Importance of Higher Education to the Marginalized Groups in India

Transcription

1 Importance of Higher Education to the Marginalized Groups in India Kailasam Guduri (M.A. Economics, Kakatiya University, Warangal, Telangana, India) Abstract: It is well known to everyone if person turn into educated, his position in the society and level of status, education is very significant phenomenon for any individuals in the society to develop the socio, economic and political status. Importance of higher education to the groups which are regressive in the attaining the higher education historically. This study mainly emphasis on the current education level in Indi and also debates on the educated people s employment opportunities in the education. Moreover, in this article elucidate the following issues on the education which are State Wise Number of Universities and University Level Institutions in the Country, Growth of student enrolment ('000') in higher education, State wise number of colleges, India's GER Over Time, Students Enrolment by Stages in Higher Education. Keywords: Higher Education, India, Universities & Institutions and Marginalized sections. I. INTRODUCTION Social issues Social segregation not only generates tension, violence and disruption but also perpetuates Inequality and deprivation in Society. In India, certain communities such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and religious minorities experience systemic exclusion in the matter of taking advantages of development. The concept of Social segregation in social science literature is of recent origin. Social segregation is a complex and multidimensional concept having social, cultural, political and economic ramifications. These dimensions are interwoven. The relations of social segregation can be differentiated in several ways. One can talk of systemic or constitutive exclusion, which is inbuilt in hierarchical social system. It excludes certain communities from interaction and access to social resources through social arrangements, normative value systems and customs. The segregation based on caste is one example. Patriarchy is another example. Such systemic segregation is reinforced by instrumental exclusion, which is embedded in the economic structure and the macroeconomic policies associated with them. Members of certain groups by virtue of not having particular marketable assets/capabilities and facilities/linkages are excluded from opportunities to add/improve their capabilities. For example, those who are asset less (landless in the rural area) do not get adequate useful education to improve skills and enhance their capabilities. Such segregation leads to other kinds of deprivation, which, in Amartya Sen s words, lead to the impoverishment of the human life through their casual consequences (such as the denial of social and economic opportunities that would be helpful persons involved). The consequences of macroeconomic policies such as poverty, unemployment and involuntary migration exclude the victims from economic, cultural and political activities. Systemic segregation reinforced by instrumental exclusion, supports structures of hegemony. The study of such hegemonic structures is all the more, important in the Indian context where institutional inequality and discrimination has been a pervasive feature of our society. This has prevented a large segment of the population especially those on the margin of the society from access to rights and privileges enjoyed by the dominant sections of society. Overcoming exclusion constitutes the most elementary pre-requisite for the building of democratic society, the goal with which our freedom struggle was fought, and the tacit social impact on the basis of which modern India has come into being. This concern is the Centre of our Constitution. Indian Constitution provides equality to all citizens irrespective of caste, creed, region and gender. It also directs the State to take various measures to remove the different forms of discrimination, inequality and thereby helps to eradicate social segregation. Without attaining this objective, an integrated and united nation cannot be built on a sound footing. The potentialities and limitations of such protective measures need to be studied prudently. The Tenth Plan recognized that marginalization; exclusion, oppression of people on account of social, religious, caste and gender adversely affect developmental outcomes. The State is committed to instituting a National Charter to ensure social justice to deprived communities like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward castes and minorities. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been identified as the most depressed and oppressed groups of Indian society constituting about 15 and 7.5 percent, respectively, of the total Indian population. In order to safeguard their interests in independent democratic India, specific provisions have been made to improve the status of these people socially and educationally so that they can take their rightful place in the mainstream of the society. Despite all constitutional safeguards and measures initiated by the UGC, the position of reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBC (non-creamy layer), and Minorities is far below the expected level in the universities even after more than 50 years of Independence. The UGC has been Page 153

