FDI in Education : Comment

I saw a news item on Rediff.com that the Indian Commerce Ministry has recently recommended allowing 100% FDI in education. http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/sep/14spec.htm

Already a Danish company has come forward with the proposal of building 200 playschools across the country. Also, there are proposals from MIT, Georgia Tech and other American universities for building Greenfield campuses in India. Sadly, the left parties and the HRD Ministry is opposing the proposal. Here is what I posted as a reaction :


I am disappointed to see this news. I have a strong feeling that Arjun Singh is the wrong man, and he needs to be moved. He has a mindset of the last century, and is completely out of sync with the modern world. He is anti-meritocratic, as his penchant for various kinds of controls and reservations show, and the education system he wants to build will be only good in producing babus [in line with the good old specifications of the British Raj].

The FDI in education will be needed to let India move up the global value chain, beyond BPO and as a source of knowhow and innovation. It will foster competition, allow the best to be the best. If government is really serious about education, they should tax the profits the new institutions make, and plough the procceds back into building primary education infrastructure.

I would not comment about left parties. I come from West Bengal, and seen their systematic destruction they brought about in education, by bureaucratic intervention, anti-meritocratic and political appointments, and plain stupid policies. I would recommend that they should not be turned to for guidance on education policies, as their records will clearly show that they are not very good at it.

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