Indian Style PPP

in Perspective by Meeta Sengupta — May 16, 2012 at 8:58 pm

India has a long history of community driven Private-Public Partnership

On going to the bank to consolidate a PPF account, we realised that we needed to initiate a four step process. With one official per branch, who needed to man their desk, it would be impossible to complete the process in one visit unless some of us lent a helping hand. With bank papers in our hands, we went from counter to counter, gathering signatures and print outs till the job was done. Only in few other countries would the bank staff have broken protocol and given us access to anything but the final document. Here a little bit of participation with the public sector processes and the customer was sent back with the job completed. Given the volume of work that needed to be done, especially before ‘computerisation’ this was the only pragmatic way to deal with scale.

This native Indian model of Public Private Partnership, where the public service proves inadequate and is supplemented by the private – in this case the consumer filling in the supply gap. The consumer thus plays two roles in this particular PPP model. The dual role is not uncommon – a builder of a toll road could well use the road as a consumer and pay their share of the charges too. What is different here is that the process could not have been completed on time, to the mutual satisfaction of both the supplier and consumer without this partnership.

The school bus or canteen provision that is supplied by a private sector profit making enterprise in a government school or hospital could also be termed PPP. Recently, the government eased the path to PPP in building secondary schools in India by claiming precedent – Government aided schools. The government aided fee paying schools use a combination of resources – subsidised land and grants from the government, investment via its trust and promoters and fees from the consumers of the school facilities.

Some called it ‘jugaad’ – and this was the beginning of process innovation to deal with inadequate provision in the license raj era. Go to any government office and the chances are that in dealing with people, the officers are likely to co-opt the services of their customers. Wherever the state interacts with the public, there is a chance that efficient provision has an informal element of participation.

In some cases, a part of the process is formally with the consumer. Either by design or by practice, medical record keeping has remained in the private, personal domain in India. In many countries doctors keep medical histories of their patients. Here, even if the doctor has been treating you for years, the responsibility of safekeeping and updating the medical ‘file’ lies with the patient and their family. Just like that a huge chunk of the administrative cost of medical care to the masses lies with the private sector – again the consumer.

This works well in many ways, not just the cost. The records are easy to access, unlike in the UK, where you have to pay a fee to get a copy after a wait of a few days. Privacy is not necessarily demanded or delivered here, but with each patient holding on to their own records, many of them typed up or handwritten – the chances of privacy violation are lower. (This is not a case for decentralised hand written record keeping). The biggest virtue here is that the process and judgement of the medical episode is more transparent for the patient, their loved ones and the customer. They have access and the ability to influence the treatment simply because all information is in their hands. Of course the customer retains mobility – they can move doctors and hospitals as their records are not stuck in some administrative morass. Many of these are not bulky physical files any more, if the patients can afford it. The electronic transfer of records between diagnostic testing centres, patients and doctors is smooth and seamless, always keeping the paying customer at the centre and in control of the process.

In a way, some retail corruption is also an example of a grassroots PPP model. The government provides a service that is often under resourced or poorly designed. Let us assume that either is due to a lack of finance, which leaves a gap in the service standards. The customers as a community evolve a process, hire the people and agree a price with the provider. Like a market, everybody has free access to the service at a price. The system responds to customer needs, both individually and as a group – say a poor old teacher may get a discount, or may not have to pay a top up fee. An extra fee may speed up the process. Agencies and intermediaries, with or without the corruption element increase the inclusiveness of government services. For example, if the government processes require literacy, or are not enabled for all, that part of the job is performed by the private sector for a price.

Better known models of PPP were brought in for large scale projects. India’s toll roads are a very good example of change that was speeded up (relatively speaking) due to legitimate PPP models supported by governments and an opportunity to make profits. Much of the change we have seen has been led by social enterprises, themselves serving social good while not eschewing profits. In education the ASER report has even collected statistics where none existed, as the government failed in their job. That data is now being used to drive public policy and practice.

Community driven PPP may start at a small scale but has the virtue of being tested rigorously. Its evolutionary nature makes the design far more flexible than a top down approach can ever hope to achieve. Innovations such as the Delhi Traffic Police seeking to involve and inform the public via social media may be the start of a long lasting partnership for social change and economic gain that is led by the community. Maybe, it is these community led public private partnerships that will be the face of the reforms we want to see.

