Onus on schools for quality education

Hyderabad: Experts stressed that good schooling is the foundation for quality education. At the India Education Conclave 2019, several academicians and educationists noted that quality education begins at school, and instead of establishing higher education institutions emphasis must be on setting up better schools.

According to Minority Affairs Advisor to Government of Telangana and TMREIS President, AK Khan, "Telangana stands second in women empowerment in education in India after Kerala."

He said the rise in education after the 1980s has led to the decline of communal riots, particularly in the old city of Hyderabad and many families are now focusing on girl education.

"63 out of 100 students selected for civil services coaching are girls" he said adding that "40 out of 63 posts for State's Urdu Officers are secured by women."

Decoding the importance of quality education, Khan said, "Telangana State government realised the importance of quality education at school level.

The government conducted a survey, interacted with Islamic scholars and intelligentsia from the Muslim community before starting the TMREIS project."

Speaking on the occasion, Consul General of Turkey Adnan Altimor "Quality Education is a ubiquitous problem worldwide. Lack of proper education policy for quality education is affecting nations worldwide including many countries in the Europe".

Addressing the India Education Conclave at Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad on Friday, the Turkish Consul said, "Quality of education can only be improved if all stakeholders including policy makers, NGOs, bureaucrats, educationists, academicians and social activists, do their part.

An education policy must be drafted after a consensus is reached with all sections of the society."

Ex Pro VC of Maulana Azad National Urdu University Prof Khaja Shahid expressed his satisfaction that in proposed new education policy assures to spend 6% of the country's GDP on education.

Discussing the pros and cons of making colleges and universities autonomous, he said, "Faculty in most institutions is against autonomy fearing misuse of rights by management leveraged by making the institutions autonomous".

He said, "Shortage of faculty is one of the major problems affecting quality education. As many as 40 per cent faculty positions in higher education institutions are vacant.

In states like Haryana and Odisha, as much as 70-80 per cent posts are vacant subsequently coercing universities in these states to rely on guest faculty. He questioned how universities can perform optimally at this rate of vacancies.

Pointing out the report of UGC, he said the quality of research work in India is inadequate and draws less references internationally.

Prof Khaja Shahid said, "UGC must formulate a mandatory Teacher Induction Program and make it a prerequisite for appointment of teachers in the universities. Such program would ensure certainty of skills and accountability of the teachers.

He also stressed that the government, President of India at the central level and Governor at the State level, should provide able leadership to institutions of higher education while pointing out that heads of some organizations are inadequate qualified for the posts, which is impacting the quality of education imparted at these institutions.