This Professor Feels Quality Education Is A Must If Democracy Has To Thrive And Politicians Should Take Note

Almost all issues that people really care about in this country are missing from the manifestos and political campaign of nearly all major political parties. Education is one such as aspect without which any civil society can¡¯t be imagined. It¡¯s quite depressing to see that none of the political parties are even talking about education.

Indiatimes spoke to Assistant Professor, Sayendeb Chowdhury, who teaches English and Cinema at School of Letters in Ambedkar University, Delhi. Professor Chowdhury spoke about education system in India, it¡¯s future and whether what the government is doing for it will bear any fruits for education or not.

Present state of education

Professor Chowdhury isn¡¯t content with the present state of education in the country and says that bigger challenges lie ahead.

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¡°No, the present state of education in India isn¡¯t something it can say it¡¯s proud of. There was a time when India had limited yet strong educational foundation but over a period of time, the education has expanded by leaps and bounds and it¡¯s become very challenging to ensure quality,¡± said Professor Sayandeb.

Quality and quantity and missing bridge

If we look around, there are schools and college all around, but do the numbers serve the collective purpose of imparting education to make an upright society?

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¡°The gap between quality and quantity is massive in India. Yes, we have colleges, school but when it comes to quality, there is a huge difference because majority of the institutes fail to compete along the global standard and those which are good, they don¡¯t have enough strength to accommodate people,¡± Said Professor Sayendeb.

Expand but ensure quality

This is perhaps the biggest challenge before India - to ensures that it¡¯s large population gets access to education without any reduction in .

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¡°More and more people want to go for higher education. Graduation has become a norm and in this scenario, there are two major challenges before us - one is to expand education and second is not to loose on quality. Because the kind of size, people and diversity, it¡¯s very important that we have a system which imparts quality education to all because if we contain the quantity in order to ensure the quality, it poses a threat of some people who have access to quality education become elitist,¡± he added.

Education is must for a functional democracy

Education is must for any democracy to function because educated youth can lead the nation to growth and prosperity. Many say if education gets into private hands, a solution to find equilibrium between quantity and quality can be reached, but Professor Chowdhury thinks differently.

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¡°It¡¯s true that there has be a solution to the quantity and quality conundrum because given the size of India, both in terms of land, diversity, cultures and of course population, we have ensure quantity with quality. Private institution can be a solution but it¡¯s also a fact that even private institution have failed to address the quality and I don¡¯t education can be imparted properly if the state gets out of the system. Only the state with the help of private universities and institutions can find a solution to educational needs of the country and the solution lies in joint and constant effort by the state as well as the private entities,¡± Professor Sayendeb added.

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