The ET says that the Indian education market is thriving and likely to be valued at Rs 6,00,000 crores by 2015. They expect more private investment in the sector.
Our education sector is either poor-quality-but-cheap or poor-quality-and expensive. Very few institutions are good-quality-cheap or good-quality-expensive. Private investors seem to have got many things right , but when it comes to education, few seem to know what is required.
In Hyderabad, the crucial 'Junior College' segment is crucial because most, if not all children wish to join the IITs and prepare for it primarily in the 11th and 12th years of education.
There were two major players in in this--a group called Sri Chaitanya and another called Narayana. These made it impossible for other smaller fries to sustain themselves in this sector. Most others sold out to them and last year the two giant businesses merged to form a giant conglomerate owning almost all the junior colleges in Hyderabad and much of AP. For them it is exactly like poultry farming..........they sort students into those expected to get into IITs, those likely to get 95% marks in the board exam, those expected to get 70-60% and so on. These are placed in different locations and treated differently. No one actually gets educated in the sense of being really exposed to different ideas and thoughts, but that's beside the point.
Now, as businesses, these are extremely successful. They make a lot of money for the promoters and investors. So this is how the 6,00,000 crore industry looks like.....efficiently managed, like the hi-tech poultry businesses with children huddled into caged tenements masquerading as schools.
Our education sector is either poor-quality-but-cheap or poor-quality-and expensive. Very few institutions are good-quality-cheap or good-quality-expensive. Private investors seem to have got many things right , but when it comes to education, few seem to know what is required.
In Hyderabad, the crucial 'Junior College' segment is crucial because most, if not all children wish to join the IITs and prepare for it primarily in the 11th and 12th years of education.
There were two major players in in this--a group called Sri Chaitanya and another called Narayana. These made it impossible for other smaller fries to sustain themselves in this sector. Most others sold out to them and last year the two giant businesses merged to form a giant conglomerate owning almost all the junior colleges in Hyderabad and much of AP. For them it is exactly like poultry farming..........they sort students into those expected to get into IITs, those likely to get 95% marks in the board exam, those expected to get 70-60% and so on. These are placed in different locations and treated differently. No one actually gets educated in the sense of being really exposed to different ideas and thoughts, but that's beside the point.
Now, as businesses, these are extremely successful. They make a lot of money for the promoters and investors. So this is how the 6,00,000 crore industry looks like.....efficiently managed, like the hi-tech poultry businesses with children huddled into caged tenements masquerading as schools.
2 comments:
Could not agree more with what you say L. The scene is actually pretty frustrating and particularly when you realise that education is the base, the foundation on an individual. This business approach in education segment(which is expanding even in all the possible corners of the country) seems similar to the assembly line production in preparation of a catastrophe.
so sad, but well described the state of the art!!! I hope someone is listening, at least parents...
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