Take higher education into rural areas, says Vice President; Know how NEP 2020 will do it
A chance to complete a course at a higher education institute can break the cycle of disadvantage for many youngsters living in rural areas and their families.
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on May 1 called for taking higher education into the rural areas and making it more inclusive and equitable.
National Education Policy 2020 provides a road map and directives to both government and higher education institutes to make higher education inclusive and equitable.
Government can also take more measures to increase penetration of ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ (SWAYAM) portal in rural areas.
Several measures have been taken by the Government to increase the enrolment in higher educational institutions such as opening of more centrally funded institution, encouraging opening of institutions by State Governments through the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme etc.
Higher education in rural areas; Relevance
Though India’s higher education GER has significantly improved over the years, the country still lags behind world average. The higher education institutes should move into the rural areas to bridge this gap .
As per All India Survey on Higher Education 2019-20 (AISHE) report India has improved in GER and Gender parity Index.
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher education in India is 27.1 , which is calculated for 18-23 years of age group. The world average was at 33 percent even in 2018.
GER in India was 26.3% in 2018-19 and 24.3% in 2014-2015.
Regional and social disparities continue to exist in higher education. GER varied from 5.5 per cent in Daman & Diu to 56.1 per cent in Chandigarh in 2018. Though there is large room for improvement, the country has made significant growth in Higher education.
India’s Higher education; A major leap
From 2015-16 to 2019-20, there has been a growth of 11.4% in the student enrolment. The rise in female enrolment in higher education during the period is 18.2%.
As per AISHE report the number of Institutions of National importance increased 80% (from 75 in 2015 to 135 in 2020).The number of students pursuing PhD in 2019-20 is 2.03 lakh against 1.17 lakh in 2014-15.
Campaigns and scholarship schemes run by government for education of girls and empowerment of socially backward classes have increased their GER. GER for male population is 26.9 and for female, it is 27.3. For Scheduled Castes, it is 23.4 and for Scheduled Tribes, it is 18.0 as compared to the national GER of 27.1.
Government measures to increase participation in Higher education
Government issued new UGC regulation for Open and Distance Learning that allows entry of reputed institutions to offer education on the distance mode.
SWAYAM portal: It is an indigenous developed IT platform in which courses (including post graduate) are available free of cost to the learners. However learners wanting a SWAYAM certificate should register for the final proctored exams that come at a fee and attend in-person at designated centres on specified dates.
Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan to make education inclusive
Government opened more centrally funded institutions and encouraged opening of institutions by State Governments through the RUSA.
RUSA would create new universities through upgradation of existing autonomous colleges and conversion of colleges in a cluster. It would create new model degree colleges, new professional colleges and provide infrastructural support to universities and colleges.
New phase of RUSA targets to reach out the unserved, underserved areas; remote/ rural areas; difficult geographies; LWE areas; NER; aspirational districts, tier-2 cities, areas with low GER etc., and to benefit the most disadvantaged areas and SEDGs.
Under the new phase of the scheme, State Governments will be supported for Gender inclusion, Equity Initiatives, ICT, Enhancing employability through vocationalisation & skill upgradation.
Moreover, Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) has been established under the Companies Act, 2013 to leverage funds from market to finance improvement in infrastructure in top institutions of education.
NEP 2020
As barriers to entry into higher education, NEP 2020 identifies lack of knowledge of higher education opportunities, economic opportunity cost of pursuing higher education, financial constraints, admission processes, geographical and language barriers.
The new education policy tackles this by directing governments to earmark suitable Government funds for the education of Socio-Economic Disadvantaged Groups (SEDG). It calls for enhancing access by establishing more high-quality HEIs in aspirational districts and Special Education Zones containing larger numbers of SEDGs. It directs governments to develop and support high-quality HEIs that teach in local/Indian languages or bilingually. It mandates for more financial assistance and scholarships to SEDGs in both public and private HEIs
National Education Policy 2020 directs HEIs to mitigate opportunity costs and fees for pursuing higher education and provide more financial assistance and scholarships to socio-economically disadvantaged students. The policy calls on them to conduct outreach on higher education opportunities and scholarships and make admissions processes more inclusive.
