Himachal Pradesh has struggled to improve rural literacy and has had to focus on primary education, but the hill state is now the fastest growing education hub. In the past two years, 10 private universities have set up their base and the government has issued Letters of Intent (LoI) to 19 others.
Srikant Baldi, principal secretary(education) of Himachal Pradesh, said the initiative by private players was the best thing that could have happened.
“The state has nearly 100 per cent enrollment ratio at the elementary level, but the ratio drops to around 80 per cent for the secondary level and around 70 per cent for senior secondary level. For the colleges and universities the ratio drops to 18 per cent. These universities will help the students to opt for higher studies,” said Baldi
These universities are being established through an independent act. The private players are allowed to purchase land on their own or take it on lease from the government for a minimum of 30 years. They can acquire 10 acres to set up the institutions. However, experts say, the area is too small to set up an institute of higher education.
According to authorities, this trend would help the country up its gross enrollment ratio (GER) which is at a dismal 12.4 per cent against the international average of over 50 per cent.
“It is very important to allow private players to be stakeholders in promoting higher education in India, more so in Himchal Pradesh. This would encourage the local populace to send their children to school and subsequently enroll for higher education to hone their skills at the college and university levels,” said an official.
“To achieve the target of 30 per cent gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education by 2020, more universities and colleges needs to come up. Hence, the role by private players becomes even more imperative,” said Sandeep Kaura, assistant managing director, Rayat-Bahra Group, that has set up a university in the state.
Kaura said Himachal Pradesh being a hill station, offers a conducive environment for education which could further help the state in promoting edu-tourism, as was being done in other countries.
However, everyone is not as optimistic. A former education minister said the government allowing private players to change the land use after 15 years was shocking. “A university needs to have minimum 40-50 years before it could establish a name and the clause of 15 years is perplexing.”
Educationists fear that private universities would only offer professional courses which are market driven. “They will not offer core subjects like History, Language or Literature. They are going to charge hefty fees for technical courses and not give thought for the overall growth of the state,” said a senior professor requesting anonymity.
