Imperatives of liberal funding

Quintessence axioms of today's cut-throat competitive world dictate that liberal funding of schooling is extremely crucial for any nation's overall prosperity and multifaceted development. For India,

it's more so because today's schoolers will architect, evolve and execute the India of the twenty-first century. While the states and Union governments have been marshalling majorsources for setting up and running educational institutions at every level—from schools to university, and even beyond in several specified and critical academic and research disciplines. But it's an established fact that it's specially the school level education that's of the highest import. India's school education system is perhaps one of the largest in the world today with 260 million students at nearly 1.5 million schools costing the national exchequer around Rs. 3,230 crore annually.
However, with all that colossal academic network in place, quality of instructions imparted, particularly at school stage, leave much to be desired, and has often been questioned. The 2016 draft of the New Education Policy, published by the Union ministry of human resource development,has also taken grave notice of these failings, and underlined that 'poor quality of learning at the schooling stage leads to poor learning outcomes at the higher education stage.'It has further been pointed out that for ensuring 'universal good quality education,'it's imperative to ensure access to early childhood education along with ensuring 'upward transition' from one level to another. Since the number of school-goers in India is steadily multiplying year after year—from 93.5% in 2005 to 97% in 2015—it'll but be prudent for the government 'to embrace and encourage the participation of private players.' As in numerous other sectors, private organizations can play significant role in the overall uplift and acclivity of educational standards.
Moreover, with widespread revolutionary transformation in intrinsic content and innate tenor of curricula, it's essential to keep pace with global trends.
A common experience in this regard has been that while governments' bureaucratic machinery moves at slow speed, the private entrepreneurs are more dynamic and move pretty fast. The Indian private sector's experience in running schools has indeed been extremely rewarding and satisfactory, and has been in consonance with global standards, winning international accolades.
According to the HRD ministryappointed T.S.R. Subramanian committee, private-aided and unaided schools accounted for nearly 42% of the enrollment in the school sector. The marked difference in number is believed to be due to the public perception of their mediocre or deficient standards.

T.S.R. Subramanian Incidentally, the same is true of the secondary and higher secondary schools, as has been corroborated by a study entitled 'alliance for re-imagining school education' sponsored by the federation of chambers of commerce and industry.
This study aimed 'at setting norms for standards and transparency, augmenting quality for 21st century readiness, policy advocacy and facilitating capacity building and access for achieving universal quality education in India.' This study, however, suggested that with a view to making independent schools widely acceptable, it would be crucial 'to be transparently selfregulated, be model in good governance in education system wherein the government plays only a 'facilitative' role and 'reprimands' only the non-compliant ones.'
Meanwhile, the fact of the matter is that drastic, and all-round comprehensive reform in school education is a crying need of the hour, particularly when the 'contours of knowledge are expanding and exploding.'
Our educational curricula at all grades need urgent radical changes.
As the 'Vision for School Education' aptly lays out: 'Education for tomorrow must hone the learner's ability to become a co-creator of knowledge rather than being just a passive receiver. We need to reimagine a student to become a life-long learner, one who carries the acumen and desire to learn, unlearn and re-learn at all spectrums of life.'

Large-scale funding needs to be made for making school a place of joy and pleasure by facilitating easy access to quality and relevant academic curricula that would inculcate analytical learning, using scientific and technological materials to grapple with the complex problem-solving instructions; incentivizing education for socially challenged, and differentlyabled students; devoted and teachers trained in modern pedagogic techniques, equipped with latest instruments.
There has to be a constant, consistent focus on developing skills; and, finally vocational education appropriately integrated in syllabus will make learners job-ready, to be readily acceptable by the job-market.
But to transform all these ideals into concrete realities, the concerned authorities need to invent, re-invent, and of course make large-scale investments to fund such types of schools that would go a long way in meeting the needs, and for fully materializing aspirations of the growing new generation of Indians.