Meeta Sengupta is Fellow for Geopolitics at the Takshashila Institution

 This article was published in Pragati Magazine May 16, 2012. Link here: http://pragati.nationalinterest.in/2012/05/indian-style-ppp/

Policy Making

As an aam aadmi (aur aurat), I often wonder how you of the laal batti gaadis form policies. Of course I know the process – you write a note, and then submit it for attention, kindly, please and then the note gets forwarded till one day it snowballs into national policy. With the right kind of nudging and nurturing, any good note can become a policy when it grows up. And yes, of course there is a proper process – and the intent, I sincerely do not doubt. I do not state it either.

All government policy is supposed to benefit the nation – that is the purpose. It is created for the greater good. This is not as easy as it sounds – for what is good for one section of society is not necessarily good for another. Even if it is something like building a metro for Delhi – which certainly benefits most people, it is at the cost of something. The businesses that happened to be located near metro stations saw an increase in their real estate values and footfall, while others in the shadow of the lines and flyovers often lost their clientele who could not access them easily. Policies become schemes and thence projects – all in competition with some other schemes for ‘budget’ allocation. One scheme ultimately is at the cost of another, though within silos the tradeoffs are often not visible to those running the projects.  Then of course, there is time – most long term gain is at short term cost. But even if we are willing to bear the short term cost, do we know whether the long term will bring any gains? Some of us have lost that trust and are unwilling to give up our present and immediate benefits for the longer term good. Greater good? Who has ever seen Greater? What does Greater get for me on Diwali?

Does anyone ever wonder what happens to a policy after it is made? It gets sent on for implementation. Thats when the ‘how’- do- we -get- this- done is figured out. After, not before.

Is process thinking part of policy making? Of course, in principle, err, there are experienced experts, err, it is a complex process, and we have to include all views, all sensibal views, that is, and their contributions contribute to the making of the policy. Most of these people are well intentioned, erudite, passionate about what they do and have devoted a lifetime to their subject areas. And therefore must be consulted on their subject areas, not on everything. Just because you know your way around a few meeting rooms, and have been on various consultative committees does not necessarily work as a qualification for others. To figure out whether a policy works on the ground (more wonkspeak) you need to run scenarios, need to be able to run through the process as it will play out in these scenarios and then take a call on what mistakes you will have to make. For no policy, scheme or project can ever be perfect. But the thinking behind it must be so. The scenarios must be complete, comprehensive, honest and fully thought through. Paying lip service to this aspect of policy making is insulting the very people you make the policy for.

Speaking of people, I will not ask if you asked the people first about what suits them. Of course the Masters of the twice born do not ask. (Or was that men, I forget). Market research is for bad people like private profit making companies. We give to the masses, in whichever way we like – what do they know about what is good for them? Not kidding here, many still do believe that despite voting intelligently for decades, the masses cannot contribute to decision making. There goes the community centric locally led reform movement. Well not completely, they can receive some ‘budget’ and join in some schemes. Always top down – that is how policy here works.

Forget market research, there are other ways to estimate what is required for the betterment of people. Especially since for a growing nation where much has to be built – pick anything and it will do some good. (Oh, did I just reveal a methodology?) But for everything that will be built, it must work well for the people it targets. Also known as Usability testing in the trade. Trade, did you say? Oh no, we build roads, and allot shops, and driving licences but we are no traders. Why would we need to ensure that the users have a good experience?

(This is a part of an article I am in the process of writing – would love to hear comments and stories)

Industrial Age Education

Rote-learning worked when employability hinged on fitting into a task-based role. Today, such work is outsourced to machines and we are expected to deliver in terms of ideas

With increasing frequency, both in private life and in political discourse in the country, people have begun to wonder: What were our policy-makers thinking? What thought processes, what information and what decision models were used to arrive at a particular decision? The accusation is that of an intellectual vacuum in decision making. This leads to two questions: Who is responsible for this? How can this be filled?

