In practice, the first goal prevails. Since taxation of the super-rich is off limits, the confinement of the ratio of fiscal deficit to GDP to the level prescribed by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act takes the form of expenditure compression.

This compression of public expenditure takes the following forms: one, cut in nominal budget allocations; two, cut in real budget allocations; three, post facto expenditure cuts whereby actual expenditure is less than revised estimates, which in turn are less than budget estimates; four, misrepresenting budget allocation for corpus accumulation or loan repayment, both amortisation and debt service, as expenditure. 

Using Union Budget 2025-26 data, we demonstrate how this turned out for public education when compared to the Union Budget of 2024-25. 

We highlight four key trends in the case of Union government funding for the higher education sector: 

(i) Only 2.4% increase in real budget for the Department of School Education and Literacy and stagnant real budget allocation for higher education in 2025-26 as compared to 2024-25. 

(ii) A gap between budget estimates and revised budget estimates in 2024-25. 

(iii) An increasing role for Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) loans to public educational institutions. 

(iv) Rising significance of Madhyamik and Uchhatar Shiksha Kosh or MUSK component in the budget. 

The MUSK amount has not been apportioned to any purpose or institution concerning education in 2023-24. MUSK is in fact a non-lapsable corpus in which the annual collection of secondary and higher education cess is apportioned. Though MUSK is supposed to be utilised for various policy programmes in secondary and higher education, there has been no movement in this direction. 

The HEFA loans category in the Union Budget has been specified under two heads: (i) Interest payment under HEFA and (ii) Principal repayment amount under HEFA. Allocation under both these heads has been rising in the Indian budget for the education sector. But repayment of interest or principal amounts of loans is not creation of demand. 

In 2025-26, the total budget estimate amount for the education sector is Rs. 128,650 crore. This increase in nominal terms by 6.7% as compared to the revised budget of Rs. 120,628 crore in 2024-25. If we consider the average inflation rate to be 5.2%, then the real increase is merely 2.5% for the education sector.

The budget estimate amount for the Department of School Education and Literacy is Rs. 78,572 crore during 2025-26, while it was Rs. 73,008 crore in 2024-25, reflecting an increase of 7.6% in nominal terms. But the real increase is thus merely 2.4% with the 5.2% inflation rate on average. 

The revised estimates declined for the Department of School Education and Literacy during 2024-25 to Rs. 67,571 crore, showing a decline of 7.5% in nominal terms as compared to the budget estimates of 2024-25. This gives us an indication of what can be expected when the revised estimates of the Union Budget 2025-26 are released after one year. 

The nominal allocation for the Department of Higher Education is Rs. 50,078 crore during the Union Budget 2025-26, which involves a nominal increase of 5.2% when compared to 2024-25. But this involves no real increase since the average rate of inflation is 5.2%. 

Moreover, the revised estimates of the last Union Budget’s allocation to higher education were 2.4% lower than the budget estimates. Once again, this does not portend well for what will happen to revised estimates for allocation to higher education in this year’s budget. 

The budget estimate of allocations to UGC is Rs. 3,336 crore during 2025-26. This involves an increase by Rs. 886 crore or 33%. But the share of UGC-MUSK is Rs. 2,447 crore during 2025-26, leaving very little for actual expenditure. 

The budget estimate of allocations to AICTE is Rs. 200 crore in 2025-26, which involves a decline by 50% when compared to 2024-25. What is a further concern is that last year’s revised estimates have declined by 65%. 

The grants to Central Universities (CUs) for 2025-26 is Rs. 16,146 crore, which involves a nominal rise of Rs. 674 crore or 4.4% but this amounts to a real decline with an average rate of inflation of 5.2%. 

The MUSK budget estimate amount is increased to Rs. 5,500 crore in 2025-26. The HEFA interest and repayment of principal of HEFA loan for the Central Universities are Rs. 83 crore and Rs. 462 crore, respectively, during 2025-26. As we pointed out earlier, allocation for loan repayment does not amount to expenditure. 

The budget estimate of allocation for IITs in 2025-26 is Rs. 16,691 crore. This involves a nominal increase of 4.6%, which once again amounts to a real decline given an average rate of inflation of 5.2%. Increased nominally by 4.6%, this implies a real decline in the IIT budget over the last year. Further, of this allocation, MUSK, interest, and repayment of principal of HEFA loan are respectively Rs. 4,000 crore, Rs. 240 crore, and Rs. 450 crore during 2025-26, which implies that actual expenditure is lower. 

MUSK and HEFA components also figure prominently in the allocation for two other professional education institutions, namely Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs). 

In 2025-26, allocation for the NITs/IIEST and IIMs is Rs. 5,474 crore and Rs. 252 crore, respectively. The budget for interest and repayment of principal of HEFA loans in IIMs are Rs. 72 crores and Rs. 150 crore during 2025-26.

The budget for interest and repayment of principal of HEFA loans in NITs is Rs. 81 crore and Rs. 133 crore, and the MUSK budget is Rs. 5,500 crore during 2025-26. This leaves very little for actual expenditure. 

The grants for Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISERs) have also declined by 9.4% nominally from Rs. 1,469 crore in 2024-25 to Rs. 1,331 crore in 2025-26. Here too, the HEFA interest and principal amounts are Rs. 10 crore and Rs. 12 crore, respectively. The budget support for the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is Rs. 894 crore, which involves an increase of 5.9%, amounting to virtual stagnation in real terms with an average rate of inflation of 5.2%. 

