It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. While it’s clear that post-independence India’s venal and self-serving political class isn’t interested in according high priority to public education and universal literacy because an educated electorate would never elect the type of politicians who have pushed not only themselves, but their kith and kin into positions of power and authority in the Republic, the lukewarm attitude of India Inc towards education is baffling. In the final analysis the brunt of the rock-bottom quality of school-leavers and college graduates pouring out of the education system has to be borne by industry which  incurs huge training costs — reportedly the world’s highest — to make them job ready. 

But despite having to bear the brunt of mass illiteracy and an obsolete and dysfunctional education system, unlike their counterparts in developed nations who press for industry involvement in syllabus and curriculum formulation in primary, skills and higher education, leaders of Indian industry tend to leave education policy and syllabus formulation to the country’s clueless politicians and bureaucrats.     

Quite clearly, unable to make even remotely near the 6 percent of GDP provision  recommended (Centre plus states) by the Kothari Commission (1966) for education, just before it was routed in General Election 2014, under the new Companies Act, 2013 (s.135), the scandals-tainted Congress-led UPA government (2004-2014) levied a 2 percent cess on income tax payable by all companies earning a net profit of over Rs.5 crore to be spent on discharging their corporate social responsibilities (CSR). Among the CSR activities specified under s. 135 are eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, promotion of education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, combating human immunodeficiency virus, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, employment enhancing vocational skills, etc.

Although  this mandatory provision of the Companies Act provides a great opportunity for corporate managements to fund and monitor education NGOs and develop favourable if not captive cohorts of well-educated and/or vocationally trained youth who could boost their own operations and productivity, India Inc’s response has been tepid. According to Futurescape Netcom Pvt. Ltd, a Delhi/Gurgaon-based “customer experience company” which conducted a study of India’s top 214 companies a year after s.135 became operational in 2014, CSR spending data of only 147 companies is accessible. Of them a mere 27 corporates led by Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Chemicals are compliant with s.135 and spend  2 percent or more of annual net profit on CSR. “Most corporates are not meeting with the proposed 2 percent CSR norm — the average CSR spend as a percentage of PAT (profit after tax) for 147 companies is 1.28 percent.  Further, 45 companies are spending between 1-2 percent of their PAT. Rest 75 companies have a CSR spend of less than 1 percent of their PAT,” write authors of the study. 

The curious reluctance of leaders of India Inc to support public education causes in a big way to develop the nation’s abundant human capital, sharply contrasts with the willingness of their American counterparts to fund public charitable causes, and education in particular. Against the 141 wealthy individuals/couples worldwide who have signed the Giving Pledge initiated by US-based billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffet in 2010,  under which the world’s wealthiest people have pledged to donate more than 50 percent of their wealth to philanthropic causes, only five billionaires of Indian origin and only one (Azim Premji) resident in India have signed up. According to Forbes magazine, the number of billionaires in India aggregates 90.

In the early 20th century US steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) gave away the modern equivalent  of $13.5 billion (Rs.89,100 crore) — 90 percent of his wealth — to promote the world-class Carnegie Mellon University (estb. 1900) and promote over 3,000 public libraries across the US. Against this, none of India’ billionaires have funded even one public library. Meanwhile, the first low-budget (Rs.5 lakh) primary school library under the EducationWorld Foundation’s Million Memorial Libraries project is scheduled to be inaugurated by the end of the current fiscal year.

Also read: Is Indian education system preparing students for rapidly evolving job market?