The National Education Policy (NEP) released by the Central Government has provided an opportunity to progressive educational institutions to grow dynamically. After this, many laws came into force, ushering in a new era of cooperation, transformation, global coordination and other goals as per Vision-2050. This is why foreign universities are increasingly setting up campuses in India.
Partnership efforts with local organizations are also ongoing. This initiative is a major challenge to the existing educational structure of India. If we look at the background, some religious institutions gained importance and in the field of higher education, Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University and Khalsa College, Amritsar etc. developed. Due to the non-cooperative attitude towards the British, Khalsa could not be converted into a university in principle. Its pro-independence differences made it a target of forced stagnation. This discrimination did not stop even in democratic independent India and the desire for a university persisted at various points in the history of this primitive institution from 1892 onwards. Meanwhile the Anglo-Vedic college network of DAV institutions grew rapidly. In fact, in 2018, these two institutions, Khalsa and DAV, along with 9 other private institutions were given university status by the Badal government of Punjab. Sadly, just a few months later, the Captain Amarinder Singh government, discriminating against the Khalsa, repealed the Act under which ‘Khalsa University’ was established. By then, 180 postgraduate and PhD scholars had joined. These students faced a lot of difficulty in continuing their course. The fact that Khalsa University came into existence independently of Khalsa College and was cancelled, was a blow to the Khalsa College Charitable Society.
After six years of tireless struggle, the Supreme Court gave a historic decision in the month of October. He has restored the existence of the university since 2016 by repealing the Act of Punjab Assembly which is completely a victory for the educational institutions by exposing the illogical stance of politics. During this period, despite facing difficulties in the last two decades, this society made a lot of progress. Pharmacy, nursing, law, veterinary science, education, engineering and many other professional colleges were established, while student numbers in their old legacy institutions grew steadily stronger. These Khalsa institutions are now on the threshold of establishing a large teaching hospital and medical college. The role of religious institutions is also very big in the field of school education. There are more than fifty-five thousand Christian missionary schools in India caring for 25 million children of all religions. It is said that 11 Prime Ministers of the country had received convent education at some point in their lives. In contrast, there are 24010 madrassas and more than 4500 Vedic Gurukuls in the country. Khalsa, Guru Harkrishna Public School Movement and Shiromani Samiti schools number only a few hundred. While other religions have adopted a more inclusive trend leaning towards secularism in primary education, Islamic institutions follow a strict madrassa system. Their training is mainly from a Mukhatalif religious ideological perspective, although at the higher education level this appears to be more transparent.
Despite many criticisms regarding the quality of education across the country, the Economic Survey 2024 revealed a serious gap in the way the Indian population is educated. According to the data, 52.8 percent of the graduate youth were found ineligible for employment. This is a lesson not only for this region but for all those people in the entire country who claimed to raise their level of education by climbing on the rooftops. It is also a lesson of systemic failure and the need for deep introspection. It may be possible for any educational institution to lag behind in the race to overcome this stage, especially in the race to set up elaborate training centres. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar lamented that the pursuit of foreign education has drained six billion dollars of our foreign exchange reserves. The global village itself is sowing the seeds of competition among us. To rethink the financial reality and prevent academic laxity, the central government has opened the country’s doors not just to Cambridge and Harvard, but to any institution that has the potential.
In such a situation, a question mark has been raised on the efforts of the managers of the institutions. Does their leadership have a high level of academic proficiency? Does she accept this change? Some religious organizations already have operational systems in place to improve efficiency. Anglo-Vedic institutions have included army generals, court judges, ex-chancellors and junior government officials in their policy system. Christian missionary organizations have also added structures to ensure that new disciples are nurtured in this manner. Here’s an example of a Christian medical college’s succession strategy. They elect their leadership for a long term of 5 years. A person is already associated with the present inheritance to learn the settlement. Finally, he is also sent to IIM Ahmedabad for a management training program so that he can learn the necessary skills before assuming power. The future of successful enterprises in higher education will be assured only when nepotistic tendencies, political pressure, lazy leadership and recommendatory tendencies are shunned. Even the traditional leadership has abandoned the professional truth opening the mind to the future which is dangerous.
There is a need to test the visionary thinking of wise managers, the intelligence of the executive they select, the dynamics of teams and the performance-based approach of teachers. Teachers need refresher teaching. There is a need not only to provide education, but also to make the youth employable and provide them opportunities. Alumni of institutions are an invaluable asset to any education system. They need to be engaged to participate in your campaign. If we have to convert the youth of the country into dividends, we will have to provide them full opportunities for training and a good lifestyle. At a stage where India’s 75-year target of full productive generation has not been achieved, it is important to be ready for India@100. Learners will now have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of training systems.