Challenges Related to Equity in Higher Education in India
Author : Mitali Swain
Abstract :
The nation's strength depends on its human resources and the human resources is properly channelized through a well-organized education system. After independence access to higher education in India grew in a faster rate in terms of the number of higher education institutes and gross enrollment ratio. There are various Government initiatives like scholarship schemes, hostels for girls, and universities for women, and making education a fundamental right to increase the gross enrollment ratio in higher education institutes. But still, the gross enrollment ratio is lower and the dropout rate is higher in the higher education institutes as compared to school education in India. The challenges faced by higher education in India are related to gender, caste, religion, rural-urban distribution, and interstate distribution of educational institutions. However, the growing rate of unemployment rate persists. So to counter these issues government should focus on increasing awareness about various vocational courses, developing infrastructure and maintain proper pupil teacher ratio irrespective of region and increasing employment rate to attract more students towards pursuing Higher Education. The govt. also needs to address equity and quality in higher education through effective policies to make it globally competitive. The current study aims to highlight different challenges and issues related to equity in higher education in India.
Keywords :
Higher education, access, equity