2 contributing towards social equity and socioeconomic mobility of the under-privileged sections of the society through various special schemes. The University Grant Commission has been providing separate assistance to the universities (i) for remedial coaching at UG and PG level (ii) coaching for entry into services (iii) coaching for NET to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minority candidates and Other Backward Classes. The Commission has decided to this scheme with the General Developmental Assistance scheme of the universities and assistance for this component will be over and above the ceiling of General Developmental Assistance. Eligibility Financial assistance under the scheme is available to such universities and colleges which come within the purview of section 2(f) and are fit to receive central assistance under Section 12(B) of the UGC Act, Institutions having sufficient number of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minority Communities students will be considered for financial assistance. General candidates holding BPL Cards (Below Poverty Line) issued by the Central Government /State Government may also be allowed for such coaching classes. The percentage of OBC (non creamy layer) and poor general candidates may be increased up to 40% if sufficient number of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minority Communities students are not available. Objectives of the schemes I. Remedial Coaching for SC/ST/OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) & Minority Community Students Remedial Coaching is to be organized at Undergraduate and /or Postgraduate level with objectives to: a) To Improve the academic skills and linguistic proficiency of the students in various subjects. b) To raise their level of understanding of basic subjects to provide a stronger foundation for further academic work. c) To strengthen their knowledge, skills and attitudes in such subjects, where quantitative and qualitative techniques and laboratory activities are involved, so that, the necessary guidance and training provided under the program may enable the students to come up to the level necessary for pursuing higher studies efficiently and to reduce their failure and dropout rate. d) To provide career guidance and psychological counseling for capacity building to those who are in need of such counseling. II. Coaching classes for entry into services for SC/ST/OBC (Non-Creamy layer) and Minority Community Students Coaching scheme for entry into services is to be organized with objectives to: i) Prepare students to gain useful employment in Group A, B and C in Central Services, State services and equivalent positions in private sector. ii) To orient students for particular examination conducted for selection to services such as IAS, State Public Services, Bank recruitment etc. iii) To focus on the specific requirements of a particular competitive examination. The University may develop Employment Information Cell for providing information about various competitive examinations in the area of their operation. III. Coaching for National Eligibility Test or State Eligibility Test for SC/ST/OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) & Minority Community Students The main objective of the scheme is to prepare Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minority Communities candidates for appearing in NET or SET so that sufficient number of candidates becomes available for selection as Lecturers in the university system. II. NATURE OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE UNDER THE SCHEMES The institutions can apply for one or more components of the scheme according to the number of enrolment of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBC (Non Creamy Layer), Minorities Communities Students. If, the number of students in a particular class is more, additional section(s) may be included. The financial assistance is available for the following items: Non-recurring items: A one time grant up to Rs. 5.0 lakhs for each scheme during the XII Plan period for the following items: 1. Books and Journals 2. Audio-visual and teaching/ learning aid material 3. Computers with Printer 4. Photocopier 5. Generator or Inverter Recurring Items: Rs.7.00 lakhs for universities for each scheme per annum for expenditure on the following items: 1. Honorarium to the Coordinator of the Rs. 2000/- per month 2. Remuneration to teachers and scholars* 3. Part-time staff with computer knowledge (on contract 6,000/- p.m. 4. Part time Peon/Attendant.@ Rs.1000/- p.m 5. Contingency - Rs 50,000/- per annum Remuneration at the rate of Rs. 300/- per hour per subject to the teachers and Rs.200 /- per hour to postgraduate students/ Research Scholars could be paid for theory classes and Rs.150/-per hour respectively for practical s. Generally, a faculty member should not teach for more than 2 hours a day. However, in exceptional Page 154

