DISCUSSION

The deterioration that had set in thus ’s Education System: was reinforced by the system of aided schools and colleges wherein government Is More Government meets the salary expenditure of teachers and non-teaching staff appointed by man- the Solution? agements. Of the total government-run and aided schools, 59% are aided schools. The same for arts and colleges is as Jose Sebastian high as 79%. AG mention only the “wide- spread corruption, nepotism and commu- This note on Kerala’s education he present state of Kerala’s educa- nalisation in appointment of teachers”. system counters some of the tion system is a cause of concern for The bigger damage was that a signifi cant observations made by Tevery right-thinking Keralite. Some proportion of teachers thus appointed were of the recent developments like student- “qualifi ed” in the technical sense only. The N Ajith Kumar and K K George fi nanced institutions have created a lot of unions of teachers affi liated to various (“Kerala’s Education System: apprehensions in Kerala society. There- political parties operated as pressure From Inclusion to Exclusion?”, fore, the article by N Ajith Kumar and groups to protect the salary and service AG EPW, 10 October 2009). K K George (hereafter referred to as ) conditions and rarely initiated or supported on Kerala’s education system (“Kerala’s genuine qualitative changes. The unions Education System: From Inclusion to Exclu- have their representatives in various aca- sion?”, EPW, 10 October 2009) is quite timely demic bodies and even got their represent- and pertinent. However, the prescriptions atives installed as vice chancellors and pro- they implicitly put forward merit larger vice chancellors (one vice chancellor and debate and discussion. This note is directed one pro-vice chancellor of two different uni- to some of their fi ndings and observations. versities in Kerala were once top function- aries of teachers’ unions). An academically Deterioration in Quality less inclined student community and their AG fi nd fault with the state for “the failure not-so-confi dent teachers perfectly com- to improve the quality of schooling and in- plimented each other. crease the intake capacity of professional It is the declining quality of education education institutions”. The quality of that paved the way for student-fi nanced schooling began to deteriorate since the educational institutions. The parents in late 1970s when the government intro- Kerala, irrespective of caste and class are duced the practice of giving liberal pro- almost paranoid about the education of motions throughout till a student reaches their children. They know better than any- the school fi nal. Since then, the valuation body the importance of education and get- of school fi nal examination papers has ting out of the state. Profi ciency in English is been liberalised with the pass percentage widely perceived as a sure bet for upward consistently going up year after year. Sig- social mobility. This made the self-fi nanc- nifi cantly, this period also coincided with ing English medium schools popular even the “Gulf boom” and faster pace of indus- among the lower income sections. It may trial development in some of the states. be noted that in terms of educational quali- Both offered job opportunities to blue- fi cations, the teachers in many of these collar workers and clerical staff. It is not schools are far below those of government- known whether it was a well-conceived run or aided institutions. Whether right or strategy on the part of the government to wrong, people have a different perception facilitate migration of as many people as of quality of schooling and the competence possible. Why to cause frustration in of teachers is only one part of it. The commit- young people, when the state does not ment of teachers, discipline and character have much to offer? The students who en- formation, infrastructure, orderly manner tered the university system in the subse- in which the school is being run are some Jose Sebastian ([email protected]) is quent years also contributed to the decline of the other factors shaping this percep- associated with Gulati Institute of Finance and in the quality of higher education in no tion. People could observe a kind of “law Taxation, . small measure. and order” in English medium schools

