By IANS
New Delhi : India should have an independent regulatory authority for higher education and non-performing educational regulators need reform, the National Knowledge Commission has said. No institution, including the education ministry, should have an “overwhelming role” in the sector, it has added.
“It is not that we want any educational regulator to be closed. What we are looking at is these institutions adopting reforms and (their) modernisation. We cannot think of any sea change even if the government plans to pump in five times more budget for education in 11th plan,” Ashok Ganguly, member of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC), told IANS Saturday.
NKC chairman Sam Pitroda, who submitted the commission’s 2007 report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday, told reporters here that there was resistance to new ideas in the field of education at various levels in the government.
“There is severe resistance in the government to new ideas, experiments, external interventions, transparency and accountability due to rigid organisational structures with territorial mindsets,” Pitroda said. “We are looking at expansion, excellence and quality,” he added.
NKC members have strongly recommended an independent regulatory authority for higher education, like those existing in the telecom and power sectors. The commission feels this would bring in accountability and autonomy in institutions.
Pointing out that progress in education would dictate India’s destiny in this century, Pitroda hoped that NKC’s image of a “recommendatory body” would change over a period of time.
The NKC has so far made 160 observations and recommendations for various sectors including education, health and IT. The government, however, is yet to act on any of its recommendations.
“We don’t know how many of our recommendations will be implemented. But we are satisfied that people have started thinking about what we have suggested. That is very important. Over a period of time, the NKC’s suggestions should be incorporated,” Pitroda said.
The NKC was set up in 2005 as an advisory body to the prime minister to provide a blueprint for reform of India’s knowledge related institutions and infrastructure.