Don't make education a business, says CBSE head

Private, govt co-operation needed

Privatisation of education has defeated the purpose of imparting it as a service to society, said Vineet Joshi, CBSE chairman on Saturday.

“Private sector has come forward and participated in carrying forward growth in education. But some institutions seem to be pushing their limits by trying to convert education into a revenue generating business. 
You cannot have products and market strategies in the education sector,” said Joshi at the Indian Education Congress 2012 conference.

Joshi added that Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) receives close to 20,000 applications from schools for affiliation but only 8,000-odd private schools manage to get it because of the race to privatise the sector. 

However, Pawan Agarwal, advisor on Higher Education at Planning Commission, said that though franchising in education is considered a “bad word” in India, it is essential.
 “If we dissect the word franchise it means standardising. We need greater autonomy within a framework of accountability where private and public institutions work together,” he said. 

Agarwal added that aith in educational institutions will erode if private players do not co-operate with the government. “Rising cost of higher and secondary education is not letting students make full use of educational loans and scholarships given by the government. There has to be more co-operation between the two entities,” he said. 

On the other hand, Suman Jyoti Khaitan, vice president, PHD Chambers said even the government runs on a revenue-based education model. 

“Government schools lack adequate facilities and hence private institutions are important. The government should act as a facilitator in providing quality education and promoting public private partnership,” he said.

“There is a shortage of skills in our country as degrees are being been given minus quality education,” the chairman added.  According to experts, holistic approach towards teaching is essential in both government and private institutions to empower the uneducated population in India. 

“We need to measure the quality of education by the outcome i.e. jobs. Also, government should encourage private players and more competition. It should levy more taxes on them so that the tax money can be used to provide better facilities in government schools and institutions,” said Karan Khemka, partner, the Parthenon Group.