The regulatory structure governing public education in the country today is in desperate need of a complete overhaul. Strict and complex controls have been laid down on the entry, expansion, and closure of schools. Fee structures, collection of donations, and government funding to schools (termed grant-in-aid) are also very minutely regulated.
Also, the system is completely devoid of any accountability or autonomy whatsoever. Government schools continue to receive grants irrespective of performance. Teachers and principals have no say in school management nor can they be held accountable for dismal results. Given such a scenario, it should not be surprising that the absence of teachers is the commonest problem plaguing government schools today!!
• Over 1.4 million teachers' posts are vacant in government schools
•25% of teachers were absent from school, and only about half were teaching, during unannounced visits to a nationally representative sample of government primary schools in India
A total revamp of the regulatory structure forms the second pillar of our campaign.
Revamping the regulatory structure
ABOLITION OF THE LICENSE-PERMIT RAJ |
• Allow free entry and exit to both suppliers and demanders of education.
• Permit for-profit educational institutions
• Pass private university bill
• Do not give subsidised land |
These complex rules and regulations, driven by the license permit raj have severe stifling effects on education. Licensing has the same effect in education as it had on the economy. The government limits competition and arrogates the power to decide how many and what type of schools can serve educational needs of the people. Most importantly, it creates artificial scarcity of schools and allows existing schools to exploit their customers. To curb such exploitation, the government puts further restrictions on the amount of fees that can be charged for tuition, laboratory, and transportation and on the amount and purposes for which donations can be asked from parents.
The restrictions are impossible to enforce because the artificially created scarcity compels parents to pay up; they are no alternative schools to send their children. This morass of controls is what the “potato chip theory of regulation” predicts. One restriction creates situation that demands further restrictions, which in turn require more restrictions. Once a bag of potato chips is opened, it's hard to stop at one or a few chips!!!!!!!!
It would be interesting here to take a look at what the Delhi School Education Act (1973) says on students wanting to switch from one school to another-
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Rule 139: Admission on transfer certificate: No student who had previously attended any recognised school shall be admitted to any aided school unless he produces a transfer or school leaving certificate from the school which was last attended by him.
Schools need an exit policy as badly as other businesses. The license raj in education however goes much further than it did in the industry. The government never required that the customer of a company must take the company's approval before switching to another company to purchase a similar product or service!! This rule is unambiguously anti-customer!! Schools could deny their customers the freedom to switch - they have captive customers.
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AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
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• Grant autonomy to existing schools and colleges without reducing financial support
• Link government grants with performance for all education institution
• Convert departments of education from producers to financiers and supervisors
• Transfer management to local governments, communities, and NGO's |
Institutionalise accountability of government and private educational entities
Once education is liberalised and all existing institutions are given autonomy, they will begin to compete for students. The decision-making powers, in all areas of management, would be handed down to schools, colleges, and universities, that is, to parents, teachers and local administrators. It is critical to institutionalise accountability, in managing finances as well as teaching and research, so that the competitive forces would work to improve, and not undermine, the overall experience of education.
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Link school grants with school performance
For completely private institutions, there exists a strong link between revenues and performance. No parent would send his/ her child to a private school unless the standards were met!!
Currently, government grants to government as well as private academic institutions are largely automatic — based simply on the number of students and physical infrastructure of the past with an eye on the growth in the head count and the need for maintenance and expansion of facilities.
To facilitate schooling effectiveness, government grants to all educational institutions must be linked with their academic performance. This would help give the people in charge a stake in the performance of these schools.
A simple way to gauge performance is to consider the number of students who pass the standardised board examinations. An institution's revenues could be linked with that number. Success in passing board examinations however, is probably not the best way to judge the quality of education; we should think of better and yet easier ways to assess the quality.
The basic objective nonetheless is to make educational institutions earn their government grants by fulfilling their responsibilities. |
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