Educational financing - Need for fresh thinking

EDUCATIONAL FINANCING –NEED FOR FRESH THINKING

G.Balasubramanian

Education industry in India is turning out to be a near trillion dollar industry in the next few years..The expansion of educational institutions both at the higher education level as well as the school education level in the last one decade has been indeed mind boggling. This has resulted in a growth pattern which has been poorly monitored, mentored and directed.

While at the infrastructural level, there has been a lot of activity across the country with extensive land acquisitions for this purpose, the internal support systems in terms of appliances, laboratories, workstations, qualified staff, access to research and innovation has been very minimal as most of these institutions put all their resources in the infrastructure forgetting “the brick and mortar” is not the most important educational input. 

At the school level, with a little over 200 thousand schools at the secondary level and a near million primary schools across the country, the government funding has not yielded the required results in terms of quality output. With a lot of interference from the political masters, there is a lot said but much less done! The statistics from the government does not assure of the quality inherent in the system..

The CSR support to education is indeed mystical! There is no tangible evidence of any meaningful support which has a proven track record of performance (a few exceptions do exist!)

The faculty improvement at the higher education level and the teacher training at the school level is in a pathetic state! There is a total mismatch between the degrees, the performance profile and the current requirements. Most institutions hesitate to invest in this domain for two reasons – one, they have no funds for the same or unwilling to invest in this area; two, they find no obligation to address this area as they see it is the responsibility of national agencies to address these concerns without any cost. The competent trainers from other walks of life are unwilling to invest their time and energy as they find the returns for their labour is too meagre as compared to what they earn in a corporate environment.

The educational institutions, some of them, are at the mercy of the venture capitalists and investors, who look for returns overnight and have less patience.

The Government needs to step in with a broad based, holistic educational financing system for educational entrepreneurs and those who are really struggling in this direction. While we have support systems in terms of agricultural banks, cooperative banks, industrial financing banks, banks for small scale industries and the like, it is time that we think of a separate banking pattern for educational institutions who can lend these people at simplified rates of interest.. This will facilitate growth, accountability, credibility and put less pressure on cost recovery from the learning community by the investors. Further, such banks can also meet the needs of students who are seeking loans for further development. This can also help the entrepreneurs who come with a lot of auxiliary materials for schools and colleges..

It is time that educational financing is considered with some special attention