Left no to entry of foreign institutes in education

NEW DELHI: The CPM has dubbed as “foolhardy and dangerous” any move to allow foreign educational institutions a ‘no-holds barred’ entry into the country. The Left has opposed a commerce ministry proposal for deregulating higher education and wants the entire concept of private universities to be abandoned.

The attack on the commerce ministry — for its paper titled ‘Trade in Educational Services’ — comes at a time when the SEZ policy is also facing stiff resistance from the Left. The CPM said the ministry was arguing for a virtual no-holds barred laissez faire approach to legalise the entry of foreign educational institutions. “True to its commercial style, the ministry refers to such institutions as foreign education providers. It would be dangerous for India to provide access to such FEPs without any legal framework or regulation,” CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said in an editorial in the latest edition of the party mouthpiece ‘People’s Democracy’.

Mr Yechury said the Indian educational space was already being flooded by “fly-by-night operators who are establishing degree mills”. At the same time, he also admitted that there was a need for improving the quality of higher education in the country with an appropriate interplay of foreign institutions of repute.

In support, Mr Yechury cited figures showing that India had the lowest coverage of higher education in the world. Only 10% of the population in the 17-23 age group enrolled for higher education in the country, whereas 54% of the population was below the age of 25.

Dismissing the argument that 1,40,000 students went abroad each year for higher studies, he said that for every one student who went abroad, a thousand were aspiring to higher education opportunities in India. “In fact, the whole concept of private universities must be abandoned in the national interest,” he said.

Mr Yechury tried to reinforce his point that adequate safeguards were needed while allowing foreign institutions by citing the cases of Malaysia, China and Singapore. In Malaysia, foreign institutions, which can set up shop only by invitation from the ministry of education, have to establish a company with a majority Malaysian stake. China too allows entry only by invitation and in partnership with Chinese institutions with a strictly not-for-profit objective besides stipulating several other regulations.

Reminding the government that a draft legislation had been prepared on regulating the entry of foreign education providers, the CPM MP alleged that “vested interests” were succeeding in delaying the legislation. “This means private players will continue to reap a mercenary bonanza for more than one year without any regulation,” he argued.

The CPM leader alleged that the government had not paid adequate attention to the NCMP promise to increase educational outlay to 6% of the GDP from the current less than 3%.