72 january 16, 2010 vol xlv no 3 EPW Economic & Political Weekly DISCUSSION which are totally free from strikes by stu- states has not assigned the states tax han- share of capital expenditure in the total dents and teachers. In the beginning, only dles which can effectively bring remit- expenditure of the state has been consist- the upper middle class used to send their tances under the tax net. States can levy ently coming down. As on 2007-08, it is children to such schools. The demonstra- only commodity taxes. Almost 70% of the just 8.31%. Since 1983-84, the state has tion effect of unaided schools is so powerful own revenue of Kerala is accounted by this been using funds borrowed at high rates that now even daily wage earners send source. Theoretically, the potential for of interest to meet revenue expenditure. their children to such schools often sacri- commodity taxation in Kerala remains Unless the state invests substantially in in- fi cing other family needs. Wherever un- largely untapped as several studies have frastructure, it may not be possible to reju- aided schools exist, teachers in govern- shown (see for example, Sebastian 1992). venate the productive sectors. Given the ment-run or aided schools send their chil- But practically it is extremely diffi cult, if limited scope of additional resource mobi- dren there despite strictures from teachers’ not impossible to push tax effort beyond a lisation, the best option seems to be to ex- unions. Could this trend be reversed by point. As a narrow strip of land, Kerala clude the section of the people who are government starting or funding more insti- has to be careful to avoid diversion of capable of fending themselves, and there- tutions as AG think? trade to the neighbouring states. by, free precious resources. Public expend- The other option was levying appropriate iture on education and health may have to Equity Considerations user charges on health and educational be targeted to the section of the people As the authors have rightly pointed out, the services. Despite the recommendations of who really need public support. Is it not a emerging scenario raises serious questions several expert commissions/committees, more socially acceptable form of resource of equity. But the contention that only gov- the fee structure in the higher education mobilisation than taxing and spending? ernment-owned or funded institutions can sector has not been periodically revised It is against this fi scal imperative that ensure inclusive features is far from convinc- presumably due to political reasons. Had the self-fi nancing institutions should be ing. The underlying assumption that the it been done, the fi scal crisis would not viewed. What the state now needs is not present system of reservation of seats in gov- have worsened to this degree and govern- arts and science colleges but institutions ernment-owned or funded institutions ca- ment could have indeed set apart more re- offering courses in the cutting edge areas ters to equity considerations is also not en- sources for the education sector. of science and technology. tirely correct. The basis of existing reserva- Self-fi nancing institutions may not be tion system is not economic status but com- of Development the best alternative. Kerala society cannot munity. The seats reserved for backward In the last part of the paper AG criticise the afford to have a negative attitude to them. communities and disadvantaged groups are political parties for not having any clear Lastly, the authors seem to have a static cornered by the “creamy layer” in these com- strategy for protecting the gains of the Kera- view of Kerala model of development. A munities. The ruling of the apex court that la model of development. If the Kerala mod- development model should be a dynamic the creamy layer should be excluded has el is the contribution of the state’s public ex- one which interacts with the changing world been bypassed through legislation. penditure pattern, it is the same expenditure and experimenting with new ways of doing Is government starting or funding new pattern that is undermining its gains. As the things and learning from it. Viewed from institutions the solution as AG think? Giv- second author had rightly pointed out else- this angle, the present state of education en the fi scal situation, when will the gov- where, fi scal crisis of the state has grown offers considerable scope for a reappraisal ernment be able to do it? On the contrary, into a development crisis (George 1999). of the Kerala model of development. equity considerations will be better served, The narrow resource base of the state owes if government meets the expenditures of a lot to the stagnation of the productive sec- References the eligible students joining self-fi nancing tors. Is it not a weakness of the Kerala model George, K K (1999): Limits to Kerala Model of Deve- lopment, Centre for Development Studies, Thiru- institutions through liberal scholarships. of development? It has been rightly pointed vananthapuram. This way the distortions in the existing out that it is unemployment that is acting as , P R G and Joseph Thomas (1984): “Paradox of the Market for the Educated: A Hypothesis about system of reservation can also be corrected. a stimulant for higher Unemployment Acting as a Stimulant to Private (Nair and Thomas 1984). As per the latest Demand for Higher Education”, Working Paper Fiscal Aspects No 195, Centre for Development Studies, Thiru- fi gures, there are 42 lakh people registered vananthapuram. AG fi nd fault with the government for not with the employment exchanges. If the Ker- Sebastian, Jose (1992): “Sales Tax Efforts of States: Some Empirical Findings and Policy Issues”, Artha mobilising additional resources for fi nanc- ala model had succeeded at the economic Vijnana, Vol 34, No 3. ing new education institutions despite the front, perhaps the situation of higher educa- increase in taxable capacity. It is true that tion being forced on a sizeable section of the increase in disposable income of most youngsters would not have arisen. The pro- households owes it to state funding of ductive years of a whole generation of youth available at education which helped large-scale out- are wasted in undergoing degree courses Dey & Bose Magazine Agent migration. But the state has only partially and waiting for government jobs. P.O.Beldubi, Dadpur succeeded in siphoning off a portion of the The immediate priority of the state, Howrah 711 322 increased income. Constitutional division therefore, should be to fi nd a solution to West Bengal of taxing powers between the centre and this impasse. Since the early 1980s, the Ph: 22198749

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