness and survival of
the fittest, also as even after get-
ting marks as high as 96%, people
are depressed because they are
still not eligible to take admission
to colleges, say, Shri Ram College
of Commerce. The emerging sys-
tems such as CBSE might get one t
o score 100/100 in English without
Tête a Tête with Prof. Avijit Pathak Reeya Rao
10
laying one’s hands on a beautiful
short story. So, at one level new
sensibilities are emerging, teachers
are coming in with these kind of
sensibilities, but on the other hand
pathologies are becoming intensi-
fied. For instance, there is more
and more theoretical awareness
about air pollution yet on the other
hand, the business of car compa-
nies and flyover mafia’s are going
on. Hence, it is paradoxical.
Q 3. Education as a process keeps
changing. How is that visible here
at JNU?
There are three components of
meaningful education, firstly, incul-
cation of social knowledge, tradi-
tions, secondly, skill training and
thirdly, spirituality. JNU when came
to be in the late 1960’s and early
1970’s was one of those universi-
ties where all disciplines were
taught. The Birla and Ambani Re-
port was a changing point in the
1990’s as they exerted that there
should be self-financing courses,
more in-tune with the market. And
then came about the National
Knowledge Commission (2005)
which reiterated the same ideas.
However, as seen in private univer-
sities, quality of education im-
parted, faculty and teaching are not
up to the mark. The kind of knowl-
edge’s taught are decided in such a
manner that social sciences such as
Sociology, History, Economics, Life
Sciences won’t be taught and in-
dustrial management, biotechnol-
ogy and such courses will be taught
as they are in tune with the indus-
tries. I am not saying that knowl-
edge should not be in tune with the
industries, as, a component of edu-
cation is skills, but education is
more than just that as one’s knowl-
edge should be socially meaningful
and it won’t be possible unless
foundation knowledge’s are not
built up. The coming WTO Confer-
ence is not just about the strike of
the UGC, it is far deeper as it legiti-
mises the education which is in-
tune with the corporate. The cor-
porate only needs jobs which are
instrumental in the growth of the
corporate. Hence, technology is
needed to empower people and
not disempower them or take
their job. So state-funded universi-
ties like JNU are necessary, my
father being an honest govern-
ment servant, we didn’t have any
extra money and I could get edu-
cated because the state took care.
Apart from the damage privatisa-
tion does to knowledge, it will
further increase the inequality in
society and push many into the
debt trap. It is a very difficult time
and ironically, the sweet coding
being employed is ‘development’,
but, what is development? Is it
just an abstract figure of number?
These are questions we need to
ask ourselves.
Q4. How would you look at the
production and dissemination of
knowledge in a privatised setup
from the vantage point of sociol-
ogy of knowledge?
If we ask, who defines what is the
most legitimate knowledge that
should be disseminated? If a world
of global capital and increasing
corporatisation of the world. For
example, Sociology is not taught
private universities and if it is
taught, it is taught in a way which
will be conducive for the corpo-
rate. So, to see what is happening
today has to be seen in a larger
political scenario. Research will
also be in-tune with the demands
of the corporate, teachers will be
asked to produce projects, and the
funds one gets to conduct the
research will be dictated with a
corporate agenda. The act of be-
ing a teacher is political, as they
ought to be democratic and even
spiritual in a higher sense of the
term as it implies in engagement
with human souls, it is a relation
of love.
Q5. What do you think should be
the relation between academia,
teaching and activism?
I think teachers and public intel-
lectuals must take part in larger
issues, as they are a part of poli-
tics and society. One kind of activ-
ism could be that of joining a po-
litical party one and other could
be disseminating ideas, public
debate, writing in newspapers,
visiting colonies after colonies. I
sincerely believe that college pro-
fessors should come to different
housing colonies and conduct
small meetings and clear things,
because, today what is happening
is there is no meaningful conver-
sation. So, we must explore activ-
ism, and it is sad that we don’t, in
the case of JNU too, we have not
succeeded in transforming it into
an eco-sensitive or car-free uni-
versity. It could have become an
example for surrounding colonies
as well, and this is how the rela-
tionship between university and
community would be established
through a certain kind of practice
and this also becomes one kind of
activism. Young minds like you, as
the Sociology department under
the brilliant guidance of Anjali
(Professor Anjali Bhatia, HOD of
Sociology) should organise work-
shops for students and parents of
surrounding schools growing up
in the popular culture should be
made to see things like there is
world and music beyond Honey
Singh, without moralising it and
encourage deeper understanding
and stimulate activism within
yourselves.
