PRIVATIZING HIGHER EDUCATION: GENERATING KNOWLEDGE OR MAKING MONEY FOR THE OPULENT

1) Introduction
2) Education and its types
3) Importance of education in society

a. Importance of education in general

i. Provides knowledge and skills
ii. Builds up personality and character
iii. Inculcates sanity and civilization in society
iv. Embellishes the look and the image of the state
v. Invigorates political, social and economic sectors of the state

b. Importance of higher education

i. Imparts technical knowledge
ii. Provides better lot to the job market
iii. Plays direct role in development of the country
iv. Opens avenues of earning foreign exchange

4) Privatization of higher education

a. What is it?
b. What are its objectives?

i. To share the burden with the government in accommodating scads of students
ii. To enable the government to concentrate on the provision of basic education
iii. To provide more erudite and learned faculty to students
iv. To promote excogitation, research and innovation
v. To provide an environment that is conducive to learning
vi. To supply well-prepared and well-equipped minds to the job market

5) On-ground situation after the privatization of higher education

a. Privatizing as a source of generating knowledge

i. Establishing of private institutions in a huge number facilitating a large number of students
ii. Provision of learning opportunities in multifarious fields
iii. Provision of higher education facilities in remote and secluded areas
iv. Creation of an environment of contest and competition
v. Introduction of technology in the learning process
vi. Designing of syllabus in accordance with the global trends and tendencies
vii. Imparting of quality education through well- paid, highly-qualified and deft faculty
viii. Provision of more opportunities of getting education in prestigious foreign institutions

b. Privatization as source of making more money for the opulent

i. Exorbitant fees
ii. Donation culture
iii. Hidden charges
iv. Charges in the name of entertainment

6) Do the demerits of privatizing higher education outweigh its merits?
7) Causes of money-making/approach of private institutions

i. Poor regulatory mechanism
ii. Presence of the fee-affording class
iii. Role of the media in enhancing materialism
iv. Fee: a criterion to gauge the quality of education
v. Business-minded approach
vi. Weak and toothless laws
vii. Vested interests of the lawmakers and law- enforcers
viii. Soaring inflation
ix. Poor quality of education in government institutions
x. Limited space and capacity of government institutions
xi. Increase in competition in job market
xii. Different engagements of politicians and the government
xiii. Advertisement costs

8) Recommendations

i. Improvement in the functioning of regulatory bodies
ii. Enactment of stringent laws
iii. Provision of subsidy by the government
iv. Capacity-building of public sector education institutions
v. Across-the-board implementation of laws and policies
vi. Devising of long-term policies for purging the society of the evil of materialism

9) Conclusion