Category: Indian Education

Abstract

The success of an economy is greatly determined by the education systems in practise. Education is the back bone of every nation and civilized society in today’s world. A developed country is also an educated country, keeping in mind the significance of a good education system. Indian higher education system is the third largest in the world. Right from the time of independence India is constantly marching towards good education to its civilians. There have been a humpty number of challenges to education system in India but equally a lot of opportunities are available to overcome these challenges and strengthen the education system in India. There is a need for much transparency and accountability to build a good education avenue to reach the long-term goals of knowledge building and this makes it inevitable to have genuine and committed educational institutions and colleges. India provides highly skilled talent resources to other countries and it is also essential that with the presence of abundant talent resources the nation can be transformed from a developing nation to a developed nation. The current study aims to highlight the challenges and point out the opportunities available in higher education with special reference to commerce education in Karnataka state, India.

KEYWORDS: Higher Education, Knowledge Building, Institutions, Colleges, Student Community.

Introduction

India’s higher education system is the third-largest in the world, next to the United States and china. As per the latest 2011 Census, about 8.15% (68 millions) of Indians are graduates, with Union Territories of Chandigarh and Delhi topping the list with 24.65% and 22.56% of their population being graduates respectively. At present in 2011, there are government–recognized Universities in India. Out of them 20 centrals are central universities, 109 are deemed universities and rest are state universities. Education system provides a benchmark to measure the effectiveness of knowledge creation and implementation thereby contributing to immense growth and development of individuals, corporates, society and the country at large. Immense efforts are being made by academicians to build a strong academic set-up.

Literature review

JD SINGH (2011) He explained the present situation of Higher Education in the country. And roles of the society.

Zaffar Ahmad Nadaf and Bilal Ahmad Bhat (2016) He explained the challenges in the sphere of Higher Education in India. especially in provincial and semi-urban ranges.

Dr R.N.Nadar (2018) Education is the backbone of every country. A country will not be able to survive in the competitive world, if its education system is not capable of contributing for its development

Rohan Mukherjee (2008) Indian higher education, and looks in particular at ways in which potential foreign participants can legitimately play a role in the sector

Rahul Agarwal (2015) The face of higher education in India has gone a drastic change in past two decades Privatization, increased cost of education

P.Arunachala (2018) Higher education in India is undergoing rapid changes. The challenges ahead are multifaceted and multidimensional.

Vivek Mansukhani (2018) This study reflects on why India has made limited investment in international higher education scholarship opportunities, particularly for those who are from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

Shyam Sunder(2010) The number of institutions and enrolment in higher education continue their rapid growth, but the quality of this education remains uncertain

Sangramsing Nathusing Kayte (2013) The number of institutions and enrolment in higher education continue their rapid growth, but the quality of this education remains uncertain. A small number of state-subsidized institutions attract a thin top layer of talent from each year’s cohort.

Geeta Kingdon (2013) The school governance environment is an important determinant of schooling quality and thus of development.

Need of the study

1. Higher Education. Since a higher education provides you with more freedom in pursuing a career
2. The inspires and interests you, you’ll likely enjoy your career more.
3. Higher education can be seen as a focal point of knowledge and its application, an institution which makes a great contribution to the economic growth and development through fostering innovation and increasing higher skills.
4. This study intends to understand and evaluate the issues and challenges in the Indian educational system and to provide solutions.
5. The solutions are derived largely based on the public view and conclusions of other researchers.

Statement of the problem

“Innovation fosters the new ideas, technologies, and processes that lead to better jobs, higher wages and a higher standard of living. For advanced industrial nations no longer able to compete on cost, the capacity to innovate is the most critical element in sustaining competitiveness” as more knowledge workers are required in private and public enterprises, polities encourage and develop policies and investments supporting the education of larger fractions of their populations to higher levels of academic achievement.

Objectives of the study

1. To understand the status of Indian Education System in commerce stream.
2. To evaluate the issues and challenges to Indian Education System in commerce stream.
3. To ascertain the possible solutions to resolve the issues in commerce education.
4. To provide suggestions for improvement of commerce education in higher education.

Scope of the study

The present study, in fact is an exploratory investigation about the higher education system with special reference to the commerce stream. Its geographical area extends to the boundaries of Karnataka state.

Research methodology

This research output is the outcome of an overview of studies conducted on the problems of Indian Education System. This is basically a qualitative research and follows the experiential approach. It uses secondary data for its analysis. Discussions with experts form part of the research work.

Nature of study

The study is mainly descriptive in nature. Secondary data are used for the purpose of the study

Secondary data

Secondary data was collected from websites, various articles and journals

Limitations of the study

1. Lack of quality education

In the top 100 universities list by ‘Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings’, none of the Indian universities could be found in the list. In the 2017 rankings by the HRD ministry, only 2,995 institutions (6%) participated from around 51,000-strong higher educational institutions in India. There is severe regional imbalance too. In the overall rankings, of the 100 best institutions, 67 are from just eight states. Among the best 100 universities, 40 are in three states. Among the best 100 colleges, 77 are from just five states

2. Corruption in education

Corruption in Indian education system has been eroding the quality of education. It is one of the major contributors to domestic black money. Payment to Management at dark rooms and seeking admissions is increasing. ‘Get full salary in the account, pay back part to Management by blank signed cheques’ is also a practice in some private schools.

3. No proper value education

Value education is not offered in the schools and colleges. If offered, religion and hatred are spread in the name of value education. Many of the doctors, lawyers, CAs, politicians and Govt servants who are supposed to be the saviors of the society, suffer from serious charges of corruption. Old-age homes are increasing. Suicides are increasing. The meaning of love is eventually changing. The education-led technology, inventions and innovations are being misused.