11
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can
use to change the world."
Nelson Mandela
Education is one of the fundamental markers for gaug-
ing the level of development of any country. To be-
come truly advanced, a country needs to invest in its
human capital to harness its full potential. It is only
through quality education that this is possible. Educa-
tion increases the productivity of people and helps
develop technological and entrepreneurial skills. It is
probably the only way by which the social and eco-
nomic inequalities can be eradicated.
Since the end of the British rule on 15 August, 1947
the literacy rate in India has taken a six fold leap from
a mere 12% to 75% according to the Census of
2011.Inspite this,India is far behind the world average
literacy rate of 84%. What accounts for this dismal
state of education in our country? One of the reasons
for this can be the undue attention that has been given
upon being 'literate' rather than being 'educated'. Lit-
eracy simply means to be able to read and write. How-
ever, education is acquiring knowledge to enhance
one's ability to reason and make sound judgements.
Going by this, 75% of people by the end of 2011 could
pick up a pen and write his/her name, but how many
of them were educated in the truest sense?
On 1st April,2010 the Parliament of India brought into
force the Right to Education Act which provided for
free and compulsory education to children from the
ages of 6 to 14.
Before probing into the pros and cons of the RTE Act,
we must look into the precursors of this Act- The Na-
tional Literacy Mission and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
The National Literacy Mission (NLM) was a nation-wide
literacy programme launched in 1988 to provide edu-
cation to 80 million illiterate adults between the age of
15-75 over a period of 80 years. Initially, the NLM had
two programmes under it- Total Literacy and Post liter-
acy. Total literacy aimed at total education for each
individual. Post literacy was the programme which
aimed at providing skills and resources to the newly
literate people so as to consolidate the learning proc-
ess. Later on the two were coalesced into a single pro-
gramme.The NLM had its first successful run in the
Kottayam city of Kerala.The programme gained many
laurels and the UNESCO in 1999, conferred on it, its
Noma Literacy Prize.
The SarvShikshaAbhiyan(SSA) implemented in 2001
under the aegis of Atal Bihari Vajpayee aimed at uni-
versalizing elementary education within a limited
time period of 10 years - for the children of the age
group of 6 to 14 years - so that every child in this age
group gets 8 years of compulsory schooling by 2010.
This scheme goes back to the 1993-94 District Pri-
mary Education Programme (DPEP) which aimed at
achieving universal primary education in 272 districts
in the country. The present goals of this programme
are to open primary schools in areas which do not
have any educational facilities, to strengthen the
infrastructural facilities of the existing schools, to
provide for adequate teaching faculty so as to main-
tain a healthy teacher-student ratio and to provide
quality elementary education with a signifaicant fo-
cus on girl's education.
Through the Constitutional Amendment of 2002,
article 21A was included in the Constitution, making
Education a Fundamental Right. This amendment
necessitated the drafting of a separate Education Bill
to specify how this will be implemented and this is
how the RTE Act came into force. For the first time in
the history of India, a law was brought into force
with a speech by the Prime Minister. Dr.Manmohan
Singh spoke the language of hope when he said that
irrespective of gender, social and economic barriers,
every individual was entitled to education.
This historic law puts the State under obligation to
ensure compulsory admission and completion of
education by a child without having to pay any sort
of fee to the concerned school authorities. One of
the few highlights of this historic act were, the fact
that it was made mandatory for private schools to
have 25% of its seats reserved for children from un-
derprivileged backgrounds. However, minority insti-
tutions do not fall under this provision of reserving
seats. The Act prohibits the school from holding back
or expelling any student. It also has several pro-
grammes for the training of drop outs to bring them
Education and the Government
Anwesha Chatterjee
12
at par with the rest of the students. The RTE Act is the first legislation in the entire world which puts responsi-
bility on the Government to ensure that children are getting education. In this sense, it is truly a benevolent
and revolutionary measure to ensure welfare of the citizens. Then why has such an Act failed to bring about the
desired change in literacy levels in India?
