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Boom in Private Higher Education in Madhya Pradesh
MP– “The Heart of India” gets 220 new colleges in a span of one-year. According to the All-India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) for the academic year 2019-20, there were 2411 higher educational institutions (HEIs) in Madhya Pradesh against 2191 colleges in the previous session. These are primarily dominated by private players and overall enrolment has increased by 1,10,455 students. The report states a total of 15,01,236 enrolments against 13,90,781 candidates enrolled in the previous session. Acc. to the report Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher education in India is 27.1 and that of Madhya Pradesh is 24.2 which is calculated for 18-23 years age group. Average enrolment per college in the state has increased by an average of 37 candidates.
With admission into highly subsidised top tier centrally
funded universities and elite IITs, IIMs, NITs, likely to become more difficult
due to the loss of learning in the pandemic year, the next option available are
in private colleges and universities which provide near equivalent higher
education albeit at relatively high tuition fees. Private universities and
colleges offer better academic programmes, faculty, and infrastructure than
state government institutions which are filled with incompetent faculty, being
in this position through caste and kinship with state politicians and
bureaucrats. 89% Universities of MP responded to the AISHE survey in the
academic session 2019-20 which is 3% more than previous session. As per the
recent report of AISHE, there are total 1946 colleges in state, out of which
1128 are private unaided, 198 are private aided and 620 are government colleges
for a population of 9021043 for the age group of 18-23. Whereas in session
2018-19, there were total 1895 colleges out of which 1089 were private unaided,
200 were private aided, and 606 were government Institutions.
Himanshu Rai - Director IIM Indore; said that there is a rise in private
universities and colleges because of the new educational policy which gives more
autonomy to colleges, encourages original and unique ideas to take root with a
disciplinary approach, it stimulates multilingual colleges and competition. He
added that government has made it easy for private players to increase their
engagement by curtailing the bureaucratic hurdles (both industry wise and
others included) and also by political stability. The BJP Govt. did not reverse
the policies made by the previous Congress Government. He however, says that
the budget allocated to education is not sufficient and needs to be increased
for enhancement of quality education.
Home to 2 Central Universities, 8 Institute of National
Importance, 21 State Public Universities, 1 State Open university, 33 State
Private Universities, and 1 Deemed University as per AISHE; MP showcases an upward
trend of investment in building of human capital. However, the question that arises
is whether the literacy rates have increased or not? Is the growth only in urban
areas and has the rural areas been left in the “bimaru” status or is it an
overall development spread across all 53 districts. MP is the second largest
Indian state by area and the fifth largest state by population with over 86.8
million people. As per the 2021 Census data the literacy rate of MP is 84.78%
for the urban regions in which 89.48% are males and 77.26% are females. Increase
of literacy rate is clearly visible because as per 2011 census report, MP had an
overall literacy rate of 70.6%. As per NIRF 2020 ranking, only two colleges
from MP namely, IIT Indore and
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, ranked in the top 50
colleges of India.
BJP government in MP has allocated Rs. 9793 crores for the
establishment of primary schools, and Rs. 5329 crores have been allocated for
secondary education. Rs. 4027 crores have been allocated towards higher
secondary education. Dr. Rekha Gupta – Dean Education; Rabindra Nath Tagore
University, (formerly AISECT University) Bhopal; said the budget allocated by the M.P. executive fulfils the
needs of only a few colleges, schools and universities and much more is needed
for the upliftment of all of the other schools and colleges particularly in
rural regions of the state so that the primary necessities of the students are
fulfilled. This may stop the migration of college students to different states
for higher studies. Special attention needs to be paid to infrastructural
facilities, course structuring and practicality in Education in addition to rote
learning. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan while addressing an
Education Summit organised by India Today, informed that the government in
assistance with the private sector has taken a vow to turn Devi Ahilyabai
University, Indore, into one of the top ten university globally. He added that
the government wants other universities of MP to also improve their ranking. He
added that the government has decided to foot the fee of poor students in
private colleges. He
further stressed on the loan facilities for the students pursuing professional
courses. He announced that those parents who do not have money to become bank
guarantors, government will play the role for them. Earlier the CM announced
that children who lost their parents or guardians to COVID-19 will be provided
free education and a Rs.5,000/- monthly pension. The CM Rise scheme released by
the BJP govt. will upgrade 9200 schools with modern-day infrastructure. The
cabinet has approved Rs 6,952 crore for setting-up of these schools. For
2021-22, the scheme has been allocated Rs 1,500 crore, for use to modernise 350
colleges. Government is improving the quality of higher education by supporting
it with necessary legislation to encourage private universities establishment
in the state. This will lead to a regulatory structure and accreditation
agencies playing key role in maintaining quality and standards. Funding any
project is vital for its success, as huge stakes are involved. High capital
requirement to meet land and infrastructure facilities, endowment fund and
other requirements have to be taken care of in order to open universities and
colleges. This is aggravated by restrictions on the source of funding — only a
Society or Trust or Section 25 company can be a sponsoring body, i.e.,
for-profit organisations cannot finance such ventures. However, it’s also
necessary to evaluate whether input-centric norms only add to costs and their
contribution to the quality of outcomes in the higher education system. It’s
important to put these private universities and colleges under scanner, based
on an assessment of their quality of education and management patterns.