The entire approach of the Union government involves a neglect of public education. The four modes of jugglery with budget allocations to public education and other areas demonstrate that this government is fully committed to undermining public education. All those who are committed to public education need to resist this policy assault in every possible domain, including mobilisation, battle of ideas, and electoral. 

Narender Thakur is Professor, Department of Economics, Dr. BR Ambedkar College, University of Delhi. C. Saratchand is professor, Department of Economics, Satyawati College, University of Delhi. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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According to a recent report published in The Indian Express (December 5), the total number of students who have dropped out of the central university is 13626. The students, who have dropped out from the central universities, come from SCs, STs and OBCs backgrounds. They have been enrolled at different branches of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

The dropout figures have recently been given by Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar in a written reply to the Parliament. According to him, as many as 13,626 Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC) students have dropped out of central universities such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in the last five years.

Providing the details about the dropout cases, the minister said that 4596 OBC, 2424 SC, and 2622 ST students left the courses in the middle from the central universities. Giving university-wise figures, he said that the dropout figure in the IITs was 2066 OBC, 1068 SC and 408 ST students. While the IIMs saw 163 OBC, 188 SC and 91 ST candidates leave the course without completing them.

The Narendra Modi Government diverted the issue in the wrong direction and denied the prevalent rampant caste-based discrimination in higher education. To hide the Government’s failure to address the deep rot within the educational system, it tossed up the issue of “choice”. For example, Minister of State for Education Sarkar said “In the Higher Education sector, students have multiple options and they choose to migrate across institutions and from one course/programme to another in the same institution. The migration/withdrawal if any, is mainly on account of securing seats by the students in other departments or institutions of their choice or on any personal ground.” But the ground reality is different from the logic given by Sarkar.

The BJP and the RSS have tried hard to woo marginalised castes by portraying Prime Minister Modi as an OBC face, who rose to the top position from scratch. However, Hindutva forces have done very little to democratise the educational system and give adequate representation to the marginalised castes, Adivasis and minorities. The rapid pace of privatisation within the educational sectors and the penetration of the Hindutva forces within the educational sectors have further strengthened the power of the upper castes and classes, resulting in further exclusion of the marginalised communities at different levels.

For example, a recent study has shown that the enrolment rate of Muslim youths has also gone down significantly in higher education. According to available figures, while the total number of enrolment of Muslim youth was 21.01 lakhs in 2019-20, it has declined to 19.22 lakhs in 2020-21. While this should be a serious concern for policy-makers because Muslim students are highly underrepresented in higher education as well as public employment, the Modi Government does not miss any opportunity to cut the budge on minority education.

Multiple reasons can be cited for the decline in the enrolment rate: the large share of Muslim community work in informal sectors, which were hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Muslims remain mired in poverty and have very little access to financial resources. Since the fees are ever increasing in higher education and Muslim youths face institutional discrimination, the decline and the dropout are likely to happen.

Not only students from marginalised castes who are trying to obtain admission to various courses but also the candidates who are looking for employment for teaching jobs, face caste discrimination. For example, Dr Laxman Yadav, who has taught Hindi at Zakir Hussain College of Delhi University for as long as 14 years on an ad hoc basis, has been terminated from the service.

Prof Laxman Yadav, who has been a popular speaker against caste discrimination and communal ideology on social media platforms, has alleged that he has been fired from the job without giving any specific reason by the department. In a social media post, the “expelled” assistant professor said that “he had to pay the price for speaking the truth” to the power.

Prof Yadav, an OBC, belongs to Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. He studied at Allahabad University before joining the Delhi University. Social justice activists across the country are agitated to see that Prof Yadav was expelled on December 6 when the nation was paying tribute to Baba Saheb Ambedkar.

These examples are manifestations of clear caste bias. Three decades after the implementation of the OBC reservation, the proportion of OBC professors at 45 central universities is just 4%. At the associate professors and assistant professors levels, the bleak scenario does not change much as their share increases slightly to 6% and 14%, respectively.

Apart from OBCs, Adivasis are highly under-represented. Among the professors, the share of Adivasis is only 1.6%, while they are given 7.5% reservation. Similarly, at associate and assistant professors levels, they can get a mere 2% and 4%representation, respectively. With 7% (professors level), 8% (assistant professors level), and 11% (associate professors level) share, Dalits are better than Adivasis but these figures are far less than the 15% reservation given to them.

Even at the level of vice-chancellorship, the candidates belonging to the marginalised castes are highly underrepresented. Most of the central and state universities as well as private universities have been headed by privileged caste vice-chancellors, while Adivasis, Dalits, OBCs and candidates are few.

This shows that the marginalised communities from the lower level to the higher level continue to face discrimination. This creates a vicious cycle. Since the candidates belonging to SC, ST, OBC, and minority categories are unrepresented in teaching and administration, the students from subaltern backgrounds face caste discrimination at the hands of the upper caste teachers.

Privileged caste professors, by using caste networks that are well in place, can secure a better place for their candidates, while the marginalised castes are left without any such support. From the interview board to the classroom,  from the dissertation writing process to a job interview, SC, ST, OBCs, minority and women candidates face multiple layers of caste discrimination and humiliation. This is largely responsible for the high dropout rates.

(Dr. Abhay Kumar is a Delhi-based journalist. He has taught political sciences at NCWEB Centres of Delhi University.)

