Introduction :-
Higher Education move from 'Elite' to 'Mass' :-
The Eleventh Plan recognized and responded to the rising demand for Higher Education Enrollment increased in government as well as private institution.Enrollment in open and distance learning programs also grew rapidly during the Eleventh Plan from 2.74 million student in 2006-2007 to 4.21 million student in 2011-2012.Apart from Indira Gandhi Open university, there are 13 States Open Universities and 183 other Distance Education Institution approved by the Distance Education Council. Enrollment in DEIs that includes at least 44 private institutions grew most rapidly over 10 percent during the Eleventh Five Year Plan .
GER is often used to measure the higher education access. GDR is total enrollment in higher education (both degree and diploma) as percentage of the population in the eligible age cohort of 18 to 23 years . GER for higher education was 12.3 percent in 2006-2007 and increased to 17.9 percent in 2011-2012 .In regular program alone ,GER has increased from 10.4 percent in 2006-2007 to 15.2 percent in 2011-2012.Increase enrollment in the Eleventh Plan enable Indian Higher Education to cross the threshold of 15 percent GER, moving a country from an 'elite' to 'mass ' higher education system.
An Aspiration - TTA Conference on education entitled "Education Next-The Way Forward.
Shri Kapil Sibal , the Minister for Human Resources Development, in his inaugural address, at the TTE Conference held in Delhi earlier in this year, presented the promising idea of India as 'The Education Super Power of the Future.A four point plan was outlined.
i) Increasing enrollment in higher education from the existing 12.2 percent of the population of the relent age group to 30 percent by 2025.
ii)The introduction of hundreds of new courses.
iii)The massive use of modern technologies for the delivery of education.
iv)The inclusion of private and corporate sector as partner of the progress of education.
Major Thrust of Plan-- Extensive use of modern technology. (Five point program)
i) Low cost device such as tablets, mobile telephone etc.
ii) The proliferation of computing cloud.
iii) The creation of communication structure designed to give student exposure such as hands of work experiences, Laboratory experimentation and research work.
iv) The provision of hundreds of courses with the idea of giving student extensive choice and the freedom to make combinations of their choice for instance music and mathematics.
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Second Major Thrust of Plan --- The inclusion of Private and Corporate sector.
The second major strength of the plan is the inclusive spirit in which private and corporate sector have been invited to partner the Government effort. '' .......... it is not the sole responsibility to offer quality education at all levels, private institutions and corporate sectors should also pitch in, partner and share the mammoth task of providing quality education to all. '' the Minister's warm invitation.
Significant growth
The target to increase enrollment from 12 percent to 30 percent may be achieved by 2025,The demand for higher education has been growing by leaps . According to latest official statistics that within the last four years enrollment has increased from 12 percent to 20 percent and therefore target may be achieved.
The concerned Minister mentioned that a total of 800 universities and 50,000 colleges will have to be added to the system to manage the growth.In additions there will be open universities.In the last decade the growth in demand for higher education has stimulated an equally growth of private entrepreneurship in education and private bodies will happily set up institution needed.
School Education and literacy.
The country has made a significant progress in improving access to education in recent years.The mean years of schooling of the working population (those over 15 years old) increased from 4.19 years to 5.12 years in 2010.Enrollment of children at the primary education stage has new reached near universal level. The growth of enrollment in Secondary education accelerated from 4.3 percent per year during the 1990s to 6.27 percent per year in the decade ending 2009-2010.
Primary education act as a resource for secondary education which in turn acts as a resource for higher education.
RTE Act :- A Landmark development in primary education.
Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE ) Act 2009, which recognized elementary education as a Fundamental Right.Over the last one and half decade, Government has initiate a number of programmes to achieve the goal of universalism of elementary education ; among them , the most prominent has been Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA ). With the enactment of RTE Act.2009 , which came into effect from April 1,2010, SSA is being considered the main vehicle for achieving universal elementary education in a mission mode. Over the last decade, there has been a visible progress in terms of improving the number of schools, quantitative indicators of school infrastructure, number of teachers through SSA. The District Information System for Education records that in 2011-2012, there are more than 1.5 million schools and 94 percent of these schools have drinking facility, 72 percent of separate girls' toilets facility, and 47 percent schools in the country have electric connection.
Reforming Institutional Organization.
During the Twelfth Five Year Plan, a five-pronged strategy will be adopted.
i)Large and reputed colleges with necessary capabilities and diverse learning systems will be converted in full fledged universities.
ii) College cluster universities, under a new name with each college working as a campus of the university or its constituent unit will be created.
iii) Some of the large and unwieldy affiliating universities will be bifurcated or trifurcated into manageable units.
iv) College desiring to scale up to leverage existing infrastructure and to offer new programmes would be allowed to consolidate through merger under an autonomous frame work.
v) Affiliating universities will be required to revamp their college development councils and give greater autonomy to their colleges in all academic, administrative and financial matter.
