National Capital Region (NCR) is nearly 23 times the size of the current NCT of Delhi. Mopping up regions of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan – NCR is slated to be one of the most densely populated regions in the country with an estimated population of 22 million by 2021 in an area of nearly 33,500 sq km.
The fast paced economic development in the region would enhance the purchasing power of people thereby increasing pressure on the social infrastructure of the region. Health, Education, Environment, Shelter would have to match up to the expectations not only in terms of provisioning but also quality of services.
NCR is already witnessing a high migration from different parts of the country and an increasing pressure on education institutions both at the school and higher levels. The rapid growth in the number of private schools and colleges is indicative of the high demand of quality institutions. The government education infrastructure is also not spared and the overflowing government schools and colleges paint a picture of the cracking infrastructure.
Planning for education infrastructure not only means provisioning of land & building but needs a more comprehensive plan in terms of availability of teaching resources, training and management resources, conducive regulatory environment and like-minded polity of all the neighbouring states.
1. Land & Building – High density leads to scarcity of land and associated resources. With more and more allocation of land for the profitable housing projects, availability of quality spaces for education institutions would remain an issue and would have to be tackled firmly and innovatively. The government would have to ear-mark significant land parcels for the development of education institutions. In areas having no spaces, existing buildings would need to be restructured to create more space. Support infrastructure in terms of easy transportation would need to be created to address safe and efficient mobility.
2. Teaching resources – Teaching is still not a natural professional choice in our country. Low salaries, poor research support, archaic curriculum and poor professional development support are some of the reasons that there is a dearth of quality human resources in the teaching profession. A revolutionary approach would have to be adopted to develop the teaching profession otherwise; the new schools and colleges would be mere skeletal structures without any souls.
3. Training & Management resources - Education is still managed by teachers and educationists. However, education is more of a management & economics challenge than a curriculum & a pedagogy challenge. Understanding of markets, competition, pricing points, financing, capacity development, entry barriers and regulatory challenges are important factors in the education operations. Both government and private run institutions face the above management problems and should be equipped and competent to address these issues.
4. Conducive Regulatory environment – The irony of public & private education system in our country is that the public system is over regulated while the private system is under regulated. The regulation for private school systems which generally cater to the privileged is having no or little control. There are hardly any guidelines on pricing, operations and governance. Even what exists is easily circumvented through smart accounting and paper work. On the other hand the government system addressing the under-privileged is under full government control with a strict top-down approach right from curriculum design, training, financial management etc. The result is that neither system is able to deliver the overall objective of developing socially responsible human beings who are well informed decision makers.
The regional planning has to take into account the impact of different regulations and regulating bodies on different category of schools and institutions. A balance has to be created in order to develop autonomy and accountability at the implementation level. A philosophical shift from compliance to reliance has to be made in our regulatory policies.
5. Like-minded polity – NCR is a jurisdiction of 4 different states with different political alignments and priorities. If a comprehensive plan on education has to be developed, the polity in the four states would have to come-together on a constructive rather than a restrictive note. Personal vendettas, profits have to be parked aside in order to develop a common plan for education in NCR.
Though the agenda is not simple it is doable. The positive outlook of the national & state governments, increasing efficiency of bureaucracy and watchful judiciary is helping in creating an environment of better delivery of public services. The recent and pending legislations like RTI, RTE, Foreign Universities Bill, NCHER Bill are movements in the right direction however some of the factors which affect successful execution of policies and should always be on the radar are -
1. Every regulation is defined under the realm of the Constitution of India. Every policy, sub-policy, agency, sub-agency is intended for the welfare of the citizens. However in order to achieve each of the respective objectives, an inherent conflict develops between policies, agencies which play a dampener to many of the well intended efforts.
2. National and State governments still reel under the legacy of highly hierarchical bureaucratic systems, due to which, many decision making happens at the whims and fancies of individuals in command. This leads to churning of many short lived initiatives.
3. There are two distinct levels of bureaucracy. The leadership is generally a cadre of highly trained, intelligent and competent officers, however there is large gap between this level and the next level of officers with very limited visioning or organizational capacity. This is the level which is finally responsible for the delivery of goals to the beneficiaries.
4. Politics in a nation supercedes all policy decisions. People’s priorities & choices govern many political decisions. Economic development often takes precedence over Social development which triggers the delay in implementation of projects related to Education, Health etc.
The growth of NCR is not only impacting India’s GDP but also is becoming a hub for Asia especially South-Asia. It is a fast growing economic zone and the next decade is critical to its growth. It is the prerogative of the Government and the choice of the people, which would determine the socio-economic shape of this region. Education is the foundation for this growth.
The fast paced economic development in the region would enhance the purchasing power of people thereby increasing pressure on the social infrastructure of the region. Health, Education, Environment, Shelter would have to match up to the expectations not only in terms of provisioning but also quality of services.
NCR is already witnessing a high migration from different parts of the country and an increasing pressure on education institutions both at the school and higher levels. The rapid growth in the number of private schools and colleges is indicative of the high demand of quality institutions. The government education infrastructure is also not spared and the overflowing government schools and colleges paint a picture of the cracking infrastructure.
Planning for education infrastructure not only means provisioning of land & building but needs a more comprehensive plan in terms of availability of teaching resources, training and management resources, conducive regulatory environment and like-minded polity of all the neighbouring states.
1. Land & Building – High density leads to scarcity of land and associated resources. With more and more allocation of land for the profitable housing projects, availability of quality spaces for education institutions would remain an issue and would have to be tackled firmly and innovatively. The government would have to ear-mark significant land parcels for the development of education institutions. In areas having no spaces, existing buildings would need to be restructured to create more space. Support infrastructure in terms of easy transportation would need to be created to address safe and efficient mobility.
2. Teaching resources – Teaching is still not a natural professional choice in our country. Low salaries, poor research support, archaic curriculum and poor professional development support are some of the reasons that there is a dearth of quality human resources in the teaching profession. A revolutionary approach would have to be adopted to develop the teaching profession otherwise; the new schools and colleges would be mere skeletal structures without any souls.
3. Training & Management resources - Education is still managed by teachers and educationists. However, education is more of a management & economics challenge than a curriculum & a pedagogy challenge. Understanding of markets, competition, pricing points, financing, capacity development, entry barriers and regulatory challenges are important factors in the education operations. Both government and private run institutions face the above management problems and should be equipped and competent to address these issues.
4. Conducive Regulatory environment – The irony of public & private education system in our country is that the public system is over regulated while the private system is under regulated. The regulation for private school systems which generally cater to the privileged is having no or little control. There are hardly any guidelines on pricing, operations and governance. Even what exists is easily circumvented through smart accounting and paper work. On the other hand the government system addressing the under-privileged is under full government control with a strict top-down approach right from curriculum design, training, financial management etc. The result is that neither system is able to deliver the overall objective of developing socially responsible human beings who are well informed decision makers.
The regional planning has to take into account the impact of different regulations and regulating bodies on different category of schools and institutions. A balance has to be created in order to develop autonomy and accountability at the implementation level. A philosophical shift from compliance to reliance has to be made in our regulatory policies.
5. Like-minded polity – NCR is a jurisdiction of 4 different states with different political alignments and priorities. If a comprehensive plan on education has to be developed, the polity in the four states would have to come-together on a constructive rather than a restrictive note. Personal vendettas, profits have to be parked aside in order to develop a common plan for education in NCR.
Though the agenda is not simple it is doable. The positive outlook of the national & state governments, increasing efficiency of bureaucracy and watchful judiciary is helping in creating an environment of better delivery of public services. The recent and pending legislations like RTI, RTE, Foreign Universities Bill, NCHER Bill are movements in the right direction however some of the factors which affect successful execution of policies and should always be on the radar are -
1. Every regulation is defined under the realm of the Constitution of India. Every policy, sub-policy, agency, sub-agency is intended for the welfare of the citizens. However in order to achieve each of the respective objectives, an inherent conflict develops between policies, agencies which play a dampener to many of the well intended efforts.
2. National and State governments still reel under the legacy of highly hierarchical bureaucratic systems, due to which, many decision making happens at the whims and fancies of individuals in command. This leads to churning of many short lived initiatives.
3. There are two distinct levels of bureaucracy. The leadership is generally a cadre of highly trained, intelligent and competent officers, however there is large gap between this level and the next level of officers with very limited visioning or organizational capacity. This is the level which is finally responsible for the delivery of goals to the beneficiaries.
4. Politics in a nation supercedes all policy decisions. People’s priorities & choices govern many political decisions. Economic development often takes precedence over Social development which triggers the delay in implementation of projects related to Education, Health etc.
The growth of NCR is not only impacting India’s GDP but also is becoming a hub for Asia especially South-Asia. It is a fast growing economic zone and the next decade is critical to its growth. It is the prerogative of the Government and the choice of the people, which would determine the socio-economic shape of this region. Education is the foundation for this growth.
6 comments:
Rather though provoking. Nice commentary.
I would like to quote few of your words "Though the agenda is not simple it is doable". Nice approach.
Hi
Very comprehensive assessment of the issue. These issues plague every metro region in the country (except the multiple state govts in the NCR). It would be good to hear your views on how the teacher shortage problem should be tackled as that seems to be the toughest nut to crack by policy action alone
Hi
Although based in a country of 4 million(New Zealand) we have few of the similar issues, off course in smaller scale(in thousands). Interesting read!!
jiyo guru badhiya likha hai,you must realize when you can organise your thoughts and pen them down in a systematic manner, you have achieved a landmark.i would like to read the suggested solutions to the issues raised by you in your next blog. Well done!keep it up
Well written Saurabh. But I have a little more to add to your thought. All the measures that you have concieved are positive and will do a lot good. I feel that the most important thing that is missing and lacking in us is 'civic sence'. We can do all sorts of planning, whole lot of projects could be planned and executed, but as long as we do not develop this 'civic sence', none of them are going to work.
As long as we feel that independence is our birth right and in the name of independence we can pee on a road side, jump signals, burn public property and destroy government assets, we cannot improve.
Thinking minds like you need to work out some projects that can develop this feature in all of us.
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