The answer to the first is clear. We have failed to educate our students to become good decision makers. The purpose of education is to enable individuals to decide between the choices they create for themselves and society. And to then have the courage to stand by their decisions. The training for babugiri suited the industrial age, when employability depended on being able to slot into a task based role and repeat it reliably. Today, such functions are often outsourced to machines — and humans are expected to deliver more in terms of ideas, solutions and leadership.

This clearly cannot be done using our traditional views on education. Rote learning, leading to achievement in examinations with set patterns is clearly not learning. Assessments do have a role to play in the learning process, but it is a limited role. Assessment systems are about proof, and by definition can only test for memory, skills or aptitude. There is no test in the world that can declare a student ‘learned’ or ‘educated’. They can also indicate that the candidate has acquired a certain degree of proficiency in managing the test. In a way, the only learning here is the ability to recognise patterns in the assessment system and to adapt work processes to that pattern. Our schools and colleges have been allowed to degenerate to become such assessment machines. We go to school not to learn, but to pass exams and purchase entry into the next rung on the ladder.

To answer the second question, in educating our next generation we need to give them experience of skills that will help them generate value. They need to be able to identify opportunities, recognise problems, seek options, find resources, share responsibilities and design outcomes. It is the task of educationists to design curricula and standards to meet these needs. But, may be it is too much to ask of those who have only been trained to replicate the learning of the past. Learning today is about creating new futures based on enterprise, opportunity and innovation.

Nothing in our current school or higher education systems reflects these needs. We do not even deliver on basic employable skills required by current industries, let alone encourage our students to think for themselves and explore the world around them. If anything is included in the syllabus, it is memorised, regurgitated and forgotten — unlikely to be useful in the future, since application of the knowledge was rarely part of the assigned task.

Current education policies deliver neither quality nor relevance to its key constituency — the students. The attempt at creating a mass of literate and numerate citizens falls at the altar of poor design and thus poor implementation. The Right to Education Act, however well intentioned, may never deliver its lofty goals as it is impeded by its own loopholes and shortsightedness — thus almost an example of the intellectual vacuum we bemoan.

The  Five Year Plans are supposed to focus on education — throwing investments at creating infrastructure for ‘massification’ with scant regard for the quality of education. As the rise in education spend is tempered, the dialogue moves towards quality — with little concrete by way of an over arching view of what quality means. A number of patchy attempts, including sector skills councils, accreditation systems etc. have been mooted — but they too find little to anchor them to the nation’s education policy framework.

We seek to increase participation in higher education, targeting a Gross Enrollment Ratio of 25 per cent, having reportedly increased it dramatically to 17 per cent this year. But what are we expecting students to gain from superficial engagement with poor quality content delivered by those whose reputations do not even make a mark in the world’s rankings? The reputation of our universities, based on research and teaching and assessed by peer reviews is dismal. We do not figure anywhere in the top 100, according to the Times Higher Education Reputation rankings released a few days ago. The Indian Institute of Science, which was the lone representative of the nation was edged out by competition this year. With our institutions slipping, many having been damaged for years, where do we find this intellectual capital to fill the vacuum?

It is said, that when Pandora’s box was opened, and chaos reigned — all that was left at the bottom of the box was hope.Our hope, though it still languishes unsupported at the margins, is through multiple private efforts to create innovative learning models that foster learning beyond fear.

The writer is an education strategy consultant who has lived, worked and taught in London for over a decade. She is now based in New Delhi.

Pioneer, March 22, 2012. Link here

Simplistic ideas hobble our education system

Once we had a travel agent who, when asked to change a ticket to a more convenient date, cancelled first and then could not find any to book, leaving us ticketless. A similar state prevails in the processes and the institutions of education.

Undeniably our education system has seen more failures than successes in the past few decades. Redesigning and nurturing this sector is an imperative for a young population in a growing economy. There is much to do, but it is not very clever to start by demolishing institutions that are working fine. Take, for instance, the examination system in the country that is being systematically being decimated before options have been tested, let alone proven.

Despite its many flaws, the Class X examination was a robust, reliable system that worked as a great baseline test, in addition to providing essential certification that could, if designed, form the basis of an inclusive higher education system. