P. P. Prabhu

Special Education Zone institutions should not be confined to segregated areas, but the principles of SEZ would be applicable to them. Such an institution should be deemed to be established in a foreign enclave and, therefore, freed from all domestic controls and restrictions.

THE CET (Common Entrance Test) imbroglio and the seat sharing controversy as also the issue of fees to be charged for professional education in private management educational institutions have been disturbing the education scene in some States. The controversies are also clouding the opportunities for making India a major education destination for engineering, science and medical education.

Some countries are aggressive in promoting education service almost as a business. Education services may not have as great a potential in terms of employment or earnings as, say, tourism services but the invisible benefits are substantial. Goodwill apart, the foreign students returning to their countries will help generate and foster trade and business ties.

Singapore recently launched a programme, the objective of which is to make the city-state a global school house. Singapore has realised that there is a growing market for high quality professional education in this part of the world and has been encouraging the setting up of world-class institutions to take advantage of the growing demand for educational service.

India has better capabilities and credentials to provide quality education in many areas from engineering to medical and from management to dairying. One effective way of ensuring this development is to encourage Special Education Zones for professional education along the lines of SEZs for industry and commercial services.

The Special Education Zone ( SEdZ) institutions need not, and should not, be asked to be located in, or confined to, segregated areas, but the principles of SEZ would need to be made applicable — such an institution should be treated as though it is deemed to have been established in a foreign enclave, and, therefore, freed from all domestic controls and restrictions.

An SEdZ institution, whether medical or engineering institution should not be required to seek any approvals for its courses; it would need to be allowed to charge any fees, follow its own admission criteria and award its own degrees, and so on. Such institutions should also be given the freedom to affiliate themselves to any foreign institutions. However if an SEdZ institution wants recognition of its degrees and diplomas in our country, it would be required to meet the standards and conditions of affiliation and recognition.

In the case of SEZ, the normal rule would be that local sale or supply of production or the service is treated as imports. In the case of SEdZ, domestic students would need to be permitted, but the maximum intake could be restricted to a certain percentage of capacity, say, 50 per cent. However in the initial few years, the minimum percentage of foreign students could start with, say, 15 per cent, going up by 10 per cent every year so as to reach a minimum of 50 per cent within five years. This concession may be warranted as it takes some time for any educational institution to develop a reputation and get recognition and attract foreign students.

The advantages of encouraging such SEdZs are many. Such a policy will encourage the setting up of world-class educational institutions in the country and our students will also get opportunity to benefit from such facilities. SEdZ institutions would be able to attract and nurture better talent as they would be in a position to pay more compensation for their faculty. Thus, there will be a general improvement in the quality of teaching personnel; research will get a boost. Hospitals that would be permitted to be set up along with medical colleges would be able to provide the best of medical care at much lower cost than in the rich countries. Once the reputation spreads, India can become the preferred destination for top class medicare, including dental treatment.

The potential of medicare service runs into billions of dollars and over the years, India, given the professional skills of its medical personnel, can become the preferred destination for medical treatment. Such a development will create significant employment opportunities in the country.

Many criticisms against the concept are bound to be raised. It may be argued that in the absence of regulation and control, the quality and standard of teaching could be poor. But, then, there will be little possibility of such institutions attracting foreign students. Also it is not that all the institutions that permitted to be established after due government permissions and approvals have been able to maintain any semblance of quality. Even with all regulations and supervision, the standard of many colleges and even some Indian universities is quite pathetic. It is not regulation that will help improve standards and quality but the compulsion of competition. Anyway, SEdZ institutions or their courses need not be recognised by Indian universities. The SEdZ institutions will not be able to attract Indian students if the courses are not recognised by any reputed Indian or foreign university as there will be little employment potential without explicit recognition of qualification.

An apprehension may be expressed that if the concept were to be made applicable to existing private management colleges, most of them may like to become SEdZ institutions. Such a development is unlikely as they would be obliged to create the necessary infrastructure and earn reputation so as to be able to attract foreign students. There may be a lurking reservation that the concept of SEZ professional colleges may encourage fly by night operators to start so-called international standard colleges and dupe the gullible public. But, then, to forestall such possibilities the SEdZ regulations can lay down minimum infrastructure requirements, financial strength, etc. A condition could also be incorporated in the SEdZ regulations that if there were to any shortfall in the strength of foreign students in any year, the domestic intake should also be proportionately reduced.

A valid criticism against an SEdZ could be that such a concept will create a separate class of institutions accessible only to the rich and that such a system would be inherently unfair to meritorious students. Today students who can afford huge expenditure are permitted to go abroad for studies. Availability of high quality education within the country may tempt many of them to continue studies in such institutions in the country. An SEdZ institution will require enormous investment and the running costs would also be high and obviously such an institution will have to charge high fees. But the SEdZ institutions will not reduce the opportunities now available to meritorious students.

On the contrary, the growth of such institutions would divert the students capable of paying higher fees from the existing private educational institutions and thereby release more seats for merit students.

It bears mention that class distinction exists even now in the education sphere. The fees for medical course vary from a few thousands of rupees in government institutions to over Rs 3 lakh in private medical colleges for payment seats. The class distinction is also pronounced in medicare — there are government hospitals offering best of care for almost negligible fees and there are corporate hospitals charging many times more for similar care. In recent times, there has been a mushrooming of high schools in the private sector that charge several hundred times more fees than charged by existing well-established private schools.

There may be also an apprehension that SEdZs will indirectly pave the way for foreign investment in education. There can be no serious objection to foreign investment in medical or engineering education, when such investment is encouraged in most other spheres including financial services. Anyway in the initial years, majority investment could be restricted to domestic players.

It is not that the concept of SEdZ educational institutions should be confined to engineering, medical and dental education only. It can be extended to diverse fields, from science and management education, to textile design and plantation management. In the field of management education, some foreign institutions have already a presence in India. Since their degrees or diplomas have as much employment value as those of Indian universities, there is good demand for such courses

Of course, SEdZ means commercialisation of education. But the entry of privately funded education would not and should not supplant government funded education facilities and where necessary the starting of new institutions. Hence it is in our nation's interest to get over the notion that education by private management institutions is inherently wrong and should be discouraged. While it is the primary duty of the state to provide enough opportunities for education at all levels at low cost, restricting the freedom of those who are willing to invest and willing to pay for admission is, as Prof Pratap Bhanu Mehta put it well, self defeating.

SEdZs for education would be beneficial in many ways including by way of augmentation of educational facilities that too of very high quality and standards.

(The author is a former Union Commerce Secretary.)

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