Cut-off scare wake-up call for quality education

The New Indian ExpressLast Updated : 16 Jun 2011 11:23:42 PM IST

The stratospheric cut-offs fixed by some leading Delhi colleges in their first admission list might be unfair to students but Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s challenge to their rationale amounts to shirking his responsibility. The high cut-offs are not a college-specific issue but a reflection on India’s education system. If someone is to be blamed for this, it is not the colleges but those entrusted with formulating India’s higher education policy and making it work. The cut-offs will decline in subsequent lists but they have sounded a wake-up call for system, which is unable to create additional capacity to absorb top class students. Sibal would do well to concentrate on addressing this issue than gallivanting everywhere as a political fire fighter.


There is a huge demand for tertiary education in India and this is not matched by the growth in centres of excellence in higher education. Given the demand-supply imbalance the only solution is to increase the number of colleges and seats and ensure that there is no dearth of good teachers and right education for students. The number of universities in India has grown manifold during the past few years. A similar trend has been witnessed in the number of student enrolments in the higher education system, which reached around 14.6 million at the end of 2010-11 and is expected to grow over 11 per cent during the next two years.

It is undisputed that increasing higher education enrolment is central to the country’s ability to compete in a global economy, as economic strength and gross national income (GNI) per capita are closely linked to a country’s higher education enrolment ratio. But in order to increase India’s competitiveness, it is necessary to increase high quality higher education. Along with the quantity of graduates, the quality of education should be a focus area for the Indian higher education system