4. Poor Women’s education

Women have a much lower literacy rate than men. Conservative cultural attitudes prevent girls from attending schools. Despite Govt’s attempts to provide incentives viz. midday meals, free books and uniforms, girls’ attendance is poor. Though the minimum age for marriage is eighteen, many girls get married much earlier. Therefore, at the secondary level, the female drop-out rate is high.

5. Lack of Facilities

As per 2016 Annual Survey of Education Report, 3.5% schools in India had no toilet facility while only 68.7% schools had useable toilet facility. 75.5% of the schools surveyed had libraries in 2016, a decrease from 78.1% in 2014. The percentage of schools with separate girls’ toilet has increased from 32.9% in 2010 to 61.9% in 2016. 74.1% of schools had drinking water facility and 64.5% of the schools had playground.

Findings

1. The study covers a wider view of the Indian Education System. It does not cover the intrinsic issues of every state of India.
2. The analysis is done based on secondary data available at various sources. It lacks primary data.
3. The researcher has not intended to compare Indian Education System with that of other countries. The solutions are derived largely based on the public view and conclusions of other researchers.
4. At the higher education level, there is no uniformity in the syllabuses taught for the same programme. Syllabus revision is done quite often without considering the contemporary requirements of industries
5. Due to the perceived notion of inferior quality, Govt Colleges are becoming the last choice for many. Education-seeking migration has become a matter of pride for many families.

Suggestions and recommendations

1. Give importance to technology in education. India has to embrace computer and high-speed internet technology. Our educational delivery mechanisms should take the wealth of human capital to the masses. The models of brick and mortar colleges and universities will have to be integrated and interlinked with ICT. The Governments should invest more in technological infrastructure that will ease the knowledge accessibility.
2. Encourage innovation and creativity. The system should reward those who deserves highest academic honour. The crammers should not be rewarded. Our testing and marking systems need to be built to recognize original contributions, creativity, problem solving and innovation. Ranks should be awarded accordingly.
3. Personalize the education. Indian education system is built on the assumption that if a thing is good for one child, it is good for all. But, one massive education system cannot be suitable to all. Some people are visual learners, others are auditory learners. Some kids learn faster, some do slow. The syllabus should be designed in such a way that every learner’s latent ability is identified and motivated. Hasty and fast learning should be discouraged.
4. Train the trainers continuously. A teacher is an entrepreneur and creator. The performance of a teacher should not be restricted to classroom. It needs to be opened up for the world to see with internet. There has to be leaders in teaching positions, not salaried people holding their mantle. Hence, regular training is a necessity.
5. Change the aptitude to teach. Teaching jobs are widely regarded as safe, well-paid and risk-free jobs. Most of the teachers do not want to change. As they become experienced, they get septic, and not even think of the nature and need of the students. Understanding the present generation is the necessity. Guidelines should be made in this direction.
6. Provide quality education with character. Education without character is abortion and will create divisions in the society. A country that lowers the quality of education and allows score competition in exams will collapse. The mystified doctors, less skilled engineers, cowardly judges, money minded accountants, greedy businessmen, inhuman preachers and ignorant teachers cannot serve for the economy’s growth. They will soon and surely doom the society with their unethical practices which no one can resist.
7. Indian Govt needs to invest heavily in infrastructure and teachers’ training. At least 8-10% of India’s GDP must be invested in the education sector.
8. Teachers should encourage creativity in students. The latter should be exposed to economic, environmental and societal problems.
9. The strength of a class should not be more than 50 at higher education. A child cannot get the required attention of a teacher if the strength is unreasonable.
10. The contents such as ethics in life, value building, and understanding of society, patriotism, greatness of leaders and sacrifices of parents need to be covered compulsorily in a subject in schools at every level.
11. Quality seminars, conferences and workshops should be organized to train the trainers to cope up with the changing culture and the changing needs of the students and the society.

Conclusion

Education is a country’s lifeline, and it has to be given more importance than defence in any country. There is a dire need for revolutionary changes in India’s education system, not only in the syllabus and pedagogy but also in the attitude towards the test and marks system. India can use its vast human resources productively if the learning system is made effective. As a child is born, it is painted with religion and caste by the cowardly society and is bombarded with all biased thoughts and unruly philosophies. Every child has unlimited potential and it should be allowed to be free from our ill thoughts. It should be taught to reduce inequality. We can do a lot. But we are not working with required seriousness.

If the Govt institutions are failing, it is primarily because of the non-availability or absence of teachers, no headmasters for governance, lack of initiatives by teachers, lack of guidance to students, lack of infrastructure, and increased involvement of politicians and more bureaucratic control. Indifferent parents including Govt college teachers, MPs, MLAs and ministers send their wards to pvt schools. It is a shameful situation. The government will have to work on it seriously.

Though the number of students and programs increases every year, India has failed to produce world class universities both in the private sector or the public sector. The scarcity of quality education should be avoided. The central Govt should allocate enough money to open new schools, colleges and universities, overhaul the entire system and invest in technology and innovation related to the education system. Every child born in this country should have equal opportunity to learn, grow and excel in life with quality education blended with character. A vibrant nation is created by the energetic youth and active media. The youth and media can be positive only if the politicians are honest and responsible.