National Mission on use of ICT in Higher Education.
During the Twelfth Plan various initiatives of the Eleventh plan would be carried forward with an objective to make these programmes more effective, efficient and sustainable, these includes :-
i) Digital Infrastructure initiatives.
ii) Upgrade connectivity for universities and colleges to 10 GBPS and 1 GBPS, respectively.
iii) Set up class rooms with interactive video conference facility linking Meta-Universities-Affiliated Universities.
iv)Set up 100 server farms for cloud computing.
Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme. (TEQIP )
During the Twelfth Five Year Plan the second phase of TEQIP would be continued and phase 3 of TEQIP would be launched. Under phase-3 focus would be on 'eco-system' by supporting state technical universities introducing curriculum diversity and scaling up sector wide programmes.
This would ensure that the benefit of quality improvement intervention flow to all segments of technical education . the programme would also leverage synergy with other initiative like the mission for teachers and teahing the mission for use of technology . Architecture and Town planning would be included in phase-3 of TEQIP . Separate and independent initiative should be taken up for improving quality in other field also.
Language and Book promoting programme.
Promotion and development of Indian languages including classical language will receive focussed attention during the Twelfth Five Year Plan. Thrust would be on preservation, promotion and development of endangered languages which have less than 10,000 people speakers, The National Translate Mission will be strengthen.
Research and Innovation.
Research and innovation are vital function of higher education world-wide. The value of Inter-disciplinary research is recognized globally.During the last 10 years, India's overall share of publication in the world has risen from 2.8 percent to 3.4 percent with a significant improvement in researcher productivity sine 1999. India produces over twice as many scientific publications a year than it did a decade ago.Though dwarfed by China's achievements, India's output of publiaction has grown faster than that of Brazil and Russia.There are indication that research quality has improved.India's publications have accumulated 16,10,511 citations with 5.77 citation per paper better than China .
India Excellence Initiative
In the twelfth plan , universities at the top level of the quality would be identified and generously supported so that they can reach the global top league. Equally important promoting faulty in all tiers of institutions will be identified through peer review and supported.Similarly centers of excellence with in existing universities would be created.High caliber faculty would be attracted from around the world. Indian faulty would be provided exposure to teaching and research practice in the best universities from across the world. All related initiatives would be pooled to benefit from synergy under an India Excellence Initiative during the Twelfth Plan.
The twelfth plan aim to create 20 centers of excellence as world class research centers within existing universities and institutions . A new National Initiative for Excellence in social science and humanities would be launched for bright students to choose programmes in the humanities and social science and improve the quality of teaching and research in these discipline. Driven by the success of the research based Inter University Centers (IUCs) and there positive impact on the university system. Several new research based IUCs in different area would be established in the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-2017)
Major Challenges :-
Despite many achievements in Eleventh Five Year Plan period, education in India faces several challenges.
i) Drop out - The country's mean year of schooling at 5.12 years is below from the average developing countries mean 7.09 years.
ii) Governance :- Several studies have reported the challenge in education governance exemplified by teacher absence, delayed fund flow to schools and administrative capabilities at school level.
iii) Budgetary Allocation :- The present level of total public spending on education, works out 3.5 percent of the GDP (2010-2011), much sort of the 6 percent of GDP recommended in 1966 by Kothari Commission and reiterated in 2006 by Central Advisory Board of Education Committee.
iv) Education according to market need :- There is a serious mismatch between what educational institution produce and what the market need.
v| ) Vacancy of Teaching staff.
Conclusion :-
India has had a long tradition of well-established education system that stretches back to the era of Upanishadas or perhaps even earlier. We find reference to centres of learning in our ancient text.The legendary universities at Nalanda, Taxila, Vkramshila were known not just for religious learning but also for practical education in the fields of science, astronomy, medicine,and philosophy among other subjects. Mithila, Nadia were famous centres of Nyaya school of philosophy. In the medieval period too our education system was very high standard from any yardstick.
Summing up, it concludes, with a glorious past history, millions of talented teenagers,dedicated guardian community, liberal policy for private and corporate sector ,budgetary support and strong will force of government, India will be Education Super Power of the Future.