On 1st May, 2011 over 500 parents congregated near Jantar Mantar to protest against the arbitrary hiking of
fees in private schools and the extremely low quality of education provided in the government schools. The
parents demanded the enactment of a law to formalize the fees to be charged by the private schools and also
to raise the standards of government schools to the level of Kendriya Vidyalayas (Central Schools).
On 2nd October ,2015 over 1000 girls in three government schools in Bhim, Rajasthan launched an agitation
against the lack of teachers in schools. The school which had a strength of 700 students, had just 5 teachers to
impart "education".The protesters claimed that due to a gross inadequacy of teachers, the pass percentage in
these schools had dropped down to less than 50%. The government had instructed the schools to observe
Swachch Bharat Mission but the students went against this directive by organising a peaceful march to the sub
divisional magistrate's office. The agitations had very little effect since the school still has only 4 teachers. The
SDM had promised to take measures but all his promises turned out to be ineffectual.
Hundreds of students from fourteen Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) schools in Wayanad district
of Kerala protested against the pathetic state of education. Their only demand was to Appoint Teachers.
The RTE has been criticised on several fronts. Educationists have pointed out that the Act was hastily drafted
without adequately consulting different education groups. The Act does not put any emphasis on the quality of
education being provided. It also completely ignores children less than 6 years of age. The RTE might ensure
that a child can write his/her name but the long desired dream of 'Education for All' is still a far fetched vision.
Government schools account for almost eighty percent of education instutions but their quality remains poor.
They are continuously riddled with absenteeism, lack of teachers and infrastructural facilities.Even people from
economically weaker sections of the society prefer private schools today due to the satisfactory standard of
education provided there. Educationists have argued that the Act does not really provide free and compulsory
education. In contrast it only reinforces the already present inequalities and discriminations.
Keeping in mind the several loopholes of the RTE, it is evident that this flawed Act needs to be modified or
needs to be replaced by an alternative and more efficient Act. The RTE allows private institutes to hike its fees
at their discretion, which is only leading to rapid commercialization in the sector of education. This provision
further widens inequalities in the education system and makes the Common School System seem a presposter-
ous vision. The need of the hour is an entirely public funded system of neighborhood schools which will ex-
pand the dream of Education in its true sense. The All India Forum for the Right to Education Act (AIFRTE) is a
national forum spread over 16 states that clearly sets out its demands for amendments in the Bill. The forum
demands the immediate withdrawal of all those Bills in the Parliament that aims at making education an arena
for profit making. The Forum also speaks about the WTO Conference to be held in Nairobi this year and de-
mands that the deal which is slated to be signed for making education a tradeable commodity be withdrawn
without further delay before it becomes irrevocable commitments of the nation.
Education is a Fundamental Right. If it is reduced to a saleable product, then it will surely be a loss for the na-
tion.
13
14
Students have been in uproar
over the removal of non-NET
fellowships given to M.Phil
and PhD research students by
the University Grants Commis-
sion (UGC) and trying to get
their demands met by the
“OccupyUGC” protest. The
withdrawal of a basic stipend
to research fellows seems like
a direct attack on the humani-
ties and social sciences and as
the government is seeking to
increasingly privatise the
sphere of education, these
fields will be the first casual-
ties of the war on knowledge
and education.
But this cannot be viewed in
isolation. It has to be seen in
relation to the WTO-GATS
agreement on higher educa-
tion. If the Government of In-
dia signs it this December in
Nairobi at the WTO ministerial
meeting, it commits to its of-
fers of ‘market access’ to
higher education, whereby it
reduces education to a trade-
able service.
This also has to be examined
in the larger context of the
growing indifference towards
Humanities and the Social Sci-
ences by governments all over
the world who want to pro-
mote only the STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics) subjects which
are seen as more productive in
comparison to others.
According to the GATS (General
Agreement on Trade in Ser-
vices) agreement, education
becomes a service for which
students pay a service tax to
access it. Moreover, WTO-GATS
places education on the same
plane as recreational services
like pubs and hotels. If the gov-
ernment of India does not re-
tract this offer well before the
Nairobi conference, this offer
will become a commitment and
education policies, instead of
being handled by national
autonomous bodies like the
UGC, will have to be con-
structed along WTO guidelines.