Bibliography

1. Appu Srva, 2017, Present Education System in India, http://www.groupdiscussionideas.in/present-education-system-in-india/, 28th January.
2. ASER, 2016, Annual Status of Education Report 2016, http://www.asercentre.org/p/289.html
3. Bittersweet, 2017, The collapse of education is the collapse of the Nation, https://www.jamiiforums.com/threads/the-collapse-ofeducation-is-the-collapse-of-the-nation.1231557/, April 7
4. Class base, 2016, Education System in India, http://www.classbase.com/countries/India/Education-System
5. Indiatoday, 2017, Budget 2017: Education sector analysis, then and now, https://www.indiatoday.in/educationtoday/news/story/budget-2017-education-958329-2017-02-01, February 1.
6. Indrail, 2015, Higher education in India, https://indrai lsearch.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/education-higher-education-in-india/, June 13

Education is the hope for the development and success of most third world countries and the world dominates the country. Compulsory education creates a space for better growth and development. Education has the potential to completely change the course of a country: to train trained and educated young people. A country achieves its goal of economic growth at a higher rate and joins the list of alliances known as developed countries. A well-educated country will discard any obstacles that hinder its development and strive to achieve sustainable development.

Education in India refers to the process of learning, training and teaching human capital in schools and universities. The Indian government has reflected specific economic policies that emphasize the importance of education in India.

Factors Affecting the Importance of Education in India

Eliminate the Impetuousness of Unemployment

The substantial impact of illiteracy is ‘unemployment’. Unemployment hinders the progress of a country, leading to low living standards and rising crime rates. India is in a critical situation, with nearly 58% of unemployed graduates and 77% of households lacking a fixed income. About 67% of people have an annual income of less than 120,000 per year. In such circumstances, India cannot risk making any child illiterate, because that will lead to a miserable and jobless life.

The Eradication of Poverty

With India being one of the fastest growing economies in 2020, poverty in the country is declining and it is one of the biggest scourges of illiteracy. Until 2012, India won the title of the poorest people in the world. In India, almost 70.6 million people still live in extreme poverty, and the way to escape the vicious cycle of poverty is through education. The higher the literacy rate, the more job opportunities there will be, which will provide better living conditions.

Eradicate the Caste System

The caste system is the oldest Indian social hierarchy in the world. Caste discrimination hampers sustainable development in India. A society that discriminates on the basis of caste, belief, race, religion, or color is still entangled in a web of hatred, poverty, and insufficient resources. The factor that leads to the prevalence of orthodox customs is illiteracy. Education has changed the individual perception of caste discrimination. It makes the individual caste neutral, progressive in mind, and ready to make a fruitful contribution to the country.

Economic Stability and Growth

Education is an indispensable tool to help a country achieve economic growth and stability. Every year, 20 million young people in India graduate from various disciplines and begin to help the economic development of the country. Educating youth and adults to reveal hidden potential can lead India on a path of development.

Improvise in Health and Hygiene

Countries with high illiteracy rates have poor sanitation and sanitation conditions. For decades, India has lost millions of lives due to disease due to a lack of medical and healthcare facilities and poor sanitation. In order to improve the country’s health and sanitation sector, programs such as ‘Mission Swachh Bharat’ and ‘Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram’ attract people to participate safely. Educated people gain and benefit from knowledge about health and hygiene issues and government programs.

So, education is a powerful weapon that can help people cope with adversity in life, overcome social stigma such as poverty, fear, and status, and achieve success.

One of the most mind-boggling questions facing every education policy maker is, how can we structure our education system in a way that makes it inclusive of the unique abilities of every student? As much as that question sounds ideal, it comes with its fair share of complexities where educators will have to weigh out the pros and cons of inclusivity before fully endorsing it. This research question aims at exploring to what extent do standardized tests help in identifying good teachers? To further analyse this question, this paper will be looking at the structure of the Indian National Eligibility Test that thousands of aspirants take twice year to be eligible to lecture in degree colleges across the country. There are various problems in the types of questions asked in the NET exam and this paper will draw a couple of sample questions from an English NET paper to further understand the intricacies around certain questions.

While looking at the body of knowledge around the topic of standardized testing in teacher education, it was interesting to note that there was endless research done on how standardized tests in schools effected teaching methods and a lot of papers looked at standardized testing in testing the knowledge of students. Interestingly what was missing was what education theorists had to say about what goes into identifying good teaching and some clarity on standardized tests in teacher education. As the paper focuses on looking at the NET exam as an example to understand how higher education in India is affected by how their teaching aspirants and lecturers are tested. This paper aims to pinpoint the emerging problems with the NET exam and look at possible solutions that can tackle this problem with regard to recruiting English lecturers for university education.

‘The Effects of High Stakes Testing on Teachers in New Jersey’ by Sylvia Bulgar of Rider University, is an article that throws light on an important debate in the teaching community, whether to use new teaching methods or stick to traditional teaching methods that would help students get good scores when they undertook standardized tests. The article suggests through a study conducted on students to see if the method of teaching mattered on how students performed in standardized tests revealed, all of the students in that sample scored percentiles ranging between 80s to high 90s even though they didn’t devote time to procedural learning in the form of algorithms and no time was spent specifically preparing for the test. The concluding statement of this study was that teachers and school administrators will be successful in teaching student’s mathematics using inquiry and discovery over didactic methods and the students will perform well irrespective using their sense of inquiry and experience. The study also brought to light professional teachers who teach to the test in spite of knowing that it goes against their beliefs, while younger teachers were willing to try new techniques without inhibitions. Apart from the above points of discussion, the article calls for standardized tests to be updated and restructured to cater to the needs of students and the education community (Bulgar, 2012). This article is important as it encourages teachers to adopt less traditional methods of teaching, also it is helpful in showing up the Indian standardized test that sticks to rote learning and traditional ways of preparing for the NET exam.

