The first proposal of this government to be made public was the 100-day action plan for education. It includes framing a new National Education Policy, replacing the University Grants Commission (UGC) with another body, and adding 10 more Institutions of Eminence. This is merely a continuation of what the previous government was doing. This comes as no surprise; after all, it is well known that the Bharatiya Janata Party is deeply interested in education and culture. The last five years of the Modi government have shown us the nature of interventions made in the field of education.
The purpose of education
While the media has extensively covered the attacks on institutions such as Jawaharlal Nehru University and Hyderabad Central University, and the violence unleashed by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, in some places, what is more long lasting is the way the BJP has instrumentalised education by binding it to the objective of creating skills and employment and making education useful for the market. By doing this, it has hollowed out the whole purpose of education, which is to preserve and disseminate knowledge and generate new knowledge. This is the first time in the history of independent India that common people have started looking at universities as spaces where their hard-earned money is being misspent. The business of knowledge creation itself is being perceived as extravagant and unnecessary. So, if you look for the word ‘knowledge’ in the policy documents of the government, you are bound to be disappointed.
The very idea of pursuing truth and developing critical thought, which were seen as the role of universities, has gone into disuse. Universities were spaces where all kinds of ideas, however dominant, were constantly examined. The only aim of education, as propounded by the BJP, seems to be to mainly inculcate nationalism, as prescribed by the government, among students as well as teachers. Vice chancellors and directors of institutes are going out of their way to prove their nationalistic credentials to the government. Where is the utility of criticality then? And what then becomes the role of research? The government even circulated a list of research areas and topics to be kept in mind while preparing and approving research proposals. This essentially means that there is no space for free inquiry in the field of higher education any more. If we look at the research proposals approved by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, the Indian Council of Historical Research and even scientific bodies, we realise the thinning of this area. Even the All India Institute of Medical Sciences recently held a seminar on ‘astrology and the medical sciences’. This means that the very idea of science is under severe stress. Also, the stories of the pressure that independent research institutions are facing in the name of appraisal and scrutiny have not come out in the open for obvious reasons.
Universities are supposed to keep alive the idea of excellence before the people at large. However, people look at some universities with suspicion today as students and scholars have been branded ‘elitist’, ‘leftist’ and ‘anti-national’ by the ruling party. If mediocre people are made to head top institutions of higher education, it becomes clear that all that matters is ideology. Mediocrity at all levels is seen as the democratisation of a space which was earlier the preserve of the ‘elites’. In short, developing intellect is seen as unnecessary and even dangerous. All we need to do is conform to prevailing common sense. So, it is only logical that state resources are not wasted on activities which are seen as ‘extra’.
Withdrawal of state support
Apart from all this, public universities are being systematically weakened by the steady withdrawal of state support to them. This is ironically at a time when the number of first-generation learners in the university space has reached a satisfactory level. Universities needed more support to improve access to higher education. Unfortunately, they are now facing a fund crunch. This leaves these students at a great disadvantage.
The government is firming an unequal hierarchy in the field by promoting the idea of Institutions of Eminence and keeping autonomy reserved for a privileged set of institutions. Most public universities with a long tradition are kept out of it, thus demoralising their teachers and students. Autonomy to such institutions has also been linked to withdrawal of state support.
The regulatory mechanism for the field of higher education had started to weaken during the UPA regime itself. The Modi government only furthered the process. Directives from the government became frequent and regulatory agencies were used to route them to universities. Directives from bodies like the UGC kept disrupting the functioning of universities. From reservation in faculty appointments to norms for doctoral research and framing of undergraduate and postgraduate courses and syllabi, it has been a story of overreach and encroachment of the university space by the UGC. Universities have also failed to assert their autonomy and have allowed the UGC to enter areas it is not supposed to.
Along with this we have seen a campaign to purge campuses of dangerous ‘anti-national’ elements. Meetings and seminars have been held exhorting students to identify such elements. Independent scholars are now being shunned by universities and the nationalism check is applied almost everywhere.
Publishing is part of the academic ecosystem. Major publishing houses have started getting manuscripts legally vetted to avoid litigation and attack by ‘nationalist’ elements. We can expect publishing to take a right turn under the new regime.
We have not talked about school education. The RSS ran thousands of schools even when the NDA was not in power. The BJP’s return to power provides a golden opportunity for the RSS to dictate syllabi, train teachers and even select them. All these developments over the last five years show that the education system is staring at a dismal future.
Apoorvanand teaches at Delhi University