Education is the most important key instrument for social, economic and political transformation. It is the most potent tool for socio-economic mobility.It strengthen democracy. It provides skill and competency . It also act as an integrative force in society, improving values that foster social cohesion and national identity. Recognizing the importance of education in national development, the twelfth plan places an unprecedented focus on the expansion of education on significantly improving the quality of education imparted and on ensuring that educational opportunities are available in higher education, The Twelfth Plan (2012-2017) will build on the momentum generated during the Eleventh plan and continue focus on 'Three Es' -Expansion, Equity and Excellence.
Higher Education move from 'Elite' to 'Mass' :-
The Eleventh Plan recognized and responded to the rising demand for Higher Education Enrollment increased in government as well as private institution.Enrollment in open and distance learning programs also grew rapidly during the Eleventh Plan from 2.74 million student in 2006-2007 to 4.21 million student in 2011-2012.Apart from Indira Gandhi Open university, there are 13 States Open Universities and 183 other Distance Education Institution approved by the Distance Education Council. Enrollment in DEIs that includes at least 44 private institutions grew most rapidly over 10 percent during the Eleventh Five Year Plan .
GER is often used to measure the higher education access. GDR is total enrollment in higher education (both degree and diploma) as percentage of the population in the eligible age cohort of 18 to 23 years . GER for higher education was 12.3 percent in 2006-2007 and increased to 17.9 percent in 2011-2012 .In regular program alone ,GER has increased from 10.4 percent in 2006-2007 to 15.2 percent in 2011-2012.Increase enrollment in the Eleventh Plan enable Indian Higher Education to cross the threshold of 15 percent GER, moving a country from an 'elite' to 'mass ' higher education system.
An Aspiration - TTA Conference on education entitled "Education Next-The Way Forward.
Shri Kapil Sibal , the Minister for Human Resources Development, in his inaugural address, at the TTE Conference held in Delhi earlier in this year, presented the promising idea of India as 'The Education Super Power of the Future.A four point plan was outlined.
i) Increasing enrollment in higher education from the existing 12.2 percent of the population of the relent age group to 30 percent by 2025.
ii)The introduction of hundreds of new courses.
iii)The massive use of modern technologies for the delivery of education.
iv)The inclusion of private and corporate sector as partner of the progress of education.
Major Thrust of Plan-- Extensive use of modern technology. (Five point program)
i) Low cost device such as tablets, mobile telephone etc.
ii) The proliferation of computing cloud.
iii) The creation of communication structure designed to give student exposure such as hands of work experiences, Laboratory experimentation and research work.
iv) The provision of hundreds of courses with the idea of giving student extensive choice and the freedom to make combinations of their choice for instance music and mathematics.
-
Second Major Thrust of Plan --- The inclusion of Private and Corporate sector.
The second major strength of the plan is the inclusive spirit in which private and corporate sector have been invited to partner the Government effort. '' .......... it is not the sole responsibility to offer quality education at all levels, private institutions and corporate sectors should also pitch in, partner and share the mammoth task of providing quality education to all. '' the Minister's warm invitation.
Significant growth
The target to increase enrollment from 12 percent to 30 percent may be achieved by 2025,The demand for higher education has been growing by leaps . According to latest official statistics that within the last four years enrollment has increased from 12 percent to 20 percent and therefore target may be achieved.
The concerned Minister mentioned that a total of 800 universities and 50,000 colleges will have to be added to the system to manage the growth.In additions there will be open universities.In the last decade the growth in demand for higher education has stimulated an equally growth of private entrepreneurship in education and private bodies will happily set up institution needed.
School Education and literacy.
The country has made a significant progress in improving access to education in recent years.The mean years of schooling of the working population (those over 15 years old) increased from 4.19 years to 5.12 years in 2010.Enrollment of children at the primary education stage has new reached near universal level. The growth of enrollment in Secondary education accelerated from 4.3 percent per year during the 1990s to 6.27 percent per year in the decade ending 2009-2010.
Primary education act as a resource for secondary education which in turn acts as a resource for higher education.
RTE Act :- A Landmark development in primary education.
Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE ) Act 2009, which recognized elementary education as a Fundamental Right.Over the last one and half decade, Government has initiate a number of programmes to achieve the goal of universalism of elementary education ; among them , the most prominent has been Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA ). With the enactment of RTE Act.2009 , which came into effect from April 1,2010, SSA is being considered the main vehicle for achieving universal elementary education in a mission mode. Over the last decade, there has been a visible progress in terms of improving the number of schools, quantitative indicators of school infrastructure, number of teachers through SSA. The District Information System for Education records that in 2011-2012, there are more than 1.5 million schools and 94 percent of these schools have drinking facility, 72 percent of separate girls' toilets facility, and 47 percent schools in the country have electric connection.
Reforming Institutional Organization.