Jen Jackson, Raymond J Adams, Ross Turner authored an article published online by ‘The Conversation’ titled ‘Evidence – based education needs Standardized Assessment’ that looks at how standardized tests contribute important information for education reform and policy. The article that was published on the 27th of November, 2017 puts the Australian NAPLAN test in focus and suggests that the test contributes data that can estimate the costs of quality school education in Australia and gives policy makers a bird’s eye view into educational practice. According to the article the test is meant for comparison and not competition although the negative effects of the test gives rise to competition and pressurizes students to perform well to get into a school of high repute. The NAPLAN test cannot measure a Childs progress and learning as a teacher would do gradually day to day. The article’s concluding thoughts are that tests like NAPLAN, PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS can use its data to guide school improvement but there is room for change in all these standardized tests (Jackson et al., 2017) Reform seems to be the message that is loud and clear for most standardized tests to alleviate stress, unhealthy competition and look at identifying more tangible skills that these tests cannot evaluate.

‘What Standardized testing doesn’t tell us about learning’ by Nilesh Nimkar published online on IDR on the 28th of May, 2019 throws light on how marginalized children in Mumbai learn differently but may not show up as being academically competitive on standardized tests. Interesting enough is that these children were found to have known how to multiply but they failed in memorizing their tables, yet they understood the concept. Sadly, many teachers expect children to learn in a set standard way which is not the case with children. One cannot draw conclusions by saying that these children don’t meet the grade, but they simply do it differently in a way that is different from how children from urban households learn. In this case a test needs to be suited to the cultural background and environment in which the students hail from. Nilesh Nimkar brings out the need to invest more in teachers and to change the way we test in India. His idea seems one that is plausible to meet the needs of a diverse education system. Even higher education would have to look at a viable way of testing aspiring lecturers placing emphasis on skills that cannot be evaluated through a standardized test (Nimkar, 2019)

There is some hope in Manavi Kapur’s article titled ‘India’s culture of high stakes testing needs to be dismantled’ published online on October 25th, 2019. Kapur’s article introduces the group of private start ups that are trying to put an end to India’s poisonous testing regime. One such start up called ‘Educational Initiatives’ that are trying to bring in change by testing based on analysis rather than memory. “400,000 students in 3000 private Indian schools take the ASSET test according to ‘Educational Initiatives’. But it doesn’t replace the compulsory government exams every Indian high school student takes in year 10 and 12” (Kapur, 2019). The idea of having the ASSET test is wonderful as it leans towards analysis but its success is short lived with an over powering governmental education policy.

‘A Global Curriculum? Understanding Teaching and Learning in the United States, Taiwan, India, and Mexico’ by Ervin F. Sparapani, David Callejo Perez, Jonathon Gould, Susan Hillman and LaCreta Clark published in 2014 is an article that looks at educational trends in different countries but sees the need of well-crafted teacher education. “A final recommendation is that we must rethink field experience as a culminating activity, where the candidate is immersed in the classroom at the end of their learning to practice their skills. Teacher preparation candidates must be in schools early in their programs, so that they can be mentored by highly effective teachers, and work with students, while continually applying their learning to the classroom. In this way, “new” teachers are not so new to the realities of teaching and learning, but rather familiar and competent as a result of “doing learning” over the course of the preparation program” (Sparapani et al., 2014). With the various issues that prop up in a classroom, be it teachers teaching using outdated methods, an outdated syllabus, language barriers etc one element is most important in this article and that being a need for significant change in education policy and allowing teacher trainees to have more experience in real classrooms to develop their skills and learn on the job. This element of experience needs to be added to the selection system of selecting lecturers for Indian higher education.

“Here in the twenty-first century, we live in a global society. In that global society, countries are very competitive. Countries want their people to be productive citizens. Countries also want their citizens to think critically and creatively. It is the responsibility of education to teach people what they need to know in order to be productive citizens. In order to make sure that educators do what the country wants them to do, governments have mandated standards and benchmarks that, in the educational systems, have evolved into standardized curricula. We do not believe that traditional instructional practices that are conducive to standardized learning environments spawn productive citizens or produce critical and creative thinkers” (Sparapani et al., 2015). As quoted above in ‘A Perspective on the Standardized Curriculum and Its Effect on Teaching and Learning’ by Ervin F. Sparapani and David M. Callejo Perez, it is vital to not treat students like they are all alike and will fall in line with a fixed education system. The analogy drawn between the relationship between patient and doctor to that of a teacher and student seems to makes sense but with the irregularities in medicine today, one can only be sceptical. The article was referring to how doctors prescribe medicine based on the ailment and unique condition of the patient, so in turn teachers should craft their teaching methodology to suit their pupils needs. Catering to the unique abilities of every student isn’t easy and has its limitations, while looking at standardized tests one will have to evaluate students with different abilities based on a test that will best cater to their needs. This article touches on the element of having syllabus that is creative, alive and well crafted but this can only be possible to a certain extent and when put to large Indian classrooms it would be difficult to put to practice but in that given situation, teachers need to see how best they can tweak the syllabus, make it more interaction based.

Coming closer to the heart of this paper that addresses standardized testing in teacher education in India. Prateek Vijayavargia in his article published by the Hindustan Times titled, ‘The NET exam is ruining higher education in India’ looks at the test that is in dire need of reform but suggests that the NET looks at adopting the pattern of testing used by SAT’s and GRE tests. The form of testing writing and language in SAT’s may seem like it can be adopted but it still leaves out critical skills of presentation, classroom management, previous research experience when it comes to testing aspiring lecturers (Vijayavargia, 2017). “University Grants Commission policy of declaring 6% of candidates who appear in both papers and obtain minimum qualifying marks in aggregate of both papers is unconstitutional as it is arbitrary, unreasonable and not satisfying the test of reasonableness under article 14 of the constitution of India. Previously UGC (University Grants Commission) allowed a total of 15% of those candidates who appear in NET to be qualified. This defeats the purpose of eligibility and makes it appear to be more of a competitive exam”. These important points were duly and justly stated in Gazala Parveen’s article ‘Faculty crunch in India and 6% criteria for qualifying UGC National Eligibility Exam’, published on 15th November 2019 on Pleaders Intelligent Legal Solutions (Parveen, 2019).

