Kerala 2005 - of Planning Commission

CHAPTER 6
RECKONING PROMISE: KERALA’S EDUCATIONAL CAPABILITY
97
and cut corners, not only in equipment and facilities, but
even in staff salaries and operations. It is inevitable that
all this will adversely affect the quality of instruction and
eventually, the reputation and credibility of the institution.
Considering the acute competition that exists in this field,
such policies are fraught with problems.
The Government-sponsored self-financing colleges were
started with the admirable intention of combining the positive
aspects of both public and private institutions. They were
supposed to possess the social commitment, transparency
and accountability of public institutions, as also the autonomy
and flexibility which private institutions enjoy in resource
mobilisation and management. It is a moot question whether
these have proved to be valid assumptions.
7. Access to Higher Technical Education
7.1 Access and Availability
Access has three distinct components: Availability, eligibility
and affordability. Except for some esoteric disciplines, most
modern branches of higher technical education are available
in Kerala and also in sufficient numbers. As a matter of fact,
several engineering seats were lying vacant during the past
academic year for want of takers. While this certainly does
promote accessibility, it does not automatically indicate that
all those desirous of pursuing higher technical education are
able to do so. The questions of eligibility (discussed earlier)
and affordability still remain.
7.2 Eligibility and Affordability
As seen earlier, even in Kerala, which boasts of hundred per
cent enrolment, the retention rate in Class X is lower although
it has improved over time. There can be no question that the
drop-outs come exclusively from the most deprived sections
of the society. About half of these students fail in the Class
X examinations. of the remaining, another half or so do not
cross the ‘plus Two’ stage. Again, there can be little argument
about the family backgrounds of these unfortunate children.
Only those without family academic support or the benefit
of expensive private tuition fail in these examinations. It is
common knowledge in Kerala that if you want a ‘good’ pass,
classroom learning is not enough and you have to go for private
tuition. Thus, in effect, those drop-outs for whom the portals
of higher education are effectively closed, invariably and
inevitably belong to the disadvantaged sections. This is a fairly
obvious barrier and has been brought out by several studies.
"…parents of all students who appeared for the entrance
examination were educated. But the parents of the students
who get entry into higher education are even better educated
than parents of non-crossed 12 students. Even the SC/ST parents
of these categories of students in rural areas were educated…
It is observed that more than four-fifths of the students who
appeared for the entrance belonged to the middle income
and rich sections of society. Only less than one-seventh of the
crossed students and a little over one-sixth of the non-crossed
belonged to the poor income group. OBC and SC/ST students
were relatively poor compared to the FC students… we find
that the top 5 per cent households in Kerala appropriated 82
per cent of the seats in professional education” (Salim, 1999).
There is another not so obvious barrier. That comes from
the highly variable quality of the engineering colleges
and the contrasting prospects of their graduates as
reflected in campus recruitment. The fact that almost
all eligible students from the final year class of some
of the better quality institutions are ‘snatched’ away by
reputed companies, even before they graduate gets a lot
of publicity and contributes in no small measure to the
high ‘market’ demand for engineering seats in general.
Studies conducted in such institutions by KSSP and the
Centre for Socio-Economic Studies, Kochi, have shown
that almost 85 per cent of the students who study there
come from the top 15 per cent of society.
It is significant that campus recruitment has started in some
of the ‘prestigious’ new self-financing colleges also, whose
management seats seem to be in high ‘demand’. Thus, the
question of eligibility is inextricably linked with affordability;
it is not the ability of the student to afford the cost of education
in professional colleges, but the non-tuition expenses of
professional education that form a major component of the
total educational costs, and hence, an important determinant
of access to higher education. An interesting development
is that these non-tuition expenses include not only living
expenses, books and other learning instruments, study
tours, etc., but also the cost of private tuition! Whether it is a
reflection on the quality of teaching or on the quality of the
students, who have already become addicted to private tuition
and cannot learn by themselves, is a point to be explored.
So, mere tuition waiver will not be enough to ensure that
the socially and economically handicapped students are
enabled to pursue higher education in accordance with
their full potential. Student loans have been mooted as a
solution, but findings from various quarters show that such
loans rarely reach or benefit those who really need them.
12 Crossed refers to those who have crossed barriers for entry to higher education.