Indian Education System

I believe Indian Government is totally capable of providing good quality education (IITs, RECs and IIMs are not run by private companies).

It is the responsibility of the government to provide not only quality education but make it affordable and free.

And we should hold them accountable for this.

I believe Indian Government is totally capable of providing good quality education(IITs, RECs and IIMs are not run by private companies)

You forget our renowned municipal schools which are also run by the government.

And quality and free doesn’t go well together. If you want quality, be ready to pay for it.

Also, how much ‘affordable’ is ‘free’?

You know education in France is free? And let me tell you it’s damn good too.

As far as municipal schools go I agree they are not as good as most of the private schools but that is a problem world wide.

So is education in the United States in that respect. But is that making the quality of education worthwhile? I guess you are confusing correlation with causation (common mistake).

This may require refutation at the broader level which I may offer on my blog. However, I suggest you go and read Atanu’s post (linked above) again especially the quoted text paragraph.

On the aside, not all schools in France are free.

Vishal,

There are so many things ”free” in France that they are now the sick man of Europe. Much of the French wealth has been built around colonialism, it would hardly be prudent to compare India with France.

Either you can continue to hold on to this idea that government must provide ”free” education (mind you, nothing government provides is free, it comes from the taxpayers) and let millions of Indians go without education as we have done in the last 60 years or draw lessons from the history and take remedial measures.

I am not saying everything SHOULD be free, but yes education should be affordable and fre if possible and believe me it is money well spent!

If education is free why would millions of Indians go without education. It does not make sense?

All I am trying to say is that Indian Government is well capable of providing quality education.

Vishal,

Yes, no Indian should go without it. But that’s not the issue here. We have government schools where education is free and we also have private schools where it isn’t. Since we can’t force people to go to a particular school, any guess on where people opt to go? And as Confused mentioned, nothing is really free; we just pay for it through other means.

I still see no proof or evidence as you claim that ‘the Indian Government’ is capable of providing quality education. Success (narrowly defined) of IITs and IIMs is in spite of the role of the government and not because of it.

Have you read the NCERT books? Simply Amazing!
We should give credit where it is due. or just jump on the bandwagon of simply finding ONLY the faults. Trust me I know that’s easy and I can find many to join me on it.

As far as free/paid, hell yeah I will go to the best school if I can afford it, the important thing is to have support for people who can’t as well. Think a little about most of the masses.

I will sleep better if my taxes are going towards education as well, I never mentioned start raising taxes!

Anyways, Just my ramblings…

I have thought a lot about the Indian Education System. I am product of it, having graduated from IIT and now going to IIM. I feel we cannot discount that in India government in education is required. I have written an article against your argument, may be you would like to read it at http://www.shubhhub.com/?p=251

Sorry, if you don’t like links posted in the comments but I just want to get my view point across.

If he had been a lot more specific,I would be rather happy.

“If the government cannot do better than the imperfect markets can, then it is better for us to live with the results of the market failure”

So if Robber A robs me and on another rich day,Robber B robs me,would I know the difference?Would I care that A or B took one rupee more than the other.At the end of the day,I still get robbed,don’t I?

He himself sounds confused as to what will happen.

“no one knows what amazing stuff the market will deliver”

How can I be so sure that it will be amazing if I don’t even know what I am supposed to expect from an ‘imperfect market’ or have no idea of who and how will someone make it or what will this person make.Besides is education a necessity or a industry?

This is my thinking on free education – it is like the government dawakhana. There is no way I would walk into one, if I had anything to do with it. I would rather pay out of my pocket to get quality medical attention at a private hospital. But there are those who cannot pay and for them the government hospital is a great place. But the government needs to stay the F away from dictating private hospitals because they ruin anything they touch.

I forgot to add:
Similarly the government needs to provide free/cheap education for those who need it but stay away from dictating private education for those who can afford it.

I was amused at the comparison between France and India. If everyone in India had as much education as in France, we dont have to give reservation to anyone. France survives in the international market only because of its educational system. The main product of France is its large number of well trained professionals and a nation where pretty much everyone (I mean really everyone) has an idea of science and scientific thinking. The school system including mid day meals is uniform throughout the country. There is this big question of whether university education should be free or not.
The only problem with France is that it is a nation of people who perfect the art of living and dont want to unduly sweat it out in the international competition. They hope that other countries will wake up to the real danger of increased stress and health problems and go slower.

I think continuing the reservation System is really corrupting the economy, schools and what not! It was to be there for 10 years and its already been over 50 years. We DON’T have reservation because people are not educated we have reservation for people who were oppressed in the past to help them by providing more opportunities and less competition for them

As far as comparison with France goes, they were not born educated I believe, they got education from the wonderful education system their government provides!

The worrying aspect of indian education is that free education is getting worse and paid education is getting more and more expensive. I went to a free govt school but none of my relatives in the next generation do so. They say that the govt schools are not what they were! That we cannot even better what we had thirty years before is a very gloomy prospect.

A bad experience of a few people from one or two institutes does not mean that the entire education system provided by government is bad.

As you mentioned that private education is becoming expensive and expensive it becomes imperative that the government does provide good education at a very affordable price. This is a very challenging task due to sheer economics but I believe they are doing a good job and need to continue their efforts.

You may partially right,if we allow private players only in the education sector quality may improve but its purely become business and cost of education will be more costlier then ever which can’t be affordable for poor people live in India.So its better to change educational system not ownership pattern.

Reservation in India has nothing to do with upliftment or serving the interests of deprived . It is a just an easiest means to seek a voters guarantee and become a public messiah . The politicians in India have no sympathy for rich , poor or downtrodden . Politics has come to a very low level , and please don’t compare our education with France , US or any other country . We are worst than Iran and Pakistan . IITs and IIMs are just thriving on past alumnis . The entrance exams might be tough , but there is no quality inside.