Shubhda Chaudhary touches on areas that are bound to hurt the Indian education system but its constructive criticism for a progressive future. She deliberates carefully over the NET exam and the position of research in the country. She finds the test one that fails to evaluate the thought process, questioning, lectureship and ideation skills of a candidate. She finds western universities giving more importance to both qualitative and quantitative research methods and are growing closer towards interdisciplinary research and are creating new departments that look at new courses to fit the needs of the student and the world right now. There are stiff comments on the lack of funding for social science research in India as the process is strenuous and requires a couple of years for data collection, sampling etc in the initial stages. Many researchers give up work that may not have quality control because they lack funds and exposure to quality resources. She finds research scholars of the present more anxious about cracking the NET than thinking about analysis, new theories, interdisciplinary research and practical implications of their study. Indian researchers who have had western exposure are highly critical of the eligibility test and find themselves looking for greener pastures to further their skills and practice as India isn’t catering to those needs. These ideas are fledged out in her article titled ‘Is cracking the UGC NET A Sheer Waste of Time?’, published online by The Citizen on the 5th of April 2017 (Chaudhary, 2017).

‘Caught in NET’ by Divya Kannan and Saqib Khan published in ‘The Economic and Political Weekly’ on the 8th of March, 2014 picks out sample questions from the NET exam and shows the reader how problematic the test is. One such question that appeared in June 2013 exam reads, “At the primary school stage, most of the teachers should be women because they: a) can teach children better than men; b) know basic content better than men; c) are available on lower salaries; d) can deal with children with love and affection” (Kannan &Khan, 2014). The above question isn’t only stereotypical but is sexist as well. It is precisely questions like these that need to picked on and highlighted for their error cause unconsciously these questions reinforce incorrect assumptions about gender etc.

This literature review doesn’t just serve as a proof of what is done in this area of knowledge but it also contributes allied ideas and strong opinions. Active ideas from how teaching doesn’t need to stay traditional for students to do well in standardized tests, to moving away from a standardized syllabus, to the need for an effective education policy and culminating in a group of Indian writers that have critically analysed the NET exam as stated in the above paragraphs. It is my earnest wish that this literature review leads to some interesting research in this area of question that will provide reform to the system given a chance. It is the need of the hour for the Indian education system of testing for lectureship.

Management education is increasingly becoming important and playing a central role in the success of managers and organizations worldwide. The importance of the education sector, particularly a professional discipline like management studies, is increasing day by day in our country. In India, Management education has seen a remarkable growth in recent years as reflected in the steep rise in the number of higher learning institutes offering programmes in management at various levels but it is a complex one. Management Education system in India is governed by the central government through Ministry of Human Resource Development and its statutory bodies like AICTE, UGC etc. The quantitative growth of institutions in private sector smacks of attempts to commercialize and this need to be curbed. These institutions need to play a major role in producing the right quality and quantity of managers to meet the requirements of the market place. Nowadays the management institutions are facing a lot of problems for attaining quality in management education. In order to improve the quality of management education being imparted in 17 National Institutes of Technology (former Regional Engineering Colleges, RECs) and to grade them to the level of IITs, these institutions have been fully- funded institutions under the central government. These institutions aim to improve the standards and offer world- class quality management education matching the global standards so as to attract the students to Indian Management Educational institutions. An effective management education is a must to produce world-class Indian managers besides making India a regional hub for management education. But some state level aided and self-financed institutions cannot attain this level of education. The students and parents are expecting more performance from these institutions except IIT and IIMs. This paper mainly concentrates on challenges and perspectives in management education and also explains the way of improvement of quality in management educational institutions.

Challenges and Perspectives

One of the main challenges of management institutions is to obtain NBA (National Board of Accreditation) certificates. In order to improve the quality of management education and for attaining excellence in service of institutes, they must get accreditation to NBA. The setting up of NBA for managerial education and NAAC for general education under the initiative of AICTE and UGC respectively has been incorporated for infusing and improving the quality of education. The NBA carries out workshops, programmes and other activities for finalization of evaluation procedures and methodologies. It has to assess the quality of various constituents viz. administration, human resources, physical resources, academics, library, computer facilities etc. the establishment of NBA accreditation in various institutions is by and far neglected because of the programmes that have to be conducted. The institutions do not wish to spend resources in this regard and therefore, avoid this accreditation, even though they know it would improve the educational standards. The next challenge is the quality benchmarks are not implemented by the management institution due to several constraints which they are not able to overcome.

Management Education: the Present Scenario

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) Task force on TQM has come up with the following Quality Management Education: “Quality Management education is the development of intellectual skills, managerial skills and knowledge that will equip graduates to contribute to society through productive and satisfying management careers as innovators, decision-makers, entrepreneurs and leaders in the global economy of the twenty first century”. The Ministry of Human Resource Development announced Constitution of National Mission on January 10, 2002, with the main objective “to prepare and implement a long-term strategy for Management education in the country”. Management education is essential to improve the managerial manpower of the country. Managerial manpower is the key to industrial growth and development of the country. Quality is the fabric of every organization, and it is a vital component for its survival. Nowadays pass percentage, placement success rate, knowledge dissemination and the skills acquired constitute the vital output for management education programmes. Unfortunately, these are at unsatisfactory levels in management education, because some of the problems plaguing these institutions are lack of infrastructure, shortage of qualified faculty, poor student results, improper placement facilities etc. there is need to improve the quality of education. This can be achieved through establishment of Quality Improvement Techniques and National Board of Accreditation (NBA) for entire institutions.

