THE HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION IN INDIA HAS NOT SCALED ON EXPECTED LINES!

• At the best of times, the Indian education sector is still a work in progress, unable to meet the rising demands from what we keep harping as demographic dividends, even as the nation becomes the most populated in the world. The less said, the better about the higher education scenario in the country, since the professional courses are being administered by very few institutions of repute, though the seekers are humongous in numbers. The lakhs of graduates passing out of the Indian educational institutions are huge. But the commensurate avenues available to the seekers to pursue higher education of their choice are restricted, catering to a minuscule segment of society.

PC: The Hindu

• To its credit, successive governments at both the Centre and the States have made concerted efforts to spruce up the struggling education sector itself. Even though the schools, both public and private, have made a remarkable advancement over the years, the private schools have taken an overarching march over the public schools is a fact that cannot be denied. One of the most affected areas of the higher education system in the country is medical education, compelling youngsters to make a beeline for overseas destinations. And the geopolitical situation is that some of the overseas destinations are causing a lot of concerns here. It’s a sad replay of events in Ukraine, 1500-2000 Indian students studying medicine in Iran are now caught in a warzone.

PC: futureMBBS

• Every year, around 25000 Indian medical students go abroad. Why? Simply because it’s easier and the courses cost less. Now that there have been two demonstrations of how geopolitics can upend medical students’ studies abroad, and given that conflicts seem to be the flavour of these times, we must ask whether India’s medical education system is impossible to fix. Mind you, NEET was to bring uniformity and transparency to medical admissions. Set aside debates on whether NEET introduced new problems. The exam spawned another set of coaching factories. The integrity of the test itself was compromised by impersonation of examinees and paper leaks. And who is at the receiving end? No guess, the students and the affected families.

PC: OrissaPOST

As reports suggest, on average, 22 lakhs, more than the population of Paris, appear for NEET. Around 12 lakhs qualified for about 90000 medical seats. These include about 20000 management quota seats in private colleges and NRI seats. That leaves lakhs who have cleared NEET but don’t get admission anywhere. So, they go to Iran, Israel, Russia, and Ukraine. Further, fees for management/NRI seats can go up to Rs 1.4 cr for the 4.5-year MBBS course. Tuition fees in an average private medical college range upwards of Rs 45L-Rs 55L. Contrast this with the 35L expenditure, including on living expenses, for a 6-year MBBS course in a good college in Ukraine, Russia, or China. How many evacuations will it take to alter this situation on the ground? Sad.