AKHIL BHARATIYA VIDYARTHI PARISHAD National Executive Council meeting
26-29 May 2011, Vrundavan, Mathura
Resolution No.-4
Alarming State of Commercialization of Education
After the independence, convinced by the importance of education hundreds of colleges are opened all over the nation. In the recent decade the number of professional colleges is increased in par with other degree colleges. This boom in professional education has led to many adversaries too. Looking into the increasing demand for the professional courses, the private managements as well as Govt. institutions started commercializing it. A strong lobby of private managements has been emerged dictating the state Govt. and exploiting the students and parents. It is therefore felt necessary to look into all these matters. ABVP took the initiation to study critically the matters related to commercialization of professional education and to suggest recommendations in endure of curbing commercialization of professional education.
In view of critical study of situation ABVP has collected the information from different sources like concerned committee reports, recommendations, internet, press cuttings, media & Govt. orders. From the pre analysis of the information thus availed, ABVP makes the following observations. The list of observations is more of comprehensive rather than a complete one.
1. There is no appropriate or uniform policy in giving permission to open professional colleges. As a result, colleges opened are not in proportion to the demand or requirement or population. Regional imbalance and imbalance in the ratio of Govt. to private professional colleges have led to unrest among the students. For example there are as many as 686 engineering colleges in A.P., 638 colleges in UP. Whereas there are only 3 engineering colleges in J&K. A big state like Bihar with a population of about 9 crore has only 10 engineering colleges, 2 dental colleges and 9 medical colleges.
2. There is no common consensus as far as the Government College fees structure is concerned. It is Rs.1,500 in Gujarat Govt. engineering colleges whereas it is as much as Rs.82,000 in Punjab Govt. engineering colleges. The Govt. medical college fees in J&K is only Rs.2,000 whereas Rs.85,000 in Haryana Govt. medical colleges. The Govt. dental colleges in Delhi charge Rs.2,400 whereas Haryana dental colleges charge Rs.60,600.Hariyana Govt. MBA colleges charge Rs.7,000 against Punjab Govt. MBA College’s Rs.75,000.
There are a lot of discrepancies with regards to the fees collected by private professional colleges too. AP private engineering colleges collect Rs.71200 towards fees whereas private engineering colleges in Karnataka collect Rs.1,25,000. Private medical colleges in UP collect Rs.5,50,000 towards fees whereas private medical colleges in Maharashtra collect Rs.6,25,000. Private dental colleges in MP collect Rs.1,78,000 towards fees whereas private medical colleges in Maharashtra collect Rs.2,52,000. Private MBA colleges in Gujarat collect Rs.57,000 towards fees whereas private MBA colleges in Karnataka collect Rs.6,25,000.
The number of Govt. institutions in each faculty is much lesser than that of private institutions. In the wake of huge expenses and scarcity of funds Govt. denies starting new Govt. professional colleges. This shows that the Govt. has joined hands with private managements. It is to be noted that many politicians both from ruling and opposition have their own professional colleges. This has become a hindrance in framing a rule against the commercialization of education.
3. Seat sharing between the Govt. and private colleges is also not uniform. It is 85:15 in Delhi, 75:25 in Gujarat, 70:30 in Orissa and 50:50 in MP, Tamilnadu, Uttaranchal, Karnataka and Kerala.
4. In addition to fees charged, donation is also collected which is against Capitation Act. Delhi engineering colleges collect Rs.5 to Rs.10 lakhs towards donations. In Karnataka it is Rs.50,000 to Rs.15 lakhs. In Tamilnadu Medical colleges Rs.20 to Rs.40 lakhs is being collected. In MP it ranges from Rs.10 lakhs to Rs.35 lakhs. MBA colleges in AP collect Rs.50,000 to Rs.5 lakhs.
5. The Govt. has no control at all over the minority professional colleges with regards to the seat sharing and fees structure. Therefore, there is a lot of commercialization in the form of donation and different fees. In Maharastra, the ratio of Govt. medical seats to private minority seats is 29:71. The same is 33:67 in Karnataka. In Kerala management education it is 50:50 where as in Tamilnadu it is 35:65.
6. In the wake of education, the private university mafia has acquired land. Himachal Pradesh which has started 14 private universities is the live example for this. In Deemed and some private Universities 100% seats are for managements only. These universities have gone to the extent that they denied the seats to toppers of Govt. CET in Karnataka in spite of their promise to keep 25% seats for merit students of Govt. CET.
7. PG medical seats are kept for auction! PG in radiology seats are sold for Rs.1.5 crores. CET is a means for earning the money through “blocking of seats”. One who pays money can get even a rank in PG CET.
8. There are agents nominated by private managements at state capitals and districts headquarters for booking the seats. They openly give advertisement in leading news papers and news channels. Many a times they mislead the people glorifying the colleges of below standard and trying to fill up the seats on false information for the sake of higher commission.
The inaction and disinterest of the Govt. towards these issues in spite of continuous agitations by student’s organizations shows its involvements in the commercialization of education. This has created unrest among the student’s community and their parents. In such a scenario the NEC of ABVP demands:
- A central legislation should be enacted to curb the commercialization of professional education.
- A regulating body should be constituted to look into the matters like seat sharing and fees structure.
- A single window admission system should be followed and a state level CET (Common Entrance Test) cell should be formed in every state.
- Govt. should take steps to open more and more Govt. Medical, Dental, Management and Engineering colleges based on man power survey.
- The provision of AICTE to allot 5% seats (over and above) to economically backward students should be made mandatory.
- Government should see that there should be transparency in every act of private/aided/ govt. professional colleges so as to avoid malpractices and exploitation of students.
- Govt. should implement an accounting system in the field of professional education.