Cause and Effect Diagram

The Cause and Effect diagram is one of the easiest and most useful tool for defect minimization. It assists in identifying root causes by asking, repeatedly why a cause exists. To identify and solve a problem it is important to know the real causes and the interrelations among causes. The cause for less performance has been explored and cause and effect diagram has been developed.

In order to enhance the effectiveness of Indian Management Education system the following suggestions has to be considered. The cause and effect diagram of figure brings together the various reasons, which eventually lead to the inefficiencies observed in MEIs. We would consider these reasons to come under the sub-division of student, faculty, infrastructure and methodology. A proper selection process of students must be established with guidelines, rules and regulations that make sure that the admission process is done only on the basis of merit. Before admission, proper orientation programmes must be conducted to make the students aware to the course in hand and it’s potential. Especially the government has to take severe steps in selecting the students those who having professionally qualified in under-graduate courses and scored high marks in competitive examination must be preferred in management education like rated business schools in India.

With reference to faculty, the knowledge of the staff can be improved by conducting faculty development programmes / management development programme. Furthermore, regular seminars and workshops must be conducted to give them both experience and involvement in the subject matter. During the recruiting process, as far as possible, experienced staff must be considered and preference must be given to Ph.D holders. The overall attitude and work culture of the teaching and non-teaching faculty must be improved through counseling and quality circle programmes. The main purpose of the quality circle programme is to solve academic related problems.

The overall improvement of the infrastructure of the Management Educational Institutions (MEIs) can be done by providing digitalized library (E-learning) and well-equipped business communication laboratories. It should have a standard curriculum in the first year while in the second year the school should have autonomy and freedom to evolve curriculum as per the market needs. Arrangement of software courses along with free Internet access must be provided to the students and faculty. Furthermore, an Academic Performance Development Cell (APDC) must be established to enable proper planning and introduction of new specialized courses/subjects into the curriculum with due considerations after meeting all the requirements for such programmes. Along with these, library and canteen facilities must also be provided. Through the provision of library facilities, proper guides and references are available in plenty to both students and staff to give them more knowledge on a larger scale.

The teaching methodology is a major cause for the inefficiencies witnessed in MEIs. On the whole it can be improved by employing ideas and means that complement each other. The use of teaching tools like LCD/OHP and other constructive methods on involvement must be encouraged. Various workshops, seminars and conferences must be conducted for the staff to improve their subject knowledge and also supplement to research activities. An adequate amount of interaction between the institute and industries must be established to give staff and students proper view or ideas concerning the industrial field. The management should hire the expert members of various discipline including industrial executive and emerging entrepreneurs to give lectures to give exposure and to enhance the employability skills among the student community. The lack of proper provision of incentives to the staff and students has result in lowered efficiencies of the institution on the whole. A well maintained reward system would result in better performance among the staff and students and also that creates a healthy competition among the faculty. The Institutions should have a visionary leader to create a corporate quality culture to sustain in global competitiveness.

Implementation of the various ideas discussed above eventually result in the progressive excellence of the Management Education Institutions.

Conclusion

Management Education in India is increasing at exponential growth, both inside the country and foreign franchises are in providing Management Education. Management education should be seen as a discipline contributing to the development of economy and society beyond business. For bolstering leading position, good management schools in India need to keep the global best schools as their lodestars. Blessed with exceptionally bright students, dedicated faculty and staff, and formidable reputation for professionalism, MEIs have the potential to emerge as global leaders in setting new aspirations, and showing the way to achieve them.

Education is a very essential and crucial asset for a country’s development by attaining full human potential, developing an equitable and fair society. The fourth agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals also concerns about the quality education. The Government of India had endeavoured to enhance and ensure inclusive and equitable quality of education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. This has brought a revolutionary change in the Indian Education System.

The world has undergone many rapid and dramatic changes in the field of science and technology. It has become very crucial that the children not only learn but more importantly learn how to learn. Thus, education is needed to be more innovative, creative, and multidisciplinary. The National Education Policy 2020 emphasises on the development of the creative potential in each individual.

The new Education Policy has been segregated into four major sections i.e. school education, higher education, other key areas of focus, and the most important part is making it happen which means the implementation of the policy. The main emphasis in this policy has been done on the foundational learning and the vocational education system in the school and higher educations that is very similar to most of the western countries. This will help students to develop holistically in all the fields of learning quality education rather than just mugging up the syllabus they had.

Earlier the education system tries to divide the students into three categories after their high school i.e. science, commerce, and humanities. And this was a very problematic situation for the students to choose any one of them. But more often than not, students are interested in a variety of subjects. The government has given a solution for this issue in the New Education policy 2020. The students have more flexibility to choose their subjects. Upon the implementation of this policy, a student can study political science with physics and chemistry with history. A student can study science, commerce as well as arts subjects together. This is an amazing initiative. Now, the students would have so much more flexibility to choose.

