India’s education system is struggling to cope with the fourth R, beyond the ’reading, ’riting and ’rithmetic — reservations. It comes as a surprise, though, to hear education minister Kapil Sibal saying that, when foreign universities come into the country, they too will have to comply with the reservation obligations that apply to Indian universities (‘Foreign universities need to adhere to quota laws: Sibal’, September 28). It is obvious that Sibal is trying to balance the interests of educational institutions like the IITs and the IIMs and does not want them to have a disadvantage vis a vis foreign institutions that set up establishments in the country. So if MIT wants to set up a facility in India, Sibal feels that not having to fulfil quota norms will give it an unfair benefit over the IITs. The problem with Sibal’s argument, however, is that the quota norms do not apply to private sector education institutions in India even right now. So, an Amity University does not have to give admission to certain caste groups because of their caste, nor does it have to hire teachers on this basis. If Amity does not have to fulfill these obligations, why should these be imposed on private American or Singapore universities?
Satish Gupta, Gurgaon
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