A pinching: paradox

Despite India’s rapid economic growth, the lack of quality education, infrastructure, and basic facilities is leading to youth migration, with many students settling abroad

- SATISH SINGH

Even though India has become the fifth largest economy in the world and is rapidly moving towards becoming the fourth largest, there are not enough options and opportunities available in the country to get quality higher education, nor is there a sound education system at the lower level. Additionally, employment matching qualifications is not available in the country. At the same time, basic facilities like roads, electricity, pure drinking water, and basic health services are lacking, leading to the migra tion of youth from India.

Since independence, many reforms have been made in the field of education, leading to significant improvements in employment, research, and literacy rates. Today, there are more than 1,000 universities and 42,000 colleges across the country providing higher education, but they still lack adequate capital, skilled teachers, and infrastructure. However, there has been a significant increase in research work in recent years.

For example, there was a 54 per cent increase in research work from 2017 to 2022.

Currently, only 13 per cent of students pursue higher education in India, whereas internationally this percentage ranges from 28 to 90. According to the Worldwide Education for the Future Index, India was ranked 33rd in the world in terms of providing quality education in 2020, compared to 35th in 2019 and 40th in 2018. This is not an encouraging ranking.