3 AP ARUNACHAL ASSAM BIAHAR CHATISHGARH DELHI GOA GUJARATH HARYANA HMACHAL JAMMU & JHARKAND KARNATAKA KERALA MADHYA MAHARASTRA MANIPUR MEGHALYA MIJORAM NAGALAND ORISSA PUNJAB RAJASTHAN SIKKIM TAMIL NADU TRIPURA UP UTTARA KHAND WEST BENGAL CHANDIGARH PUDUCHARRY Kailasam Guduri, International Journal of Research in Management, Economics and Commerce, cases where an eminent educationist is invited for Special lecture, the Rs.500/- per hour and admissible T.A. could be paid with the approval of the Head of the Institution. The payment of remuneration to the participating teachers, PG students and research scholars may be paid regularly every month without waiting for the pending grant from the UGC. The final amount of grant to be allocated would depend upon the number of schemes, the number of students enrolled for the schemes in the proposal, and the decision of the Committee appointed for serving the applicants for these schemes. Organization of Coaching Classes The scheme of Remedial Coaching for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBC (non-creamy layer), and Minorities Community Students may be implemented by the universities. The scheme of coaching for entry into services may be conducted by the universities. The eligible university may avail of any one or all the schemes depending on their compatibility. Grouping of Students Coaching may be organized by dividing the candidates into various groups, each consisting of not more than 25 candidates in each paper, and each group may be placed under the charge of one faculty member so that the responsibility could be fixed and the faculty members are in a position to develop rapport with the assigned group and monitor the progress of the students. Deployment of Faculty Members The University may engage the services of motivated teachers in service and retired faculty members from the university or postgraduate departments of universities who volunteer to teach in the subjects or papers concerned Coordinator One of the senior faculty members with high motivation and dedication may be appointed as Cocoordinator. She/he will be responsible for maintaining co-ordination between different groups and faculty members to ensure effective implementation of the coaching programme. State Wise Number of Universities and University Level Institutions in the Country: Figure1 depicts the number of universities and institutions in all the states in the country. Highest number of the universities located in the Uttara Pradesh and followed by the Rajasthan. Least number of universities located in the Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Chandigarh. Figure STATE WISE NUMBER OF UNIVERSITIES AND UNIVARSITY LEVEL INSTITUTIONS IN THE COUNTRY : Source: UGC annual report Growth of student enrolment ('000') in higher education Below figure shows the growth of total student enrolment and girls enrolment in higher education. It can be seen the total students enrollment in higher education has been increasing over the years, but rate of growth of the girls enrolment in higher education also increasing over the years but not as much as total student enrolment. Page 155

4 Figure GROWTH OF STUDENT ENROLMENT('000') IN HIGHER EDUCATION Total Student Enrolment ('000') Girls Enrolment('000") Source: UGC annual report State wise number of college: Figure3 shows state wise number of colleges in all states in the country. Highest number of colleges located in the Rajasthan, followed by the Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh. Figure3 Source: UGC annual report Page 156

5 III. INDIA'S GER OVER TIME At the time of independence, there were only 20 universities and 500 colleges in the country with 2.1 lakh students in the higher education system. But, after independence, there has been a phenomenal growth in all these numbers. Now, it is a recorded fact that there is an increase of 26 times in the number of Universities, 64 times increase in the number of colleges, and the students enrolment has gone up to 81 times in the formal system of higher education as compared to the figures of Independent Year of India. The phenomenal increase in enrolment of this order would not have been possible without the growth in the number of institutions of higher learning, both universities and colleges in particular. The increase in numbers of institutions and enrolment indicates that it is possible to achieve the target of 15% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) by 2012 set for the XI Plan.it can observe that gross enrolment ratio from to and expected GER in the periods of , Figure4 INDIA'S GER OVER TIME Students Enrolment by Stages in Higher Education From figure5 it can be observe that students enrolment by stages in higher education. It is showing the highest percent of students enrolling in the graduates which constitute the 86 percent, percent of students enrolment in the research and diploma very poor. Figure5 Page 157

6 Level-Wise Student Enrolment ('000'): Boys & Girls Figure6 Above graph shows the students enrolment in the different courses during the period of in the all over India. Students enrolment in the arts and sciences highest in the boys and girls compare to other courses but boys students were highest in the engineering. IV. CONCLUSIONS The Education Commission in its report stressed on the equalization of educational opportunity. One of the most important objectives of education is to equalize opportunity enabling the marginalized, backward or the underprivileged classes to use education for improvement of their conditions. Policies on education 1968, 1986 and 1992 all stressed upon speedy action for the promotion education of the deprived sections of the society. The marginalized/deprived groups existing in society have historically suffered deprivation in all walks of life in general and in education in particular. Efforts have been made towards economic, social and educational progress of the marginalized people of India. The examination reforms have been suggested right from the time of independence by various committees set up for the purpose There is great diversity in the population and the government of India has passed regulations with respect to inclusion of all irrespective of any kind of disability. There are efforts to provide equal opportunities and inclusion of all in the process of education. Protecting the rights of, marginalized and vulnerable persons is probably the most overlooked and disregarded area of human rights law. Page 158