Education is the foremost sector that shoulders the biggest responsibility of shaping the future of nation. India, though renowned since ancient time for higher educational institutions like Nalanda, is presently facing multiple challenges in education. India’s education system is mired in corruption which needs to be addressed at the earliest.

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Reasons for Corruption in Higher Education:

• Dramatic increase in output from secondary sector, Higher Education Institutes cannot accommodate all the students.
• Over-regulation by regulators such as UGC, MCI, which decide on aspects of standards, appointments, fees structure and curriculum has further deterred new institutions from opening campuses.
• Pressure for admission to best universities and to professional programmes–medicine, law, engineering. This has led to increased middle-men.
• A university degree now a prerequisite for most white-collar jobs –many jobs even require a Masters or PhD
• A degree enables moving up the social ladder and increasing family income
• National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in its assessment report pointed out that 68% of institutions in India are of middle or poor quality. Recruitment of undergraduates as teachers, ad-hoc appointments and low pay scale, inadequate teacher training are all factors that have caused deterioration in the quality of education. As a result, nearly three-fourth the numbers of graduates remain unemployable.
• Insufficient funds in public HEIs: need to generate income in a competitive environment
• Commercialization of Higher education: private HEIs operate as corporate, profit-making entity by politicians, businessmen etc.
• Withdrawal of public sector has left the space open for private institutions that have turned education into a flourishing business. Most of the teachers in private colleges are underpaid and over-worked. There has been a rampant expansion in the number of colleges with scant regard for standards and quality. This phenomenon also shows the lapses in the regulatory structure which are riddled with corruption.
• Multiplicity of regulatory bodies and regulatory standards has prevented foreign educational institutions from opening campuses in the country. As a result curricular and pedagogy lacks competitiveness.
• Dramatic improvement in IC

Measures to tackle the corruption:

• Alternate methods: Alternative, perhaps more humane way of examining students’ aptitude and competence needs to be identified. However, if the root cause of the problem is left unaddressed, then decontextualised pedagogic solutions alone are unlikely to solve the problem.
• Financing: Tiered Funding model can be adopted, whereby institutes with higher performance standards get more funds and also more autonomy. This approach is followed in Singapore and has enabled it to develop world class institutes. Besides, mobilisation of funds in state universities should be explored through other means such as endowments, contributions from industry, alumni, etc
• Regulatory overhaul: National Knowledge Commission recommended that UGC be stripped off its powers of sanctioning grants and should not exert influence on administrative decisions.
• Accreditation: A robust credit rating system involving rating agencies, media houses and industry associations will further enhance competition among universities. Further, National board of accreditation is to play a key role in quality enhancement and quality assurance.
• Entrepreneurship skills: Students should be helped in honing their entrepreneurship skills
• Meaningful choices: Make education more meaningful that supports students to make choices that are not influenced by their social prestige (like engineering and medicine) and more importantly, be given opportunities and supported to develop different facets of their personality.
• Responsive education: Make education responsive to employment skills required. However, a unilateral relationship between education simply responding to market needs will do more harm than good.
• More jobs: Establish more public institutions of high quality and create more job opportunities. Clearly the state needs to take this responsibility and the private sector, despite their enormous contribution cannot be relied upon for an equitable economic growth of the country.  In the neo-liberal environment, where private is celebrated and public, condemned, further withdrawal by the state will only intensify the struggle for a large majority of people and one will have to continue to contend with paper leakages, cheating and student suicides etc.

Conclusion:

The first step in systemic reform is recognizing that a problem exists. India has a storied history of excellence in higher education. To overcome the corruption that impairs confidence and quality, India’s epic history should serve as an archetype for a post secondary system that promotes research and workforce development. At the moment, the ethical base underpinning India’s educational system is being eroded, undermining the very basis of mutual trust and educational standards.