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Crisis in Higher
Education Role Analysis of teachers in a University System Expansion of higher education (HE) in India has been phenomenal, especially in the last few decades, as is obvious from the fact that colleges for general and professional education have increased about 20 times and universities have multiplied by more than 10 times. Though very large, it is well known that our education system is neither relevant nor effective. Also, everyone who cares to know, knows it well that higher education in India is in a mess. In spite of the glut of the literature analysing the problems of higher education and recommending many so-called pragmatic solutions, the problem stays. The core process of education at any level is transaction between the teacher and the taught. For any authentic transaction, knowledge of the subject and good communication on part of the teacher and active learning on the part of the student are necessary conditions, though not sufficient. The sufficient condition is mutual respect and right attitude of both participants. Rani Mehta’s book, which is the result of her doctoral thesis carried out in Punjab University and two of its affiliated colleges, makes a specific effort to understand the role of teachers in a university system. The author has taken a sample of 132 teachers out of more than 700 from the university and 45 out of all the teachers in 104 affiliated colleges, which may be more then 7000. Similarly, the sampling frame of the students is 77 out of more than 18,000 in the university and 72 out of 70,000 in all the affiliated colleges. The number selected for the study by the author due to whatever limitations appears to be too inadequate to draw any meaningful inferences. The chapter, Views of Teachers on Crisis in Higher Education, perhaps highlights one of the more important issues addressed by the study. The author states that the teachers were asked to specify whether or not, in their opinion, the higher education was in crisis. Nearly 85 per cent of the university teachers feel all is not well; however, 94 per cent of the college teachers feel that higher education is in a mess. What useful recommendation can emerge out of this finding when this is already an established fact and the author has chosen the subject for her thesis due to this very reason? While analysing the attributes of the teachers that influence the students the most why the set of attributes selected by the author does not include the knowledge of the subject, a very vital factor, defies logic. In another chapter, a detailed analysis by the author reveals the fact that female teachers get less leisure time than male teachers to pursue various interests. Does it need any study to inform the readers of such an obvious thing? Some good suggestions to overcome the problems faced by students in seeking higher education have come from students and need serious consideration. A view of students on the behavioural aspects of teacher and on student-teacher relationship is another useful finding and the higher education planners should take a note of these. Any academic study of this nature is useful only if it reveals either unknown facts or establishes new relationship between the known facts. The present study does neither; it just validates all that is well known. Perhaps, this is a reflection on the quality of research in social sciences, in general. |
