Most citizens tend to have a love-hate relationship with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). In February against all expectations, AAP not only bested but thrashed the BJP in the Delhi state assembly elections held ten months after the BJP-NDA coalition routed the Congress-led UPA coalition at the Centre, with the national electorate awarding the BJP the first absolute majority in the Lok Sabha since 1985.
Earlier in 2013, AAP had emerged out of nowhere as the single largest party in the Delhi state assembly election and formed a government with support from Congress, a relationship which collapsed within 49 days. But even in its second term, the AAP government has failed to knuckle down to the business of governance. Instead, it is engaged in a continuous war with the BJP/NDA also Delhi-based Union government over jurisdictional and constitutional issues. Moreover, shortly after its second coming, in April, AAP suffered a split within its ranks with Yogendra Yadav and Shanti Bhushan, who founded the party with its convenor Arvind Kejriwal and currently chief minister of Delhi state, expelled for “anti-party” activities.
The continuous agitational and confrontation politics of the AAP government have caused widespread public and media disillusionment. But the silver lining to AAP’s five-month stormy rule of Delhi state is that in its maiden Rs.41,129 crore budget 2015-16 presented to the legislative assembly by deputy chief and education minister Manish Sisodia on June 25, the AAP government has increased plan (mainly capital) expenditure for education to Rs.4,570 crore, a 106 percent hike over 2014-15. Moreover, the total outlay for education is raised to Rs.9,836 crore from Rs.7,432 crore last year, making the AAP government’s first budget the most education-friendly in the history of Delhi.
“More than double plan allocation for the education sector has been arrived at after deep thought and is based on comprehensive plans for both school and higher education sectors,” said Sisodia, presenting the budget.
The major highlights of the budget are recruitment of 20,000 new teachers by year end; promotion of 236 new schools; five new polytechnics; three more ITIs; construction of a second campus of GGSIP (Guru Gobind Singh, Indraprastha) University and upgrading the top-ranked Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology into a university. With a significantly larger capex budget, all government school classrooms will be provided with closed circuit television for safety, 50 schools will be transformed into model schools with modern facilities and specialised training for teachers, and all state government-funded colleges will be provided internet connectivity.
While the AAP government’s maiden education-focused budget has been widely welcomed, respected K-12 educationists in the national capital advise caution. “The quality of teachers recruited is more important than quantity. Moreover creating new model schools when the Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are proven models, is not the prescription to improve Delhi’s government schools. Instead, if all government schools are made Right to Education Act-compliant, no model is required,” says Dr. Poonam Batra, professor of education at Delhi University.
Unsurprisingly, given AAP’s populist leftist ideology, while presenting the state budget, Sisodia reiterated the AAP government’s oft-expressed resolve to amend the Delhi School Education Act & Rules, to “make the process of admission and fee determination transparent” — coded language for imposition of tuition fee ceilings.
Despite its impressive provision for education in its debut budget, given the party’s populist ideology and penchant for generating confusion, the AAP government may well exacerbate licence-permit-quota raj in education.
Autar Nehru (Delhi)
CBCS storm
The volume and decibels of criticism of former Miss India contestant and television soap star Smriti Irani, who against all expectations was appointed Union human resource development (HRD, aka education) minister by prime minister Narendra Modi last summer, are getting bigger and louder. .gif)
During the past year since she assumed office, instead of focusing her attention on devising ways and means to mend the country’s ramshackle government school system, Irani has been meddling with the few higher education islands of excellence in Indian education.
The latest example of the ham-fisted interference of the minister is the hasty introduction of the credit-based choice system (CBCS) in Central government universities from the academic year starting July 21. According to her rising number of critics, CBCS has been peremptorily introduced in the showpiece Delhi University (DU) without adequate debate and consultation with stakeholders (teachers, academics, and industry experts).
Almost a year ago in September 2014, the Delhi-based University Grants Commission (the higher education watchdog and major financier of public universities) had directed all 46 universities owned/supported by the Union government to clear the decks for implementation of the credit based choice system from the start of the current academic year.
Under CBCS, which is expected to give college undergrads a broader and more interesting education experience, students can choose subjects of their choice in core, elective and foundation programmes. The argument in favour of CBCS is that it gives students the freedom to choose subjects of study which interest them, and promotes inter-disciplinary education. It also enables them to transfer their subject credits to better or more suitable colleges.
On May 28, Delhi University’s academic council (120 members with 26 elected by faculty) and executive council (20 members, two elected by faculty), packed with members handpicked by the vice chancellor (appointed by the HRD ministry), approved implementation of the CBCS in DU starting this year, though not unanimously, with some faculty expressing dissent.
“The VC has approved implementation of CBCS from the start of the current academic year, even though we don’t know which subjects to teach and how many credits need to be allotted to each subject. Preparing new syllabi and course structures requires a minimum of one-two years. Prudent implementation of CBCS needs massive up-scaling of available resources in terms of teachers, and infrastructure such as laboratories etc,” says Abha Dev Habib, a dissenting member of the executive council and coordinator of the Save DU campaign.
While pro-reform spokespersons of DU dismiss Habib’s numerous objections to CBCS, which include a hidden pro-industry and pro-privatisation agenda, as the “usual rant of change-resistant leftist academics who dominate DU”, even Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, the highly respected president of the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi — arguably the country’s top think tank — is critical of the accelerated haste with which the proposal is being implemented. “New courses of study require at least three-five years of preparation time. Delhi University is among the last few Indian universities with some degree of credibility. Too much government interference and too much second-guessing by people who know nothing about education may take even that away,” warns Mehta.
But with the new academic year slated to begin this very month, these warnings may be too late.
Swati Roy (Delhi)