During the Twelfth Five Year Plan, a five-pronged strategy will be adopted.
i)Large and reputed colleges with necessary capabilities and diverse learning systems will be converted in full fledged universities.
ii) College cluster universities, under a new name with each college working as a campus of the university or its constituent unit will be created.
iii) Some of the large and unwieldy affiliating universities will be bifurcated or trifurcated into manageable units.
iv) College desiring to scale up to leverage existing infrastructure and to offer new programmes would be allowed to consolidate through merger under an autonomous frame work.
v) Affiliating universities will be required to revamp their college development councils and give greater autonomy to their colleges in all academic, administrative and financial matter.
National Mission on use of ICT in Higher Education.
During the Twelfth Plan various initiatives of the Eleventh plan would be carried forward with an objective to make these programmes more effective, efficient and sustainable, these includes :-
i) Digital Infrastructure initiatives.
ii) Upgrade connectivity for universities and colleges to 10 GBPS and 1 GBPS, respectively.
iii) Set up class rooms with interactive video conference facility linking Meta-Universities-Affiliated Universities.
iv)Set up 100 server farms for cloud computing.
Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme. (TEQIP )
During the Twelfth Five Year Plan the second phase of TEQIP would be continued and phase 3 of TEQIP would be launched. Under phase-3 focus would be on 'eco-system' by supporting state technical universities introducing curriculum diversity and scaling up sector wide programmes.
This would ensure that the benefit of quality improvement intervention flow to all segments of technical education . the programme would also leverage synergy with other initiative like the mission for teachers and teahing the mission for use of technology . Architecture and Town planning would be included in phase-3 of TEQIP . Separate and independent initiative should be taken up for improving quality in other field also.
Language and Book promoting programme.
Promotion and development of Indian languages including classical language will receive focussed attention during the Twelfth Five Year Plan. Thrust would be on preservation, promotion and development of endangered languages which have less than 10,000 people speakers, The National Translate Mission will be strengthen.
Research and Innovation.
Research and innovation are vital function of higher education world-wide. The value of Inter-disciplinary research is recognized globally.During the last 10 years, India's overall share of publication in the world has risen from 2.8 percent to 3.4 percent with a significant improvement in researcher productivity sine 1999. India produces over twice as many scientific publications a year than it did a decade ago.Though dwarfed by China's achievements, India's output of publiaction has grown faster than that of Brazil and Russia.There are indication that research quality has improved.India's publications have accumulated 16,10,511 citations with 5.77 citation per paper better than China .
India Excellence Initiative
In the twelfth plan , universities at the top level of the quality would be identified and generously supported so that they can reach the global top league. Equally important promoting faulty in all tiers of institutions will be identified through peer review and supported.Similarly centers of excellence with in existing universities would be created.High caliber faculty would be attracted from around the world. Indian faulty would be provided exposure to teaching and research practice in the best universities from across the world. All related initiatives would be pooled to benefit from synergy under an India Excellence Initiative during the Twelfth Plan.
The twelfth plan aim to create 20 centers of excellence as world class research centers within existing universities and institutions . A new National Initiative for Excellence in social science and humanities would be launched for bright students to choose programmes in the humanities and social science and improve the quality of teaching and research in these discipline. Driven by the success of the research based Inter University Centers (IUCs) and there positive impact on the university system. Several new research based IUCs in different area would be established in the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-2017)
Major Challenges :-
Despite many achievements in Eleventh Five Year Plan period, education in India faces several challenges.
i) Drop out - The country's mean year of schooling at 5.12 years is below from the average developing countries mean 7.09 years.
ii) Governance :- Several studies have reported the challenge in education governance exemplified by teacher absence, delayed fund flow to schools and administrative capabilities at school level.
iii) Budgetary Allocation :- The present level of total public spending on education, works out 3.5 percent of the GDP (2010-2011), much sort of the 6 percent of GDP recommended in 1966 by Kothari Commission and reiterated in 2006 by Central Advisory Board of Education Committee.
iv) Education according to market need :- There is a serious mismatch between what educational institution produce and what the market need.
v| ) Vacancy of Teaching staff.
Conclusion :-
India has had a long tradition of well-established education system that stretches back to the era of Upanishadas or perhaps even earlier. We find reference to centres of learning in our ancient text.The legendary universities at Nalanda, Taxila, Vkramshila were known not just for religious learning but also for practical education in the fields of science, astronomy, medicine,and philosophy among other subjects. Mithila, Nadia were famous centres of Nyaya school of philosophy. In the medieval period too our education system was very high standard from any yardstick.
Summing up, it concludes, with a glorious past history, millions of talented teenagers,dedicated guardian community, liberal policy for private and corporate sector ,budgetary support and strong will force of government, India will be Education Super Power of the Future.
