NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
Ethics
Q1. “To educate a child is to turn walls into door”. In this regard debate the need for education to be public-funded. 10M
Introduction
“To educate a child is to turn walls into door” simply means, Barriers existing in the education system of India need to be addressed and have to open up new possibilities and opportunities in education.
Body
Walls that hinder the education of children in India.
- Social barriers – Patriarchal society has become a major issue in educating girl children. Along with this, poverty is also one of the major barriers to education in India.
- Inadequate public funding – The country spent 3% of its total GDP on education in 2018-19 according to the Economic Survey which is very less in comparison to the developed and OECD countries.
- Inadequate facilities – Results of lack of public funding can be seen in Inadequate Infrastructure, No separate washrooms for both boys and girls, lack of drinking water facilities, absence of quality teachers, etc.
- Corruption – High rates of corruption and leakages existed in public funding of education drastically reducing the chances of poor children getting the benefits of education and government schemes.
- The commercialization of education – Taking the advantage of lack of focus by the government on improving education, private agencies commercialized the education system by introducing high-cost education which became unaffordable for poor children.
In this regard, Public funding will be a new hope to turn these walls into doors for educating children.
- Public funding in the form of poverty reduction plans will have a major impact on the rising enrollment ratio, especially in higher education.
- Public funding is essential in providing adequate facilities like teachers, infrastructure, etc in public schools.
- Attention by the government to providing high-tech education will not only attract children to schools and colleges but also curb the commercialization of education, thus providing equitable education in India.
- Public funding also ensures the responsibility and answerability of the state in providing basic services to society.
Conclusion
“A child without education is like a bird without wings”, Education plays a key role in the development of not only children but also nationally. Thus the state needs to focus on the education of children by adequately providing the funding for education.
Q2. There is a widespread opinion that the private sector is more efficient than the public sector. Do you agree with the opinion? Elaborate on how these opinions influence the moral and political attitudes of the citizens.10M
Introduction
People have been complaining about ‘red tape’, idle bureaucrats, and indolent ‘pen-pushers’ in the public sector. On the contrary, the private sector has been seen as being efficient as there is a personal interest and benefit for efficient use of resources and satisfying the needs of the customers.
Body:
In recent decades, efforts to undermine the effective, efficient, and equitable public official working for the common good have advanced on several fronts
Differences between private and public sectors:
Comparing private and public sectors:
- Health: In India, the government has failed to provide health care for all. Even though, the private sector has tried to fill this gap the consequences of this are rapidly growing and the nearly unregulated private sector is painfully visible with all kinds of negligence, malpractices, and exploitation of patients. The average cost of healthcare in India has tripled from 2005 to 2015, due to unregulated private healthcare expenditure.
- Education: when it comes to comparing the learning outcomes of children, private schools are no better than government schools. 60% of children in grade 5 enrolled in rural private schools cannot do simple division problems. This data brings to the fore how private and public schools are performing equally bad when it comes to learning outcomes in children.
- Water, sanitation, and waste: Studies on water, sanitation, and waste present conflicting findings. Country studies find that in some cases private ownership (or private participation) is associated with greater efficiency and in other cases less efficiency. In these sectors, geographic and other service delivery characteristics are more likely to determine efficiency than ownership.
- Privatization of state-owned enterprises: Studies find that privatization can lead to improved efficiency, but this is not always the outcome. Evidence from low- and middle-income countries is limited and more mixed. Bank unions have termed the privatization process a “bailout operation” for corporate defaulters.
- For instance, In an RBI bailout of YES Bank in 2020, SBI picked up 49% stake for ₹2,450 crores. A public sector bank had to rescue a distressed private entity.
Thus, no sector is absolutely at higher efficiency. As former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said “We are a mixed economy. We will remain a mixed economy. The public and private sectors will continue to play a very important role. The private sector in our country has very ample scope and I am confident that India’s entrepreneurs have the capacity, and the will to rise to the occasion.”
But, the belief that the private sector is more efficient has negative consequences:
Shaping Moral attitudes:
- Low demand for public services: The meteoric rise of private schools and enrollments in these schools in the last two decades points to the poor state of public schools and eroding the trust of parents in them.
- Lack of accountability: Corruption in public sector such as 2G scams create intense furor. But when private individuals commit economic offences such as Vijay Mallya , Nirav Modi there is no agitations demanding against integrity and accountability of the private sector and new laws against individuals exploiting the system.
- Public compliance in corruption: Citizens are willing to pay bribes than agaitate for reforms. The India Corruption Survey 2019, conducted by Transparent International India (TII), revealed that 56% citizens of the country had paid bribes in some form, either direct or indirect.
Political Consequence:
- Lack of empowered citizens and a system of subsidies: This belief leads to a system where in instead of public demanding governemnt spending on essential needs, the government decides to subsidise private facilities.
- For eg: India’s health system is dominated by the for-profit private healthcare sector, which accounts for around 75% of outpatient care. Thus the focus of government is now on schemes such as Ayushman Bharath.
- Low valuation of public assets: With privatization being n important agenda, many public sector companies are valued at low rates to attract bidders. Recently, the government has decided to slash the valuation it is seeking for state-run Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) by about 30% to make the initial share sale attractive
- More emphasis on freebies: The belief that private sector is more efficient leads to lack of interest of the government in spending on capital needs such as education, hospitals, infrastructure. Thus, changing the attitude of the voters in the country.
Conclusion
An adequate mixture of companies belonging to both these sectors is required for overall development. Higher efficiency of private sector is inconclusive and this attitude should be changed.
