When I recall the well-spent days of my youth, some of my fondest memories are of my days as a student (in London) deeply involved in student union activities. As such I passionately participated in formal debates on the burning political issues of the day, drafted detailed resolutions, campaigned for political parties and fought student union elections. Several decades later, I appreciate this extra-curricular education was as valuable as the formal legal education I acquired. Student activism helped me to develop a social conscience and to learn ways and means to influence public policy. And that’s what I continue to learn to this day as the editor of this publication committed to hoisting equal education for all to the very summit of the national development agenda.
Yet when I reminisce about my well-spent days as a student activist, I also recall with gratitude that the institutional environment was enabling and supportive. The syllabus was relevant and current, my lecturers and professors were knowledgeable and punctual, the infrastructure in terms of classrooms, library facilities, residential accommodation, dining rooms etc was excellent. Admittedly, tuition and lodging fees were also high by Indian standards, but then contrary to what our foolish politicians and education bureaucrats believe, students — as everybody else — get what they pay for. Moreover I am thankful my education wasn’t subsidised by poor people, as is the norm in the society fashioned by post-independence India’s confused socialists.
Unfortunately conducive and enabling academic environments are routinely denied to students in institutions of higher education in contemporary India. Because of political unwillingness to end blanket subsidisation of tuition, India’s 344 universities and 17,700 colleges are in a perpetual state of financial want and stringency. This is particularly true of the country’s small-town colleges which are peripheral dots on the radar screens of complacent politicians and educrats in New Delhi and the state capitals.
Rigidly controlled by state governments and affiliating universities packed with under-qualified favourites of quasi-literate politicians, colleges in India’s second-tier cities and small towns lack the academic and financial freedom to provide meaningful formal, let alone extra-curricular, education to their expectant students. As a result a dangerous brand of highly-politicised, anti-establishment student unionism rooted in anger and deep frustration is spreading like wildfire in the neglected hinterland, far away from the glitz and glamour of shining metropolitan India. Recently in the small town of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh student militancy caused the death of Prof. H.S. Sabharwal. In our cover story we examine the root causes which provoked the death of a mild mannered professor in this quintessentially small town of contemporary India.
As all things are, our special report feature in this issue is connected with our cover story. Even as the Right to Education Bill is being debated and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All) bandwagon starts rolling, Indian academia — including private schools — is experiencing a massive teacher shortage crunch. I can’t say I’m surprised.
Dilip Thakore