WTO does not allow govern-
ments to discriminate between
national/government-run insti-
tutions and private/
international ones, thus wishing
to create a level playing field
for foreign and commercial in-
vestors in education. This will
lead to decreasing subsidies
and increasing tuition fee of
government colleges and edu-
cation norms in India will be
dictated by corporations who
see the domain of Indian Higher
Education as only an industry
capable of immense returns
and students as consumers of
this service being provided by
them. And with the marketisa-
tion of education, it will steadily
become unaffordable and out
of reach for the majority of In-
dian students. Australian uni-
versities which are the leading
establishers of offshore
branches of their institutions
are known to provide a sub-
standard quality of education in
their programmes abroad in
comparison to their parent in-
stitutions.
Education can never be seen as
a commodity which can be
traded in an open market be-
cause it is something vital to a
nation’s cultural, social and
economic development. As
soon as the market or even au-
thoritarian governments start
impinging on academic free-
dom, the intellectual growth of
the country slumps and the
space to freely question and
enquire becomes threatened.
The Japanese government re-
cently issued a dictum to all its
government universities to re-
duce or altogether eliminate
their academic programs in the
humanities and social sciences
and to direct their resources
towards disciplines that “better
meet society’s needs”. And 26
of the 60 universities will com-
ply to some extent with the
proposal.
We can expect the same to
happen in India as India already
has a prevalent culture which
favours job-oriented vocational
And Then There Were None
Smriti Chaudhary
15
courses over academic ones and once educa-
tion gets commercialised, investors will seek to
see returns on their investments, meaning that
only such market-oriented courses such as
technical ones will be on offer.
This is because students of such disciplines
seem to be more employable and more capable
of contributing to the GDP of the country and
adding to the profits of the corporate investors.
Even in the UK, universities are being trans-
formed from centres of learning to centres of
profit as the humanities are being abandoned in
favour of science and engineering.
Even research scholars are being heavily super-
vised and audited by a growing managerial and
administrative class which advances the UK
government’s belief that the humanities and
social sciences are impractical and outdated. In
November last year, Nicky Morgan, the British
secretary of state for education, speaking to
group of teenagers said, “If you wanted to do
something, or even if you didn’t know what you
wanted to do, then the arts and humanities
were what you chose because they were useful
for all kinds of jobs. Of course, we know now
that couldn’t be further from the truth – that
the subjects that keep young people’s options
open and unlock the door to all sorts of careers
are the STEM subjects”.
But knowledge cannot be seen with utilitarian
ends in mind. Knowledge, as the #OccupyUGC
protestors have proclaimed is “not for sale”.
Educational institutions are the physical mani-
festations of humanity’s need to learn and
question. They have to exist outside the pur-
view of any autocratic authority, whether it’s a
quasi-fascist government or a profit-hungry cor-
poration. Both will intend to steer the produc-
tion of knowledge into directions that will bene-
fit them and them only and stifle the insatiable,
curious mind.
The Indian government only spends one percent
of its GDP on higher education and it further
wishes to decrease this expenditure through pri-
vatisation. But education is not a luxury and it
cannot be one. It is a necessity and a basic hu-
man right. And all of this will be undone if the
current and imminent education reforms are
here to stay.
16
The History of the Peloponnesian War recounts
the Melian dialogue; Thucydides propounded the
earliest sustained realist explanation of interna-
tional conflict thus developing the first theory of
international relations. Hans Morgenthau’s Poli-
tics Among Nations rejects ‘moralistic’ ap-
proaches to international politics and mentions
that ‘political man’ is innately selfish with an in-
satiable urge to dominate others.
In the post-1945 world, the USA was the chief
architect of the United Nations (UN), the Interna-
tional Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank.
During the late 1970’s, the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund developed a new
approach to promote development through
structural adjustment programmes all over the
world.
These programmes were launched as a result of
the debt crisis in several developing countries.
The poorer countries borrowed heavily from
western banks and other private bodies which
were flush with ‘petro dollars’ because of the
dramatic hike in oil prices introduced in 1973 by
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Coun-
tries (OPEC).
The increase in interest rates and the slowdown
in the world economy, partly due to the world oil
crisis, resulted in economic stagnation across
developing countries thus making payment of
debts very difficult. Many developing countries
borrowed from the IMF to deal with the pay-
ments and from the World Bank to fund develop-
ment projects. The IMF and the World Bank im-
posed conditions into the provision of any future
loans; the purpose of these loans was to build a
market-oriented ‘structural adjustment’ of eco-
nomic policy congruent with the principles of
neo-liberalism.
