Introduction:
In the global scenario in education sector, India holds an important place. In higher education, India is having the largest networks across the world. However, there is a lot of potential for further development in the education system.
By 2020, the government aims to raise its current gross enrolment ratio up to 30 percent to boost the distance education growth in our country. India is having a population of about 500 million in the age bracket of 5-24 years which is the highest in the world. This provides more opportunities for the education sector. In financial year 2018, the education sector in India was estimated at US$ 91.7 billion whereas in financial year 2019, it is was estimated to be US$ 101.1 billion.
The number of universities and colleges in India has reached 993 and 39,931 respectively in the year 2018-19. India had approximately 37.4 million students enrolled in higher education sector in 2018-19. The gross Enrolment Ratio reached 26.30 percent in 2018-19 in higher education. The HRD Ministry of Central Government is planning to raise approximately Rs. 1 lakh crore from private companies for those individuals who are having high net worth. This is to finance improvement of education infrastructure in our country.
Under ‘Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness, a loan agreement with World Bank has been signed by our Government for Livelihood Promotion’ (SANKALP) Project for the enhancement for skills development under institutional mechanisms. The first Skill Development Centre in Assam is going to opened by Singapore government, which will be provide vocational training to youths in the Assam Region.
Initiatives of Government of India:
- The government has allocated Rs 59,845 crores in the union budget 2020-21 for Department of Literacy and School Education. The government also proposed apprenticeship embedded diploma/degree courses by March 2021 for approximately 150 higher educational institutions in its Union Budget 2020-21.
- For introducing a two-year fellowship Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) programme and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), the government has signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore in October 2019.
- The NCERT also added in curriculum that for the pre- school, teaching will be in mother tongue and advised no homework for them as announced in October 2019.
- In India there are 2,54,897 training centers registered up to February 2020 and approximately 2 crore candidates have already completed training under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan.
- Rs. 56,536 Crores expenditure budget has been allocated for school education and literacy whereas Rs. 38,317 Crores expenditure budget has allocated for higher education by the Government. Rs. 400 crores provided by the government for World Class Institutions.
- The new scheme ‘Study in India’ promoted by the government to bring foreign students for their higher education in India .
The Government of India has launched the second phase of ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’ in August 2018. The objectives behind this initiative is to link higher educational institutions in our country with minimum five villages. Approximately 750 such institutions have been covered in this scheme. - To increase engagement between UTs, States, Central Ministries as well as General Public and Educational Institutions, the HRD Ministry has undertaken the campaign “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat”.
- The Skill India initiative – ‘Kaushal Bharat, Kushal Bharat’ has been launched by Prime Minister. The government has set a target of training 400 million citizens under this initiative. This will enable them to find jobs.
- The Government of India has laid foundations of 7 IITs and 141 Universities in the last four years.
To be achieved:
With one in four graduates in the world being a product of the Indian higher education system, India wants to emerge as a single largest provider of global talent. In top 200 global universities, our target is to have more than 20 universities.
Various government initiatives are being adopted to promote the growth of distance education market besides focusing on new education techniques, like m-learning and e-learning.
In recent years, the education sector has seen improved financial outlays and reforms. This is done so that the country could possibly transform into a knowledge haven. For the overall development of our country with human resource increasingly gaining significance, the education infrastructure development is expected to remain in focus during the current decade. Infrastructure investment in education sector is likely to see a major increase in current decade in this scenario.
The Government of India has taken various steps including opening of IIM’s and IIT’s in new locations of our country. The government is also allocating educational grants for research scholars in almost all government institutions. In India, with online modes of education being used by various educational institutions, the higher education sector is set for some major changes and developments in the coming years.
Ramesh M. Hingu
AGM & Director, SBILD Aurangabad.
