Aligning Education with SDG’s

Aligning Education with SDG’s

Context: India is committed to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), while emphasizing the role of National Education Policy 2020, in aligning education with SDG.

NEP and SDG:
• SDG 4 pertains to access to quality education. It is a prerequisite for the achievement of other goals.
• NEP 2020 has been prepared in tune with most of the SDGs. It calls for changes at all levels of education, priority should be accorded to higher education because it will help India attain several SDG’s, such as SDG 1(No poverty), SDG 3 (Good health and wellbeing) and SDG 8 (Decent work and Economic growth)
• According to data from OECD, people with a higher education degree are more employable. NEP 2020 acknowledges this and hence is aligned with the SDG 10 (Reducing Income Inequalities)
• NEP also aims to improve access to higher education for marginalized communities and promote Gender Equality (SDG 5) by addressing disparities in enrollment and retention.

Challenges facing higher education system in India
Gross Enrollment Ratio
• It is 27.3 for age group 18-23 years based on 2011 population. In USA, the GER is 88.2%, China 49.1%.
• The NEP-2020 envisages Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) to reach GER of 50% by 2030.

Funding
• State institutions have been left to fend for themselves with funding mainly directed towards starting more premier institutes.

Inefficient Human resource management
• According to data presented by Education ministry in Parliament this March, more than 6,000 teaching positions are currently vacant across the country’s central universities.
• Faculty shortages and high Student-to-faculty ratio.
• Inability of HEI’s to attract and retain well qualified teachers due to factors such as ad-hocism, lack of merit based career progression, poor teacher education institutions (TEIs)

Regulatory Issues
• The country has poor record with both the UGC and AICTE being seen more as controllers of education rather than facilitators.

Commercialization of education
• Rise of private ownership and management of educational institutions
• Lack of focus on ethical and value-based education, lowered standards and quality of educations.

Recent initiatives taken by Government
• All India Survey on Higher education (AISHE)
• National Institutional ranking framework (NIRF)
• UGC’s Learning outcome based curriculum framework (LOCF)
• Education Quality upgradation and inclusion program (EQUIP)
• Global initiative for Academics Network (GIAN)
• Higher education financing Agency (HEFA) – A JV of Ministry of Education and Canara Banks, it leverages funds from market, donation, CSR activities which are used to finance improvement in infrastructure in top institutions.
• Institution of Eminence Scheme (IoE) – Selected institutions in public and private sector will be declared as IoE and receive 1000 crore in donation in next 5 years.

Way Forward
• NEP 2020 demands that Indian higher education be committed to mapping its day-to-day operations with SDGs. Ranking universities according to the achievement of SDGs is a welcome move, but is still inadequate to meet the SDG deadline.
• Universities should adopt sustainability as a mantra and incorporate SDGs into their institutional strategies, both in daily administration and in teaching and research.