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The UDISE+ an application by the Ministry of Education for gathering data from both schools across all education levels, from pre-primary to Class 12. This resource offers data on enrolment and dropout rates, teacher numbers, as well as infrastructure details such as toilets, buildings, and electricity in schools. The latest report for the years 2021-2023 has revealed troubling details regarding the presence and absence of Muslims in education.

In June, 2023, Sabrang India had analysed similar trends for the last few years, highlighting the declining figures of Muslim students in Higher Education in India, based on a then newly released data for the years 2019-2020 by the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE). The report detailed that although India saw an improvement in educational indices of Dalits, Adivasis, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), there was steady decline in the enrolment of Muslim students. Currently, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes constitute 14.7% and 5.6% of the total enrolment, respectively, while OBCs make up 37% of the student population. In stark contrast, Muslim students account for only 5.5% of the overall enrolment, with other minority communities comprising 2.3%.

Significant drop in enrolment to higher education

This time the latest report reveals a decline of more than 8.5% in the enrolment of Muslim students aged 18-23 years, in higher education. While the enrolment of Muslim students in higher education showed an increase from 17,39,218 in 2016-17 to 19,21,713 in 2020-21, a significant dip has been witnessed in the academic year 2020-21, with the enrolment declining to 19,21,713 from about 21,00,860 students in 2019-20, reflecting a decrease of total 1,79,147 students, according to the report.

Furthermore, from the figures below that feature in the report, we can understand that the enrolment percentage is highest at the primary level, from grades 1 to 5, with 15.6%, showing a substantial presence of Muslim minority students in the early stages of education. However, the data shows that as Muslims students move to the upper primary grades, there is a slight but continuing decline to 14.4%, which goes further and sees a deeper dip in secondary education, the pivotal grades 9-10, with a further decrease to 12.6%. This trend of declining Muslim students continues into higher secondary education, where the enrolment percentage drops sharply to 10.8%.

Data from across states reveals that Assam (29.52%) and West Bengal (23.22%) record high dropout rates among Muslim students, while Jammu and Kashmir records a 5.1% dropout rate, and Kerala records 11.91%.

Percent Share of Muslim Enrolment at Different Levels of Education 2012-13 to 2021-22

(Figure 1 Data from the report by Arun C. Mehta)

Furthermore, the report observed key trends across states and Union territories on the decline in enrolment percentages of Muslim students especially in grades 11 and 12.

Percentage of total enrolment of Muslims students in school education across India.

(Figure 2 (UDISE+ data)

Lowest 20 states and union territories with percentage of rate of enrolment from primary to secondary education.

Figure 3 (UDISE data)

The report further highlights the fact that all States and Union Territories show ta lower percentage of Muslim students enrolled in higher secondary education (Grades 11 and 12) as compared to other educational levels. This, according to the report, highlights the need for a targeted efforts to address this issue and ensure better opportunities for Muslim students in higher secondary education in particular. This pattern thus implies that while many Muslim children enrol in primary education, but not in secondary, thereby there is a certain level of dropouts and discontinuation by students in the higher levels.

Furthermore, a cursory look at the bottom 20 states and union territories shows us that states such as Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Goa and even Andhra Pradesh fall in the lower ranges of enrolment in higher education.

Even union territories, including the national capital, show dismal figures with Delhi at 15.4%, Chandigarh and Puducherry at 5.3% and 8%.

Below is the list of top 15 performing states. As we can see the list starts with Maharashtra, having a total percentage of 13% enrolment, against national enrolment rates, from primary to secondary education. Highest on these indices remain the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Lakshadweep Islands with 62 % and 97.9 % respectively.

Figure 4 (UDISE data)

Gendered rate of enrolment in Muslims 

According to the report, the proportion of Muslim girls’ enrolment to total enrolment has declined at the primary and upper primary levels from 60.64% to 52.02% and 24.92% to 26.31%, respectively, over the period from 2012-13 to 2021-22. However, interestingly, there is an upward trend at the secondary and higher secondary levels, which increased from about 9.93% to 13.27% and 4.51% to 8.40%, respectively. The report suggests that a similar trend is visible in boys’ enrolment rates. The report identifies retention of students in the education system as a key problem, and recommends, “Promoting retention and completion of each educational level is crucial to ensure a more efficient and inclusive education system. Next, we look at the Muslim enrolment by gender, presented in Tables 11 & 12.”

What are the factors that contribute to these declining figures?

As per the Sachar Committee’s findings, student enrolment in schools is influenced by factors that are not restricted to economic conditions, including overall security and societal harmony, local development and parental educational background. State-level disparities are evident in the availability of educational facilities in villages with a high Muslim population. For instance, West Bengal and Bihar each have about 1,000 such villages, while Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 1,943. In housing and hygiene, a smaller proportion of Muslim households live in sturdy houses, and approximately half lack access to toilets. Additionally, access to amenities like tap water, electricity, and safe drinking water is comparatively lower among Muslims, especially in villages with a high Muslim concentration, compared to the national average (SCR, 2006).

It is also not unimportant to factor in the systemic discrimination faced by the community that has deteriorated into outright public slurs and even hate speech and physical targeting. Apart from overall economic indicators, such prevalent conditions are not conducive for enrolment and engagement in education.

