Public perceptions about private education

Esteemed professor and well read blogger T.A. Abinandanan has written an Op/Ed for the People's paper. Naturally he has blogged about it. We are happy for him and we are happy for ourselves too.

Let me explain, in the Indian psyche, professors hold a reverential position. This can be traced back to the Guru-Shishya tradition. College professors have a very strong influence on the minds of the public. They are regarded as infallible, their opinions irrefutable. Therefore, when a Prof. like Abi firmly goes over to the other side, it is a serious cause for concern. Think about it - the Prof. is churning out students by the dozen, all indoctrinated and ready to evangelize the unsuspecting people at large.

Fortunately, we are all familiar with the People's paper. Hopefully this Op/Ed will open the eyes of the public about Abi's political affiliations. Read Abi by all means, just add a pinch or two of salt every now and then. Of course, we add a punch of salt, like Al Pacino said in the movie Donnie Brasco.

Now let's focus on the Op/Ed itself. In this piece Abi severely critiques the Government's decision to expand the IIT infrastructure and also that of opening up science and technology focused Institutes - IIOs, as he calls them. He recommends that the Government create RUs - Real Universitites which will facilitate cross-disciplinary studies such as econophysics etc. and can serve a much larger number of students at a much lower cost.

Those who have studied Indian history know how the IITs came into being. India suffered a series of Tughlaqian experimentations under Nehru which continued well into the future after his death. We are still suffering, a massive jolt in the early 90s caused an accidental structural shift and we are reaping the benefits of this shift. But it is becoming more and more apparent that we need stronger push towards real freedom. The recent issue of The Economist presents a starkly bearish view, which was discussed on indianeconomy.org. Those bloggers remain optimistic. We remain skeptical. There are two great dangers - one of divisive politics. The second is the reign of pseudo-intellectuals like Abi.

In every sphere except education, the private sector has proved its mettle beyond doubts. We are beginning to see even a popular acceptance of this idea and the recent bollywood flick Guru (review will be up shortly) is a testament to this shift in attitude. So, what has kept the IIO bastion standing so far? This can be easily explained by supply side constraints and brand power. What are the odds that a private institute can challenge the IIT brand power? There is only one institute to my knowledge that has so far challenged the IIOs and that is Indian School of Business.

Public perception about private education comes from three concerns. The first is about an equitable admissions policy. When an Indian looks around him and sees corruption at a massive scale, he does not feel confident that there will be fair treatment if private institutes are allowed to thrive. The numerous private colleges do nothing to alleviate this fear since these try to reap short-term benefits. The IIT and IIM admissions policy so far has been equitable by design. Of course this will be diluted to a great extent when the OBC reservations come into force.

The second concern is about the cost of education. But this concern dates back to the days of high interest and lack of easy consumer credit. As a matter of fact this alone creates a filter for the applicants in the US schools. If a candidate does not feel that the cost justifies the value of the education, he simply skips school. This is evident by the numerous ROI calculators on the web.

The third concern comes from the fact that privatization will favor the rich. Ivanka Trump goes to Wharton. Surely there will be moral hazard if privatization is allowed? Part of this concern comes from a sense of stagnation and misplaced jealousy which dates back to the 70s. Indian people do not resent illiterate politicians milking hundreds of crores of rupees from them but they would resent an honest businessman making it for himself (of course playing by the rules created by others). Indian people never believed that the common man can even become wealthy. The only way to attain greatness was to attain the highest education possible thus maintaining self-respect. Experience in the advanced economies prove that privatization increases supply manifolds, alleviating such issues. Also, Ivanka Trump would not line up in front of Infosys headquarters for a job.

So, why does Abi not advocate privatization and chooses to bicker about minor variations of a Government controlled education system? Surely he should advocate a system which he has seen to be so successful first hand? Simple. It is in equal parts a belief in Nehruvian ideology, political partisanship and middle class concerns about education privatization.