EDITORIAL ANALYSIS : When degrees lose their worth

Source: The Hindu

• Prelims: Current events of national importance(QS Ranking, skilled work etc)
• Mains GS Paper I & II: Social empowerment, development and management of social sectors/services related to Education etc.

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

• The Diploma Disease: by British economist Ronald Dore.
  • It offers a structural explanation for a widely prevalent phenomenon, namely the urge to gather more and more degrees.

INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE

Context

Devaluation of qualifications(By Dore):

• He selected Sri Lanka, South Korea and Japan.
• The desire to accumulate more and more degrees and diplomas was gaining rapid popularity in many countries.
• India: Certificates, diplomas and degrees are in great demand in what is literally an educational bazaar.

The Great Indian School Bazaar by Dev Lahiri:

• The title is relevant to higher education
• The greater the variety of qualifications on offer, the faster grows the demand for them.
• Permission for dual degree admission has further boosted the urge.

Driving force for more degrees:

• Internally:
  • Specialization: The system encourages students to gather additional qualifications by defining course content and its aims narrowly.
    • This phenomenon is a response to the mystification of skills as distinct from knowledge.
  • Job ready: It captures the attraction of silver thin courses that cut the scope of learning.
    • One certificate can only lead the student to search for the next.
  • Externally(economy):
    • Economic growth has not resulted in expansion of satisfying employment in many countries.
    • In India: scarcity of worthwhile jobs is quite severe in many regions, even in cities.
    • The fear of joblessness fuels the urge to gain new eligibility.
    • Candidates for jobs often select the relevant domain of their multiple certifications in order to represent themselves as being suitable for a job.
    • The volatility of the job market also implies that no job can last for long

Delinking did not happen?

• In the 1980s: If jobs were delinked from formal qualification, it would discourage the young from accumulating certificates and degrees.
  • The pressure to enroll in one course or another remained high.
• Students knew they could not be choosy: Parents were anxious to push their wards to stay enrolled rather than waste their time.

Crisis of standards:

• When a course does not give what is expected to learn from it: Students go for a higher level of the same course.
  • The spiral is extended systemically when institutions face financial starvation, leading to:
    • Chronic vacancies
    • Dwindled support services
    • Poor annual intake in libraries.
  • Public institutions of higher education: They have suffered sustained hollowing out.
    • Their inability to maintain standards
    • Forced to accommodate an increased number of students is reflected in the mass exodus to foreign systems and expensive private institutions.
  • Students from deprived strata can’t avail options of foreign institutions.

Recent Initiatives taken by the Government:

Way Forward

• The Internet also enabled the self-learning market. It has, to some extent, boosted self-employment, but the lure of formal jobs has not diminished.
• Increased focus on vocational and profession led education: Include vocational subjects in mainstream universities to allow for greater acceptance and utility for vocational learning.
• Craig Jeffrey, on the basis of his studies in India: Competitive exams now attract countless youth to indulge in “politics of waiting”.
• Digital technology has made its own contribution to the noticeable changes in student behavior.
• A university has to emphasize the value of reading is a sufficient indicator of the silent crisis that has engulfed the system of education.
• There is a considerable gap between the discourse of reform and the reality of our higher education system.
  • Unwillingness to acknowledge the persistence of older problems has become a source of further systemic enervation.
• The nature and choice of reforms can certainly be improved by looking at the residues of past difficulties and at the COVID-19 impact.

QUESTION FOR PRACTICE

Q. National Education Policy 2020 is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals-4 (2030). It intended to restructure and re-orient the education system in India. Critically examine the statement(UPSC 2020) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)