The second major change is that the existing 10+2 academic structure had been replaced with the 5+3+3+4 system. Now it has become somewhat more similar to the western education system of developed nations. In the 10+2 system, education starts from 6 years of age whereas in this new academic structure education would have started at the age of 3 years. The Preschool system is given emphasis in this academic structure that would extend from the 3 to 6 years old students and then class 1 and 2 for the next 2 years. Then would be the preparatory stage for the next 3 years in which focus would be given on playing, discovery, and activitybased classroom learning. Class 6 to 8 would be the middle stage in which experimental learning would be focused upon sciences, mathematics, arts, social sciences, and humanities. Next would be the secondary stage from class 9 to 12 in which multi-disciplinary studies would be provided with more flexibility and more choices. The government has implemented some structural changes to change this mindset, which is praiseworthy. For example, right from class 6, students would have to do internships in vocational training jobs. The students would be imparted experience in such jobs. There would be a bagless period of 10 days where the students would take np bags to school but will experience jobs like carpentry, welding, gardening etc. Vocational training in schools would be focused even later. This is a very critical thing without which our country would never become a developed country until and unless these changes are implemented. The government has fortunately taken a step in the right direction regarding this. Along with this, coding would be taught to children from class 6 and the importance accorded to board exams in class 10 and 12 would be reduced.

Another very important and positive policy change of the New Education policy 2020 is in the report cards handed to the students at the year-end. Until now, the teachers used to assess how the student had performed in the entire year, according to them. Now, the assessment will be done by not only the teachers, but the students will also self-evaluate themselves and say how have they performed in the entire year, according to their perspective. Not only will there be self-evaluation but the rest of the students will also evaluate and tell how a particular student had performed according to the perspective of the rest of the class. This will gradually enhance the critical thinking skills in the students which would be very beneficial.

The major change decided by the government in this education policy is that at least 6% of the GDP will be spent on education. Currently, it is around 3% which is very insufficient as compared to the developed countries and the rest of the developing countries, India spends very less on education in measure of the percentage of the GDP. So, 6% is a great target but a lot depends on implementation as well- how soon is the government able to achieve it. But obviously, as a first step, setting a target is 6% is commendable.

In the Indian education system, there had been a major problem of rote learning as most of the exams are designed in a way that we need to memorize things. And all that is learned, evaporates in a few months because we gave exams by rote learning. So, the government has also said that it would try and change this as well. The exams would be designed in a way that would not require much memorization or rote learning. But there had been no as such particular mention about the implementation of this thing.

The most important change in the education system after 12th is also seen in this New Education Policy 2020 i.e. is multiple entry-exit programme. It means that if an undergraduate started a degree and then he realized that he does not want to continue with it because he doesn’t like it then in this situation he can drop midway. All the subjects that he has studied for one year, he can take their credits and get it transferred to another degree. This is extremely useful and already exists in most of the developed countries.A common national professional standard will be set for all the teachers by 2022 and the minimum qualifications needed to become a teacher would be a four-year integrated BA degree by 2030.

In the era of 21st century, nothing could be completely flawless and so the new Education policy is. Although there are vast changes in the policy but still there had been some of the controversial points as no consultation was taken from the states before making this policy. Moreover, this policy is more like a theoretical task as its implementation would be a tough task and will require a long span of time. And every policy’s effectiveness depends upon its implementation which would require multiple initiatives and actions needed to be taken by multiple bodies in a more synchronized and systematic manner. In the end, if there would have a complete and successful implementation of this education policy in our country then it would result in a great developmental change in every field and thereof the ambition of a developed nation for India would no longer be a distant dream.

Introduction

Educational Services are considered as cyclical. When the economy is doing badly and unemployment is rising, the career predictions of working adults start to fall. This results in higher enrolment and increased profit at the schools. This system of education for young students is non-cyclical. Also some of the institutions perform actively to stimulate the economy. For example, IT department instructs for people’s benefit in good times so that they can boost their investment. There is more chance for growth in this industry. Education industries are reporting a rising demand for working adults. More number of employers are in need of college degree so that there can be chance of job participation. Both 18-year old students and a 30-year old without a college degree are looking for a career boost. Diplomas are becoming standard rather than the exception.

Education Landscape in India:

Indian Education system has two sectors. They are public sector and private sector. In public we have schools, Central Govt. funded institutions, State Govt. funded institutions, Higher education institutions. In private sector again there are 2 partitions, one is formal setup and the other is non-formal setup. In formal setup we have schools and higher education institution. In non-formal setup we have Pre-schools, Multimedia schools, Education material suppliers, Coaching classes, and Vocational training centres.

Recent trends and strategies:

Trends in K-12 Segments

Private schools adopting franchise models- Various operating models like a mix of franchisee and owned schools are being used by the private players to guarantee their economic capability. Setting up an all new education institution is very tough and expensive. Franchising provides opportunities to start a new business with less capital.

Emergence of international school segment- With collective awareness, private Indian players are cooperating with international brands to provide International standard quality education.

Increasing use of technology- Schools are participating in information and multimedia education technologies to provide better education to students. Byju’s has more than 400,000 students who are using the app currently, ranging from K-12 students preparing for competitive exams. The company acquired US based learning platform Osmo for US$ 120 million to start its plans of international expansion. Market size of digital publishing for education sector in India has increased from 5.29 per cent to US$ 356 million in 2017 from US$ 305 million in 2014. In March 2019, the Government of India is taking the initiative to stimulate institutions to offer online courses in rural areas to guarantee education for all.

Key Challenges- Enrolment rate across the senior classes is very low, while the girls dropout rate have observed increase in contrast to that of boys in the primary and secondary levels.

Trends in higher education segment

Specialised degrees gaining popularity- With more and more students opting for industry focused educations, the demand for specialised degrees is rising up. Most of the universities are offering MBA technical degrees with focus on specific sectors.

Multi campus model gaining popularity-Many private institutes are adopting multi city campus model to scale up their operations and expand in the untapped market of tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

International collaborations-In order to meet the need of today’s demanding students who seek international experience, many Indian universities and colleges have entered into joint venture agreements with international universities to provide world class education. As of March 2019, the Government of India recognized seven research proposals under Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration. The SPARC grants will help IIT Mandi to collaborate with international universities located in US, France, Germany, UK.

