Education is considered of incredible importance in the modern world. From well educated people like Barack Obama and Dr. Manmohan Singh to less educated but intelligent people like Bill Gates and Narendra Modi, everyone advocates for better education facilities, for they believe education is the pillar of a healthy and sound society.
In the modern context, much of education has been handed to private players who charge exorbitant fees to educate young students. This seriously undermines the altruistic nature of education, much more so in a country like India where students are supposed to consider their Gurus as equivalent to Gods.
Commercialization of education not only gives it a tainted image, but also promotes divisive policies. A person coming from a rich background obviously has a much better chance to do well in life than one from a poor background. Also, since profit is the main motive, these education conglomerates only cater to the richer urban demographic, vastly neglecting the rural folk.
Further problems with this system include hedging, where a corrupt politician or businessman opens up a school to hedge the risks of his other ventures. Although on paper, such schools promote good “moral values” among their students, the truth about the founder only sets a bad example for the students that are studying in that particular school. Hence, excessive commercialization of educational institutions would lead to a generation of people with very gray morality.
However, commercialization of education has some positive effects too. First of all, it allows for more money to flow into the sector. Government funding of public schools and colleges is abysmally low internationally and the standard of education isn’t very high to begin with. Commercialization makes sure that students reach their full potential.
Also, commercialization would lead to competition among the “bringers of education” which would lead to a simple market correction thus bringing down the price. This would slowly but steadily build towards companies trying to rope in as many customers (in this case students) as possible and hence off setting the disadvantage of not being inclusive of all the classes.
Hence, in essence, it can be said that while commercialization has its drawbacks, it does at times breathe life into the ailing education sector. In a utopian world, there would be a balance between public and private schools, with public schools not being too shoddy and private schools not being too expensive.
A few steps towards this goal would be increasing government funding of schools, adopting policies that ensure free and fair competition among parties that ply the trade of education and ensuring that the sector doesn’t get overly commercialized. At the same time, it should also be ensured that the sector isn’t monopolized by the government itself. We need a balance between socialism and capitalism, if you will.
What do you think of private schools and colleges? What, in your opinion, makes a difference when it comes to education? Do you have any tips on how to improve the education sector? Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading. Also, do not forget to follow me on Twitter if you haven’t already. For any queries or collaboration, you can always contact me.
Much love,
–SG
The Shining Gem 
Rightly said, both private and public education institutions have their respective positives & negatives, and so in a scenario such as this, especially in context with India, I think the best way forward is through public-private partnership and wage-with-efficiency.
Government schools have better infrastructure and well qualified staff, the only problem lies in maintenance and absence of accountability. On the other hand private schools lack expansive campuses but their teachers are result oriented. So a partnership can be hatched wherein the Govt can provide the infrastructure but the management can be retained by the private players. The Govt can continue providing free education and take care of the wage bill, as it is currently doing, but the only difference will be that the increment in the salaries of teachers and principals will only happen if the result is upto a certain set mark.
Govt teachers get handsome salaries irrespective of the kind of result, so if we implement wage-with-efficiency, I think it will reap benefits for the students.
Let private schools be fully privately owned, only the now existing govt schools be brought into this public-private partnership programme because they direly need it.
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That’s true, but at the same time, is it okay to judge a teacher on the basis of the pupil’s performance? I mean to a certain extent a teacher does influence the pupil, but barring his promotion if the student fails is a bit extreme.
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No no not barring the promotion entirely but all I mean is that some accountability has to be there, like it is in the private sector. Some targets need to be set. Govt teachers are well trained and well educated. But they don’t work up to their full potential. Their capacities need to be harnessed fully. Only then our Govt schools will perform well. And monetary incentive is the best form. We need to stop shying away from showing strictness. It is required.
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Fair point to you.
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Good read!!!
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So rightely said, though privatisation of school is an expensive affair but yet somewhere may be coz of lack of maintu. ainence in terms of premises, staff or may be facilities, we all ourselves look to private schools. The kind of exposure student gets, in all streams is missing in government schools. I totally believe in education to all but a recent incident about government school has actually changed my mindset, nothing comes in way of safety of your kid. I feel decorum should be maintained hardly matter if its a govt school. Free education doesn’t mean you are free from responsibility as a teacher, parent or board.
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Also, free education doesn’t mean good quality of education either.
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Yup
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Some interesting ideas here. Opening a school just to hedge on other ventures seems uniquely cruel if that’s the only objective. But, I think your point on anything that sheds light on or brings money into education can’t be all bad. In the US I have heard things like “Charter schools don’t work.” And the counterpoint to that is, yes, some don’t. There should be a process to evaluate such private ventures and close the bad ones. Then the good ones can thrive. No business sector can exist where people don’t have the right tools to evaluate outcomes. And education is too important to wait for children to fail before the real issues are uncovered. Interesting post.
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Thanks Angela. I agree that we should never compromise with education.
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With the abuses we have seen in the US at both the secondary and college level, I have severe reservations about commercialization of education. I agree that costs are out-of-control, but we’ve kept courts in the US busy with lawsuits stemming from commercial education fraud: training that isn’t up to standard, job placement promises that aren’t kept, lack of accreditation, teachers with fraudulent credentials, etc.
We’ve found out in healthcare in the US that for-profit hospitals are laggards in investment in technology and in adopting state-of-the-art medical practice. The demand for profit restricts funds for investment in the mission. I suspect the same is true of for-profit education.
The major research universities serve the need for basic research to fund future technology innovation. In the US, that basic research is funded by partnerships with government or with major corporations (GM, Ford, Toyota), not by tuition. In fact, some of the top schools have taken steps to make themselves more affordable. Harvard, for example, has a quite modest tuition for first year students, and ample financial assistance for those who can get through that year.
