Swami Vivekananda quoted “Education is the manifestation of perfection already in men”. Education is compulsory for each and every individual who wants to succeed in any area of life.
Primary education till the age of 14 years is compulsory and free in India and is maintained by the government. But when it comes to higher education, the trend of privatization is sadly noticed in India.
The largest drawback resulting from privatization of education is increase in the fees as a result of which most of the students who are interested in continuing their studies are forced to quit because they cannot bare the expenses.
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The question that arises is that why cannot government provide free higher education? We are all aware of the fact that any individual who only had his primary education is not eligible for earning the bare minimum that is required for his or her survival. Though most of the people do not accept this bitter truth but the fact remains.
If we take a close look at the statistics of developing countries we will see that India as a developing country lacks far behind when it comes to analyzing the ration of people with higher education as compared to the other developing countries.
The proportion of the University and College going students is 6% in India while the figure is 20% in Egypt and Thailand, 10% in Turkey, 11% in Brazil, and 16% in Mexico.
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In developed countries on the other hand, the ratio of the students opting for higher education is nearly 40%. If India dreams of becoming a developed country in the near future, it is extremely essential that more and more students opt for higher education.
As a result of privatization in higher education, the scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and the other backward classes have a limited access to these educational institutions. The most crucial issue is the lack of adequate funds in higher education. The funds have increased from 1.2% to 3.6 percent in the recent years but it is still not the required 6% as it should ideally be. If India wants to progress and assert itself as a developed nation, educating the youth is the key to open this door.
The Union government has a declared objective saying that the Lion’s share for the funding of higher education should come from private institutions. The truth is that the fees of higher education is largely increased by adding so called compulsory extra-curricular activities in the University and College curriculum.
The kids who can afford higher education gets it and the ones who cannot are devoid of it. It is essential on the part of both the Union and the state governments to take strict actions against this evil for the progress of the nation as a whole.