These facts, when connected, suggest that the
world oil crisis was artificially constructed
mainly by the USA in order to maintain its he-
gemony. In 1951, Iran nationalized its oil indus-
try, then controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company; Iranian oil was subjected to an inter-
national embargo. The USA, in an endeavour to
bring Iranian oil production back to interna-
tional markets suggested the creation of a
"Consortium" of major oil companies known as
the ‘Seven Sisters’, namely- Anglo-Persian Oil
Company (United Kingdom), Gulf Oil (United
States), Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands/United
Kingdom), Standard Oil of California (United
States), Standard Oil of New Jersey (United
States), Standard Oil Co. of New York (United
States), Texaco (United States).
Anthony Sampson’s The Seven Sisters describes
the oil cartel (five out of seven member compa-
nies belonged to the USA) which tried to elimi-
nate competitors and control the world’s oil
resources. This Consortium artificially induced a
drastic hike in oil prices which lead to an in-
crease in interest rates thus making debt pay-
ments for developing countries impossible. The
IMF and the World Bank, along with the USA,
emerged like a power-puff team out to save the
economically stagnating developing countries.
The structural adjustment programmes at-
tended majorly to the interests of the USA,
which was seeking opportunities to expand in-
vestment, than to the crisis in the developing
countries. Consequently, countries such as the
USA, Germany, Japan, and, recently, China,
adopted policies of free trade and economic
liberalization once they had achieved a level of
economic maturity which ensured that their
domestic industries were not vulnerable.
Agreements such as GATS (General Agreement
Hungry for Hegemony
Chitrangada Singh
17
on Trade in Services) and TRIPS (Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) legitimise
hidden protectionism in form of non-tariff barri-
ers which is made stronger in the name of pro-
gressive liberalism.
Contrary to the praxis, according to structural
adjustment programmes, an open economy is a
pre-requisite for development but this in the
case of major donor states was a consequence
(with special reference to USA’s ‘isolationist’ po-
sition).
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is often
criticized for the biases that operate in favour of
developed countries. Due to a consensus-based
system of decision-making, the developing coun-
tries face a disadvantage as they may have no
permanent representation at the WTO’s Geneva
headquarters or their delegations may be much
smaller than those of developed countries.
Developed countries mostly bring issues to the
notice of the dispute settlement panel as the
plaintiff party dumping allegations against devel-
oping countries generally concerning unfair trad-
ing practices.
In 2000, a proposal by the USA circulated to
Members of the Council for Trade in Services
aimed to stimulate discussion and help liberalize
trade in the tertiary education sector in the
world economy. The purpose of the same was to
remove and reduce obstacles in the path of
transmission of such services across national bor-
ders through electronic or physical means thus
contributing to the global spread of the “modern
knowledge economy”.
Members were (and are still) invited to inscribe
in their schedules “no limitations” on market ac-
cess and national treatment as foreign suppliers
of the concerned services face certain obstacles
resultant from domestic regulatory provisions
thus obstructing ‘comfortable marketing’ of their
services.
Referring to the Marxist perspective,
The USA plays the role of the powerful elite
(bourgeoisie) and the developing countries con-
stitute the non-bourgeoisie. The arbitrary
dominance exercised by the USA was created
(and is still an on-going process) through the
manipulation of the superstructures of society
i.e., the way people are influenced (religion,
education, law, politics, et al.). If this does not
work, then the USA (akin to the bourgeoisie)
attempts to crush the non-bourgeoisie party by
means of embargo or military intervention for
humanitarian aid or the protection of democ-
racy supported by the cause of collective secu-
rity.
The USA, like Athens, will destroy itself if it
stays hungry for hegemony.
18
Editor
Puja Shukla
Sub-Editors
Reeya Rao Chitrangada Singh
Photographer
Harshita Sinha
Correspondents Anwesha Chatterjee Neeti Prakash Aishwarya Mall Tahira Bhatti
Team Beacon
Contact us at: [email protected]
Our Website:
www.beaconsociology.weebly.com
Background Courtesy: Tejasvi Kashyap