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It was so nice to learn more about the education system of the US, and they seem to have done well so far.
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Why have different categories of schools / colleges ? For that matter I think it would be better if the curriculum is centralized .All different states having their own patterns system ..One India, one education system .
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I think a centralized system would have many loopholes for people to exploit. Better administration starts at grass root levels, go from the bottom to the top, although I see your point.
By the way how come you change your name so often? It gets tough recognizing you.
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Hmmm! Well since my husband was in defense services we used to move to different states .It became very difficult to gain admission into colleges for my children as different states had different criteria /subject combinations etc .So the thought .
Yes I changed my name once only from infintewaves as only link was working not my display profile .
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Oh yeah that makes sense, and yes as far as admissions are concerned, the authorities can do away with so many rules and regulations. Regularly moving kids are very unfortunate in this regard.
Also, my salute to your husband. Is he retired now since you used the term “was” ?
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Yes he retired in july 2015 but now is working as senior welfare officer with MP govt (looking after welfare of ex faujis war widows etc ) and kids are settled doing well in their careers .But we had tough time .Thank You !
In spite of all fauj gives good grooming and exposure .
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That’s great and that’s really good to know. 🙂
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Interesting read. We had a prominent paediatric dentist fund an entire specialty program at our University. He became program head and one of the first entrants was his son 🙄 A lot of the graduates were then funnelled into his chain of practices. I have no idea how the University allowed this to happen…
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In the era of globalization and emerging market economy, it’s unviable and infeasible for a overwhelmingly populated country like India to conceive an idea of education solely imparted and regulated by govt.
This is an formidable task to impart quality education along with secured job.
Hence it’s not only required but inevitable to include private players in the picture.
Thereby working PPP model hand in hand
in which both parties would play a critical role.
Indeed there are certain grey areas, nonetheless long term benefits outweighs them.
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It’s a sad scenario its too much to privatisation and branding happening. Even my kida bag, stationery pouch provided jas school name on it. It’s just too much.
Education is one big money making industry. Has lost it’s feel of school college as an institute of imparting knowledge and light. It’s more like booking a seat in a bogie for child in general, Reservation, Ac, two tier, three tier, how much you are willing to spend.
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Sadly, that’s the harsh truth.
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😦
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To be well-educated today is not simply finishing school but reading all the time and traveling. There is more to learning than what school textbooks tell. Travel, learn other languages, peoples and cultures. Only then will you be well-educated. All the degrees in the world do not make a person well educated. Others will disagree with my perspective and that doesn’t matter. Many so called well-educated persons lack street smarts or experience. One needs to strive to become a well rounded individual and that means being a lifelong learner.
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Great post! I think education is trying very hard to move in the right direction but is currently still way off where it needs to be.
A big thing I have noticed is the restrictions due to standardised tests on facts that are pretty much irrelevant for today’s world. For me, Assessments need changing, universities need to accept different ‘qualifications’ and employers need new ways to find the right employee (using specific recruitment procedures/ internships more)
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It seems anytime you commercialize something, then you’re monetizing it, and I don’t think that’s a great idea, especially when it comes to educating children. Children deserve a quality, public education, free from business people and politics.
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Yeah true.
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Great read, thanks for sharing!
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Thanks. Your name really reminds me of the Australian cricket player Glenn Maxwell. 😀
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I do not think that Commercialization of education is a bad idea, but there must be some limit on fees and donation school charging. It is government responsibility to provide free education to all. If they fail in it they have no right to stop private firms to charge money for good quality education.
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I’d say commercialization is doing more harm to education than benefitting it, even though it does bump up competition, but the only real competition is in how much a private school can extract from parents. I really hate the way education is being handled in this country, right from supporting parallel education institutes which I’m completely against, down to the way we are handling even basic education. Apart from a few good schools, education has become mostly a cash cow where everyone is busy milking the student and the parents.
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A very keen observation. I’d love to see a post about parallel education if you were willing to write about it.
#FanRequest
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Aw, so nice of you. I think I’ve already written about Parallel Education in my post – Are We Failing As Parents, but I’d love to write more about it. I don’t know just when that could happen though because I’m travelling soon, but I’ll definitely write on this 😀
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Sure. Just link this post in that post of yours so that I get a notification. I rarely check the reader feed these days. In fact, I specifically search for my favorite bloggers to read and comment on.
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Ditto here though I’m doing pretty bad even there. At a thousand plus followers it gets difficult keeping track of everyone’s posts.
I’ll link up the post whenever I do publish it 🙂
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True true. Although even if you don’t link I would read it. I often search and read your posts.
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Why thank you so much! Truly honoured 🙂
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I have to say that commercialisation of education sounds absolutely horrid to me. I think we’ve just the right balance in the UK at the moment, with academies being funded privately under the supervision of the government. Though, it really is dependent on who is running the education facility and their motives.
Enjoyed reading this blog/article.
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Reblogged this on Abigail Claire Tilton | Denton, Texas and commented:
Love this article. Check it out!
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Most business companies publishes their balance sheet, profit and loss statement.
Similarly, educational institute should publish it’s profit and loss statement, or balance sheet on their website.
It is true commercialization happens but should be measurable. And if the measure is available then much reforms can be initiated. That’s what I believe.
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Even if they do, schools do not have public investors. They can easily fudge up incomes and expenditures and no one would care. Yes it is illegal to do so but we both know how easy it is go bribe the authorities and get away with it.
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Parents are interested in incomes and expenses.
When schools need to provide itemized incomes and expenses, it will be difficult for them to fudge or pay bribe and parents get info on where to fight for their money.
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Great ideal
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No, it’s not a bad idea.
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