Trends in vocational segment

Corporate partnerships- In a recent -years, vocational training companies have entered into agreements with corporate houses to train their current employees with the required skill sets. Tata Motors has tied up with Nirma University to provide BTech degree to its employees working at its Sanand Plantin Gujarat in order to elevate employee skills at various levels in the organisation.

Investment in online learning- In March 2019, Byju’s raised up a sum of 25 million dollars, making it the fourth most valuable start-up in India value at 5.4 billion dollars. In July 2018, Un academy raised 21 million dollars from its existing investors, taking its total funding to 38.6 million dollars.

Strategies adopted:

Offering Scholarships:

In 2017, NIIT launched India’ Next Tech Star program to guide the students across India in building applications for next generation. In January 2019, HP India came up with ‘’HP Udaan Scholarship’ to support more than 1300 students from low income families. To encourage education, about 50% is secured for girls. The Government of Manipur announced a scholarship worth Rs 1 crore for civil services aspirants.

Joint Ventures:

Indian institutions are open to start strategic alliances with Australian institutes, as the country is the preferred end point for Indian students seeking quality foreign education. Medvarsity partners with Lecturio.com to provide improved technology- based healthcare learning for medical students. The aim is to deliver better learning opportunity.

Providing online and supplemental solutions:

E-learning platforms are increasing the scope of education and changing the Indian education system. As the Indian education industry opens up to new innovative ways of learning, Edu-comp has decided to explore this opportunity by offering its various online and supplemental solutions to help institutions to leverage the most of technology.

Challenges for education in India:

1. Technical skills of the work force have to be frequently updated. They have be perfect in their technical knowledge. They must be motivated and should be familiar with the skills such as interpersonal skills, team work, leadership and creative thinking.
2. Traditional setup – our academic system is liberalised by forming a traditional set of rules and regulations that supports quick development in its present work system and the required level of autonomy and flexibility.
3. Curriculum- The curriculum nowadays is not practical in nature. It does not provide knowledge that can be used to develop natural resources by which employment could be produced so that it can help to recover the existing conditions.
4. Infrastructure facilities- Infrastructure facilities such as refining the education system, positive approach towards national integration, research activities, consultancy, more self-governance, and strengthening multi organized integration. The shift of Indian academics in response to global force is a major undertaking.
5. Skilled labor- Small and medium technology industries moved to develop countries for the benefit of labour. Globalization and technology advancements have allowed skilled workers who are living in developing countries to provide service in developed countries.
6. Counseling- Counselling is necessary to understand and gain the talents of students and trainees, and to help them discover career alternatives. Guidance and counseling must define career development as a regular process during which individuals enhance their professional awareness, employability and maturity.

SWOT analysis of Indian education system:

Strengths

India has got very rich and learned education heritage. Very good primary education which provides a very strong base. Indian education system moulds the growing minds with huge amount of information and knowledge. Indian education system gives the greater exposure to the subject knowledge. Indians are rich in theoretical knowledge. India has abundant strength of resources and manpower such as NASA. Cost of education is also very low.

Weakness

Lack of adequate up-gradation of syllabus. No standard and no common course content and no common exam procedure. Lack of specialised courses and fixed curriculum learning is considered a one-step process. Education is exam based. There are no fixed parameters. Lack of Industry –Institute interaction, rigidity in the curriculum. Lack of multidisciplinary courses and role of the teacher is sticked to teaching alone. Mindset of stakeholders is not in proper condition which in turn effectcs immediate changes. Learning is job oriented.

Opportunities

India has rich resources of human and physical. There are enough number of higher education institutions in India. Hence, we can produce more and highly qualified students. Satisfying students demands by providing improved quality of education. Producing enough number of technically skilled outputs and autonomy curriculum should be made more realistic, practically and job oriented. Students are considered as a customer so that they can provide highly technically skilled labour to the country.

Threats

Lack of interest and interaction from the industry in developing and collaborating for the research field. Loss of quality standards by Indian institutions as more number of students choose for education abroad. Lack of team work and attitude of the people who fail to work jointly on a public platform.

Key policies and initiatives:

Interim Budget (2019-20) – The Government has increased the expenditure budget for education from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 93,848 crore

UGC (Online Courses) Regulations, (2018) – In a reform, educational institutes in the country have been allowed certificates of diploma and degree programs in online mode under the University Grants Commission Regulations, 2018.

Performance Grading Index -In August 2018, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India has developed a Performance Grading Index based on 70 indicators in order to increase education in all states of India.

Pradhan Mantri Grameen Digital Saksharta Abhiyan -The scheme was official accepted in February 2017, with the aim of providing digital knowledge to 60 million rural people in the country by March 2019.

National Education Policy – The new National Education Policy considers education as most important parameter in the country. It majorly focuses on quality of education as well as innovation and research in the sector. In November 2018, the National Education Policy Framework 2018 was launched. According to Mr Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of India, New National Education Policy draft is ready and would be given to the central government.

Conclusion:

The Indian education experts must develop a database on all types of education regarding the number of educational institutions, their local and external elements, faculty strength, economical resources and quality and certifications. In addition, market intelligence about the situations in other countries is sought through diplomatic attaches in the Indian embassies abroad. Inspiring research programmes in areas with the support of industry. Encourage and establish institutions capable of providing consultancy and specific services for facing assignments. Inform relevant curricula to meet the universal standards and demands. Establishing state of art institutions. Interaction and collaboration between institutions and industry at all levels.