		EDITOR'S MAIL MATTERS OF PUBLIC POLICY MARCH OF AYODHYA INDIAN PRESIDENCY REALPOLITIK FOR CREDIBLE OPPOSITION A GAME CHANGER DEFENCE MODERNISATION STATE OF EDUCATION DELHI MCD POLLS FRANKLY SPEAKING SACRILEGE IN PUNJAB KASHMIR WATCH CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN POLL-YEAR HIMACHAL KERALA UNDER LDF CHANDIGARH DIARY U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AMERICAN DIARY JADAV ISSUE INDO-BANGLADESH TIES CIVIL AVIATION HITS & MISSES TEST CRICKET SPORTS BOOK BAZAAR SIGNS OF THE TIMES MIGRATION & WOMEN'S RIGHTS YOGA IN DAILY LIFE-XIII ART OF LIVING Issue:May' 2017 Subscribe Now	STATE OF EDUCATION Imperatives of liberal funding Large-scale funding needs to be made for making school a place of joy and pleasure by facilitating easy access to quality and relevant academic curricula that would inculcate analytical learning observes M. R. Dua Quintessence axioms of today's cut-throat competitive world dictate that liberal funding of schooling is extremely crucial for any nation's overall prosperity and multifaceted development. For India, it's more so because today's schoolers will architect, evolve and execute the India of the twenty-first century. While the states and Union governments have been marshalling majorsources for setting up and running educational institutions at every level—from schools to university, and even beyond in several specified and critical academic and research disciplines. But it's an established fact that it's specially the school level education that's of the highest import. India's school education system is perhaps one of the largest in the world today with 260 million students at nearly 1.5 million schools costing the national exchequer around Rs. 3,230 crore annually. However, with all that colossal academic network in place, quality of instructions imparted, particularly at school stage, leave much to be desired, and has often been questioned. The 2016 draft of the New Education Policy, published by the Union ministry of human resource development,has also taken grave notice of these failings, and underlined that 'poor quality of learning at the schooling stage leads to poor learning outcomes at the higher education stage.'It has further been pointed out that for ensuring 'universal good quality education,'it's imperative to ensure access to early childhood education along with ensuring 'upward transition' from one level to another. Since the number of school-goers in India is steadily multiplying year after year—from 93.5% in 2005 to 97% in 2015—it'll but be prudent for the government 'to embrace and encourage the participation of private players.' As in numerous other sectors, private organizations can play significant role in the overall uplift and acclivity of educational standards. Moreover, with widespread revolutionary transformation in intrinsic content and innate tenor of curricula, it's essential to keep pace with global trends. A common experience in this regard has been that while governments' bureaucratic machinery moves at slow speed, the private entrepreneurs are more dynamic and move pretty fast. The Indian private sector's experience in running schools has indeed been extremely rewarding and satisfactory, and has been in consonance with global standards, winning international accolades. According to the HRD ministryappointed T.S.R. Subramanian committee, private-aided and unaided schools accounted for nearly 42% of the enrollment in the school sector. The marked difference in number is believed to be due to the public perception of their mediocre or deficient standards. T.S.R. Subramanian Incidentally, the same is true of the secondary and higher secondary schools, as has been corroborated by a study entitled 'alliance for re-imagining school education' sponsored by the federation of chambers of commerce and industry. This study aimed 'at setting norms for standards and transparency, augmenting quality for 21st century readiness, policy advocacy and facilitating capacity building and access for achieving universal quality education in India.' This study, however, suggested that with a view to making independent schools widely acceptable, it would be crucial 'to be transparently selfregulated, be model in good governance in education system wherein the government plays only a 'facilitative' role and 'reprimands' only the non-compliant ones.' Meanwhile, the fact of the matter is that drastic, and all-round comprehensive reform in school education is a crying need of the hour, particularly when the 'contours of knowledge are expanding and exploding.' Our educational curricula at all grades need urgent radical changes. As the 'Vision for School Education' aptly lays out: 'Education for tomorrow must hone the learner's ability to become a co-creator of knowledge rather than being just a passive receiver. We need to reimagine a student to become a life-long learner, one who carries the acumen and desire to learn, unlearn and re-learn at all spectrums of life.' Large-scale funding needs to be made for making school a place of joy and pleasure by facilitating easy access to quality and relevant academic curricula that would inculcate analytical learning, using scientific and technological materials to grapple with the complex problem-solving instructions; incentivizing education for socially challenged, and differentlyabled students; devoted and teachers trained in modern pedagogic techniques, equipped with latest instruments. There has to be a constant, consistent focus on developing skills; and, finally vocational education appropriately integrated in syllabus will make learners job-ready, to be readily acceptable by the job-market. But to transform all these ideals into concrete realities, the concerned authorities need to invent, re-invent, and of course make large-scale investments to fund such types of schools that would go a long way in meeting the needs, and for fully materializing aspirations of the growing new generation of Indians.