Related:

Denial of access: number of Muslim students shows sharp decline: India

AISHE survey shows enrolment of Muslim students in higher studies falls significantly compared to other communities

1000s or hundreds of thousands, the Karnataka govt’s ill-motivated ‘Hijab ban’ has pushed Muslim girls out of school

UP: School question paper, on ‘Indian Muslim Terrorism’, calls for India to prepare for war with Pak

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D K Lobiyal, President of the JNU Teachers’ Association, said that selective promotions have been handed to the teachers who paid complete obeisance to the administration. “We are seeing that promotions have been denied to our colleagues, whereas some teachers have been given extensions as chairpersons and deans beyond the tenure of a vice-chancellor,” he said.

“Fourteen appointments of deans of different Schools of JNU have taken place since February 2022. Three of them involved the previous occupant of that office being reappointed to the same position, even for serving a third term. In another 10 cases, senior colleagues in their respective schools were bypassed, with the solitary exception being when the dean had to be appointed from outside the School concerned. In other words, rotation by order of seniority has not been followed in a single case,” he added.

Surajit Mazumdar, a professor of economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, said that the situation is so bad that the chairpersons of different schools and centres do not know about the experts coming to interview the teachers for recruitment. He said, “The usual precedent remains that departments would prepare the list of experts and send it to the vice-chancellor, and she would choose certain names. However, we are seeing that experts are added to the list, and there is a complete disregard for the statutes of the university as well as the norms laid out by the University Grants Commission.”

Atul Sood, the former president of JNUTA, added that it appears that the administration has already approved the decisions, and the meetings of bodies like the Academic Council and the Executive Council are called to just report the items. “I was a member of the Executive Council, and it was strange that 27 items, which included the introduction of new courses, finished in half an hour. Former VC Jagadesh Mamidala used to call online meetings and would mute the mic if members wanted to express something. The tradition is going on with the current VC allowing select members to speak in the meetings. All universities have returned to pre-COVID norms for conducting physical meetings; whereas JNU remains the only university where such a practice is going on.

Moushumi Basu, who teaches at the Centre for International Politics, Organisation & Disarmament, said that the teachers have noticed a pattern where the National Testing Agency (NTA) is determining the academic calendar of the university. “We have seen that admissions to masters and PhD would be conducted through NTA. However, there is no compulsion to engage with NTA for entrance exams. We are seeing that semesters would end in a matter of three months. I think it’s cheating our students and nations that we are compelling [students] to take exams without proper studies.”

Another fallout of it remains the reduction in the number of girl students in the university. The teachers emphasised that the percentage of girl students has plunged from 51.4% in 2017-18 to 44.4% in 2021-22. Similarly, the share of research students has decreased from 62.2% in 2016-17 to 46% in 2021-22.

The JNUTA, in a press statement, said that the process of destruction of the University unleashed in 2016 has continued unabated, even after the change of the Vice Chancellor in February 2022. This destruction involves the erosion of the institutional and academic ethos of the University and the undermining of its role as a promoter of social equity – the hallmarks of the University which were integral to establishing it as a premier higher education institution.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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When the new National Curriculum Framework (National Curriculum Framework) was adopted in 2005, NCERT invited experts from different disciplines as Chief Advisors to prepare a new textbook according to that framework. NCERT communicated to these advisors that the new course should be outlined in consultation with colleagues from all over the country. Through this process, a text book was to be designed (formulated) in the next year (2006).

At the time Civics was a subject in schools and Politics or Political Science was a subject for higher secondary i.e. Standards XI and XII. I taught both these subjects as professor at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune. Yogendra Yadav, a professor at CSDS, Delhi, was called in as chief advisor.

The first decision taken by us was to fix this subject called Civics. This is a category handed down from the British colonial period and hence the subject was taught within social sciences under the name of “politics” from Standards IX to X.

We invited almost 50 professors from the schools across the country, divided them into different groups and (based on consultations) prepared a new Rajya Shastra book, one for class IX, one for class XI and two for class XII. Later it was translated into Hindi and other languages. This book came into existence in 2006 and 2007. This is the background to the controversy that has now arisen with which we are concerned.

What has happened now begins at start of last year. NCERT announced that now since the times of Covid-19 pandemic (and its fallout) we will remove some burden from study so that there it eases study for the children. Following this decision, that many parts were gradually removed, sometimes announced and sometimes unannounced. Now this year, 2023, this process was given a new name. In English, we were told that “we” (NCERT) are “rationalising” studies and books. What this means is that NCERT is removing “any extra useless or inappropriate content from the book.”

In doing so, they removed the very foundational link between democracy and diversity. Federalism vanished. Not only this, but the period of the Emergency, which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has itself has been constantly talking about, was also removed. And of course, while doing all this, the parts that mentioned the Gujarat (2002) riots were removed. Not only this, some parts of sentences, for example, one sentence about Khalistan was retained and the other was removed. There were also changes in the methodology.

People’s Movements Social Movements are covered by a separate chapter in the book for Standard XII. And remember, students of class XII are voters. Now, keeping that in mind, what did NCERT do? They prepared for the student, a serial book covering sixty years of the Indian political history but –critically–entire Indian politics, but removed the chapter on social movements from it. News of such changes was received in the public domain but at no stage were the advisors or experts or teachers originally consulted, even told about these changes. We did not expect them to.

But basically what we are now saying is that now these books have been changed beyond recognition. That is, the books we created (2006) and the books that have now been cut and pruned (with chapters removed and passed down to children) are two entirely different things. Whenever we create a series of books, these books have an nternal logic. That logic no longer exists. Children are no longer expected to ask questions themselves. And so we have asked NCERT not to put our name on these books as Chief Advisors on the printed books anymore.

On this issue, some people have asked why don’t you resign? It is not a question of resignation, because we have been freed from our responsibilities in the past. And resigned. But until new books are produced, the authors and editors of old books remain. That’s how our name on the “Text Book Development Team” kept appearing on the opening pages for years.

Now what we mean is that the textbook we developed is not what the present textbook is. Now if NCERT wants to keep this text book then they should write the name of experts they want to credit (for the new version) but we have nothing to do with these books.

In a sense this is our protest, in a sense it is also our important philosophical role in the educational context. And so in the context of these books, just like in the science book, for example, the subject of evolution in science is removed. It has happened in the history text that any mention of Mughals has been removed.

Background

On June 9, in an open letter to the Director, NCERT, stating they were “Embarrassed” with the NCERT textbooks, Suhas Palshikar, Yogendra Yadav asked NCERT to drop their names. Following recent controversial changes made to political science textbooks, the political scientists wrote to NCERT asking it to drop their names as chief advisors. We feel embarrassed that our names should be mentioned as chief advisors to these mutilated and academically dysfunctional textbooks,” they said.

The letter was written jointly by Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav since they have been advisors for political science textbooks for the central body. They released their letter in light of disagreements with controversial changes that the education council recently made to many of its textbooks. “We were never consulted or even informed of these changes … The frequent and serial deletions do not seem to have any logic except to please the powers that be,” Palshikar and Yadav said in their letter to the NCERT director. Prof. Suhas Palshikar and I have dissociated ourselves from the six NCERT textbooks that we had the honour to put together but that have now been mutilated beyond recognition. We have asked NCERT to remove our names from these books.

While for the regime, the modifications have been justified on the grounds of ‘rationalisation’, we fail to see any pedagogical rationale at work here. We find that the text has been mutilated beyond recognition,” the letter also reads.

Among the changes the NCERT made to its political science textbooks earlier this year are removing references to the 2002 Gujarat communal violence  from its Class 12 book, chapters titled ‘Democracy and Diversity’, ‘Popular Struggles and Movements’ and ‘Challenges of Democracy’ from its Class 10 book and a section on sedition from its Class 8 book. The NCERT has also removed chapters relating to Mughal history from a Class 12 history textbook, and last year it also summarily deleted chapter on Darwin’s theory of evolution from its Class 10 biology textbook.It justified its decisions as part of a ‘rationalisation’ exercise designed to “reduce the content load” on students following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Related:

https://sabrangindia.in/embarrassed-with-textbooks-suhas-palshikar-yogendra-yadav-ask-ncert-to-drop-their-names/

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The AISHE survey, conducted by the Ministry of Education, thus displays that the Muslim community in India is falling significantly behind other communities in terms of higher education enrolment, painting a bleak picture of the Muslim community. While the COVID-19 pandemic is partly responsible for some of the decline, it also highlights the community’s economic challenges, which often force talented students to seek employment after finishing high school rather than pursue higher education.

Statistics for enrolment in higher education

According to the AISHE survey, the estimated total enrolment in higher education is 4,13,80,71, with nearly 91 lakh students in universities and constituent units. Out of the same, women students account for 48.67% of the total enrolment, while the male students make up 51.33%.

According to the report provided by the Hindu, the most significant decline in Muslim enrolment was reported in Uttar Pradesh, with a staggering 36% decrease. Other states that experienced significant declines include Jammu and Kashmir (26%), Maharashtra (8.5%), and Tamil Nadu (8.1%). In Delhi, one in every five Muslim students did not enroll in higher education after passing the Senior School Certificate Examination, casting doubt on the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) claims on improvement in education in the national capital. In Uttar Pradesh, where Muslims account for about 20% of the population, their enrollment for higher education stands at a mere 4.5%, despite the state reporting a significant increase in the number of colleges during the year. While the states that have a larger share of the Muslim population account for the higher share of decline, small states too show similar trends, Gujarat (6.1 per cent), Bihar (5.7 per cent) and Karnataka (3.7 per cent). Except in Tamil Nadu, Muslims alone witnessed an absolute decline in their enrollment. Kerala, on the other hand, stands out as the only state where 43% of Muslims pursue higher education. Notably, the Muslims in Kerala enjoy a 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and 12 per cent in educational institutions.

Regarding the marginalised communities, the survey highlighted the success of the OBC community, which constituted 36% of total higher education enrolment in the country, while the scheduled Castes accounted for an additional 14%. Together, these two communities occupy nearly 50% of the seats in universities and colleges. Contrastingly, the Muslim community’s higher education enrolment is only 4.6%, despite comprising over 14% of the country’s population.

Surprisingly, the survey also revealed that Muslim and other marginalized communities have more women students enrolling for higher students than male students, indicating gender related progress for women within these communities.

Presence of Muslim teachers in higher education

The AISHE survey’s findings also shed light on the inadequate presence of Muslim teachers in higher education institutions. As per the data, teachers from the General Category account for 56% of all teachers in India, while OBC, SC, and ST teachers represent 32%, 9%, and 2.5% respectively. In striking disparity, people from the Muslim community only made up around 5.6% of the total teachers.

In terms of gender, the data provided that there were 75 women teachers for every 100 male teachers. Notably, female OBC, SC, and ST teachers fare better than their Muslim counterparts, with 71% and 75% female representation, respectively, compared to only 59 women Muslim teachers per 100 male Muslim teachers. Similarly, in reference to the non-teaching staff, the survey provided that the highest female-to-male ratio is observed among the Other Minority Communities with 85 women per 100 males. In contrast, the Muslim community has the lowest representation, with only 34 females per 100 males.

These survey findings come just five months after the Ministry of Minority Affairs discontinued the Maulana Azad Fellowship, which provided financial support to Muslim students pursuing higher education. Additionally, the previous government in Karnataka revoked the 4% reservation for Muslims ahead of the Assembly election in the state.

How has the state contributed to the pitiful state of the Muslim community in the education sector?

On December 9, 2022, the Union government had announced the union government’s decision to discontinue the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF), a scholarship for students from minority communities, from this academic year. The reason quoted by the government was that the MANF scheme overlapped with various other fellowship schemes for higher educationMany people were outraged by the government’s decision, which raised concerns about the government’s intention to provide support to the Muslim students. Many Muslim students were taking advantage of the scheme when the government decided to discontinue it. This move may make it even more difficult for them to pursue higher education now, even as the percentage of students being enrolled is already decreasing.

In December 2021, six Hijab-clad Muslim students belonging to Udupi’s Government Pre-University College for Girls were barred from attending classes. On March 15, 2022, the High Court of Karnataka had passed a final order upholding the Government Order dated February 2, 2022, and thereby, allowed for restriction of the hijab in educational institutions. The case is yet to be heard in the Supreme Court by a 3- judge bench, as a split judgment had been delivered by the Supreme Court divisive bench in October last year. On January 9, an interim report was published by People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) -Karnataka, which had undertaken a study titled as “Closing the Gates to Education: Violations of Rights of Muslim women students.” to investigate the impact of the imposed ban on the students. The report provided that the right to education was the first right to be impacted by the hijab ban. The students stressed that they were unable to exercise their right to an education as a result of the decisions they had to make in the wake of the interim order. Many testimonials have been provided by the Muslim females on the hardships faced by them while exercising their right to education.

Thousands of such Muslim girls across the state were robbed of their access to education and a sizable number of women were even unable to appear for their examinations, a report by PUCL Karnataka had revealed. The fact-finding report by PUCL, which was released in September 2022, noted that while there is little to no official data regarding the number of students who were particularly impacted by the aforementioned sequence of events, the government stated that the total dropouts of hijab-wearing girls stand at 1,010 because of the hijab ban.

Furthermore, the removal of the 4% reservation for Muslims by the erstwhile BJP government in Karnataka has also had an adverse impact on the community’s educational prospects. Reservation policies are often seen as essential tools for promoting inclusivity and providing equal opportunities for marginalized communities.

Conclusion

According to the Sachar Committee Report (SCR) submitted in 2006, the educational status of Muslims was comparable to, if not worse than, that of the country’s most disadvantaged communities. And since then, their denigration has only intensified. It is also essential to note that while their enrollment rate is low, the Muslim dropout rates stand at 23.1 percent in comparison to the national school dropout average rate of 18.96 percent.

These recent government actions, the current environment of our country, along with the findings of the AISHE survey draw attention to the critical need for focused policies and programs to address the educational inequalities faced by the Muslim community. It is critical to foster a learning atmosphere that encourages and supports Muslim students in their pursuit of higher education.

Efforts should be made to improve access to quality education, provide scholarships and financial aid, and raise Muslim community awareness about higher education opportunities. Furthermore, steps should be taken to address the community’s economic challenges, ensuring that young students are not forced to forego higher education due to financial barriers.

This survey also highlighted how higher education institutions ought to prioritize enhancing the representation of Muslim teachers and non-teaching staff. Diverse faculty and staff may contribute to developing a more inclusive learning environment while also serving as role models for Muslim students.

To bridge the educational divide and promote equal opportunities for all communities, including the Muslim community, government bodies, educational institutions, and civil society organizations must collaborate. Only by addressing these issues and understanding that no child should be left behind, unable to access education, can India work toward establishing a more equitable and accessible education system that allows all citizens to thrive and contribute to the nation’s progress.

Related:

Hindu College, denies entry to students wearing burqas, sparks protests: UP

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Hijabs and saffron scarves a no-no in this Karnataka college

Hijab controversy takes an ugly turn in Karnataka
Hijabs and saffron scarves a no-no in this Karnataka college

Eddelu Karnataka Urges Siddaramaiah Govt to Repeal Unjust Laws, Combat Hate Politics, Address Inflation/Unemployment

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New Delhi: Close to 33% posts for professors, associate professors and assistant professors are lying vacant in 45 Central universities, raising grave concerns about the state of higher education in the country.

A total of 6,180 posts for professors, associate professors and assistant professors are lying vacant in Central universities out of the total sanctioned posts of 18, 956, as on December 1, 2022, according to the government.

Of these, 1,529 vacant posts are for professors out of 2,553 total sanctioned strength, 2,304 for associate professors out of the total sanctioned 5,110 posts and 2,347 for assistant professors out of the total 11,293 sanctioned posts, Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question.

On a question about the backlog in filling up vacancies for SCs, the minister said that of the total sanctioned posts of 2,284 for Scheduled Castes (SCs) in all three categories of professors, associate professors and assistant professor, there are 908 unfilled vacancies, while out of 1,142 sanctioned posts for Scheduled Tribes, 544 posts are lying vacant in central universities.

In the Other backward Classes (OBC) segment, the total number of sanctioned posts in all three categories is 3,451, out of which 1,559 are still lying unfilled.

In IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) , 4,502 faculty posts are lying vacant out of a sanctioned strength of 11,170 while in IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management), 493 teaching posts are lying vacant out of a sanctioned strength of 1,556.

Pradhan informed the House that his ministry had directed all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to fill up the vacancies in a Mission Mode.

“In addition to writing to all the HEIs to fill up the vacancies in a Mission Mode, the Ministry has set up a monthly monitoring mechanism. The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers Cadre) Act, 2019 has been notified on 09.07.2019 to ensure preparation of the rosters by considering the university as a Unit,” he said in his reply.

On reservations, he said: “According to the Act, reservation is applicable in all the Higher Educational Institutions except the institutions listed in the schedule and few other exceptions as stated in the Act. Further, as per this Act, reservation is provided for all posts in direct recruitment in Teacher’s cadre in Central Educational Institutions. After enactment of this Act, no reserved post is to be de-reserved.”

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Delhi University must not only reinstate recently deleted texts of writers Bama, Sukirtharani and Mahesweta Devi but also apologise to them, said Dalit Intellectual Collective in an open letter to Vice Chancellor P. C. Joshi. Backed by professors, students, activists and journalists across India, the letter condemned the select removal of three women writers (two Tamil and one Bengali) from the English literature syllabus of the university.

“The exertion of Brahmanical, patriarchal, communal prejudice and domination in higher education once again becomes painfully visible. These authors’ writings accentuate the life-narratives of Adivasis, Dalits, marginalised women and minorities,” said the Collective.

Members expressed shock that the University removed selections from the novel Sangati (Events), two poems “Kaimaru” (Debt) and “En Udal” (My Body), and the short story Draupadi, as per recommendations of the Oversight Committee, despite opposition from at least 16 Academic Council members.

Although literature has historically told stories of state-oppression on Adivasi women, the discrimination faced by Dalit women in caste-infected Indian villages, and manual scavenging, the Oversight Committee claimed that these texts “hurt sentiments” and “(are not) inclusive in nature to depict the true picture of the society”.

The Dalit Intellectual Collective asked, “Whose sentiments were hurt by these texts? Surely not the sentiments of those whose oppression was portrayed here! Must the sentiments of the privileged always shape academic programs?”

Members pointed out that women’s studies and Dalit studies in academia changed the literary scene in India in the past few decades, enriching the Social Science disciplines. The three women writers belong to this group of protest literature.

Rather than excluding these women, the group called for the inclusion of many more such voices from different regions and languages across India.

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It is unfortunate that the education system especially higher education in our country is such that it excludes those who belong to the marginalized sections of society, and those who are able to gain access to higher institutions have often been seen succumbing to the culture of such institutions which is designed to suit the needs and interests of the haves of the society. Every year suicide cases in Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) or recent case of suicide by Payal Tadavi is indicative of such reality.

It is only through higher education that one can at least see an opportunity to break the shackles of poverty and marginalization as school education can only act as stepping stone in accessing to higher education and cannot ensure a decent means of employment. Hence, access and success through higher educational institution is critical for the upliftment of the downtrodden in the society.

It is not hidden from anybody that the public higher education institutions in our country are so meager that it only accommodates a few of the students. Rest of the students then take recourse to the private institutions, however, such institutions are so expensive that only elite can manage to get access to these.

In order to secure an admission to the public institutions the ‘poor’ students not only have to compete with the ones who had school education from convent and international schools but they also have to fight with the costs that admission process of these institutions levy on them.
Recently, introduction of online entrance examinations and making the entire process of admission digital adds another layer of hurdle which further takes these spaces away from their grasp. In a country such as ours where most of the students from marginalized section are first generation learners and have studied in government schools; expecting them to be digitally equipped as their counterparts from the international schools shows the fault lines in the systemic treatment of education of have nots.

Most of the students who had studied in government schools studied in it because they lacked resources to buy even uniform, pen, paper and book, it is understood that they might not be having access to computers. Some of the government schools might be having computer lab but it largely remains non-functional. Students coming from rural remote areas have often reported not having seen computer throughout their school education.

According to the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) survey held in 2015, only 14% of Indian households possessed computers. The survey further highlights the rural urban divide in computer accessibility by noticing that only 6% of rural households and 29% of urban households possessed computers.

Also, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) in 2016 shows that only 26% of schools in rural India have access to computer aided learning. Further, a survey conducted by Google and KPMG in 2017 finds that more than 66% of people do not have access to internet facility.

And 78% of people access internet through mobile devices. It is clear that more than half of the population do not have access to either computer or to the internet.

Moreover, using mobile devices or using internet on mobile devices is different from using computer and creating, reading or filing of documents. In such a backdrop, what provisions do we have for students who come from computer deficient background and have to now give the admission form and entrance examination only in online mode through computer?

The digital entrance examination or the admission procedure has been implemented at a time when one third of the world illiterates are in India.

The problem appears stark when computer education is not a compulsory subject in schools neither computer efficiency of students has been ensured. It certainly is going to hinder the deprived sections’ access to the higher education institutions.

A recent story in one of the newspapers shed light on the glitches of public distribution system (PDS) which is based on online linking of ration cards, Aadhaar cards and uploading of data. Such technicalities and its implementation without giving proper thought have left people in starvation.

This is what happens when policies are made at top which when implemented often works in tandem with the existing power structures to exclude those who had always been excluded in the society.

Courtesy: Counter View

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The world’s problems certainly didn’t take a break this summer, and we know that successfully addressing them depends on a mindset much broader than any one discipline can offer. Our strategy is to cultivate a way of thinking that blends insights from multiple perspectives.

Collaboration across disciplines is key to solving the world’s toughest problems, researchers argue. Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock

As a psychologist, an anthropologist and an historian who teach at an engineering college, happily, we see examples of this kind of integration all around us.
 

Globally

Global climate change may be the biggest challenge facing humanity, and it is a problem that illustrates the world-changing implications of interdisciplinary problem-solving. In an analysis of the economic impact of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, experts at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company identified a spectrum of strategies and their associated costs. Options like converting to nuclear energy, shifting to electric vehicles, and retrofitting coal and gas plants all have great potential, but we can produce the most benefits for the lowest cost by adopting strategies such as switching homes to energy efficient lighting and better insulating our residences and workplaces. Compared to changing the national energy supply chain, these changes aren’t highly technical. They are matters of changing human beliefs and behavior.

An article published in Science last year diagnosed the real problem of climate change in this way: “Experiencing the self as separate from nature is the foundation of humanity’s damaged relationship to planetary resources.” The only real solution to the climate problems facing our planet is to change mindsets, an approach that requires a complex understanding of all the ways that individuals and institutions interact with the natural world. In other words, students should not only study the social sciences or the natural sciences, but also learn how the insights gained from both can be combined to be even more powerful.
 

Locally

The importance of making connections across perspectives also plays out at the local level.

One traffic intersection in the center of Drachten, Netherlands, accommodates 20,000 drivers as well as many bicyclists and pedestrians each day. As a result, it became notorious for its high rate of accidents and deaths. A conventional solution might have been to load up the roads with signage and signals that clearly instruct everyone where to go and when. But when Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman approached the problem, he saw the congested conduit as a place of profound disconnection. Rather than peppering the roads with signs, in 2003 he took all signage away. This approach to “shared space” design meant that drivers, cyclists and pedestrians had to increase their awareness of each other to successfully navigate the intersection. This reliance on human connection rather than engineered traffic patterns upended conventional thinking, and dramatically decreased the number of accidents and deaths. The most innovative solutions to local problems like this demand deep integration of quantitative and emotional insights that are too often segregated between traditional academic disciplines.
 

Individually

Finally, we see many challenges at the individual, personal level that call out for integrated thinking.

Terri, a Boston-area woman in her 60s who uses a wheelchair, told a team in one of our engineering design classes here at Olin College of Engineering that she finds grocery shopping a cumbersome and physically painful experience. A traditional engineer’s answer might point her to online services that could provide convenient in-home grocery delivery without unpleasant exertion.

But when our students joined Terri at the supermarket, tried to navigate the store from her wheelchair, and spent time with her in her home, they discovered something unexpected. For Terri, grocery shopping wasn’t only focused on getting food, but offered a special opportunity to laugh with the butcher, exercise autonomy and experience community membership. An online service could deliver her ground turkey, but it would also make her feel lonely. The students’ solution was a custom easily adaptable rack for the chair – painted bright purple, Terri’s favorite color – that eased the physical challenges of shopping while enhancing her ability to engage with her community in a meaningful way. Devising this solution required a nimble synthesis of engineering design and attention to human values.
 

Teaching new approaches

As these examples illustrate, we need to teach students to approach complex problems differently. Our future is at stake.

This past May, a joint task force from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a report entitled “Branches From the Same Tree: The Integration of the Humanities and Arts with Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher Education.” This study identified the great potential in interdisciplinary education. The list of possible benefits include improved student motivation and enjoyment of learning, development of teamwork and communication skills, ethical decision-making and critical thinking.
Done correctly, engineering begins and ends with people. Done optimally, tackling our world’s biggest challenges requires a diverse and integrative approach.

We see encouraging examples of this type of innovative integration in diverse corners of academia. For example, at George Mason University, the Rain Project, part of the EcoScience + Art Initiative brought together faculty from sciences, arts, humanities and design departments to develop a floating wetland. The project not only improved water quality and stormwater management, but also demonstrated the local community’s dependence on their wetlands for survival. Or the STAGE Lab at the University of Chicago, where new pieces of theater and film are created within the context of the Institute for Molecular Engineering. Here, the creation of new plays and films alongside the creation of new scientific findings inspires new ways of asking questions, in both art and science.

Ethics, sustainability, questions of identity, equity or social justice, and many other topics, must be included in the scientist’s or engineer’s design process. And their repertoire must include rigorous communication, teaming, self-directed learning, self-reflection and other skills. Similarly, artists, writers, managers and other non-technical professionals lose out when their work ends where scientific thinking begins.

Our Labor Day resolution this year won’t help us with weight or time management. Instead, it will help us to humbly remember the limits of any one way of thinking about major challenges and the promise of true integration.
 

Jonathan M Adler, Associate Professor of Psychology, Olin College of Engineering; Caitrin Lynch, Professor of Anthropology, Olin College of Engineering, and Robert Martello, Professor of the History of Science and Technology, Olin College of Engineering

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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