Thursday, February 26, 2009

The quality of the education is terrible in India

In the Globalpost Shailaja Neelakantan writes India has become a philanthropist nation, rather than a poor supplicant looking for handouts”. 

And further she asks and it is relevant: 

  • “a few dissident voices have begun to ask why so much Indian money was being pumped into the U.S. higher education system when India's own is in far more desperate need of cash. "It is strange that they are not doing it in India," said Sam Pitroda, chairman of the National Knowledge Commission, an advisory body that is looking into higher education reform here”. 

 In fact it is true that:

  • the Tata family has contributed a lot to Indian higher education. Several higher education institutions were started with the help of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust that was established in 1932. The private, top-ranked Indian School of Business in southern India has also received generous contributions from Indians here and abroad. And the renowned Indian Institutes of Technology — the biggest beneficiaries — have received millions of dollars from their graduates living here and in the U.S., including from Nilekani.
  • But the impact of this philanthropy has been limited because it has directed funds to institutions that already operate at an elite level. Graduates like giving to the technology institutes because they have more autonomy than other public institutions in India, and therefore have more control — with more openness — over how donations are spent. Fundraising experts and some Indian donors who give to their American alma maters say prospective donors here believe that any money given to a typical public university in India would be frittered away — because the entire higher education system in India is poorly managed — or siphoned off by corrupt officials”.

No comments: