Monday, March 5, 2007

Business of Education

A friend of mine wanted admission in MDS (Master of Dental Sciences), in Bangalore, India and had to write the entrance exam COMED-K. She had to get at least 50% in the exam to get a seat and rank in the top 50 to get a government seat. The fee for a government seat is around Rs. 2 lakhs per annum (translates to around $4652). The fees for a management seat is an unbelievable 20 lakhs for the entire course plus the yearly fees (works out to be around $50000)!

Now, please help me understand, which middle class Indian family can afford this kind of money? Suddenly, education has become the prerogative of the rich Indian and the Non-Resident Indian (NRI)! India, needs educated people especially doctors, with our health services being among the worst in the world! Apart from which, a lot of these doctors pay this indecent amount of money and go abroad and our health services continues to be backward!

What can the government do? The government can increase spending on Education to make it accessible to the ordinary Indian and ensure that students that join premier and world renown Indian institutes such as the Indian Institute of Technologys (IITs), Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and other such premier institutes funded by the government of India, they stay and give something back to the country first – at least for a period of 5 years to ensure that the country gets what it has invested in them! I know that this sounds very jingoistic, but this is surely one of the ways to guarantee that the country gets back!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

ya my friend u r absolutely correct regarding this..even i m one of the victim..u discussed only fee structure but haven't discuss tht all the seat r mostly booked..before exams..even this is issue to be raised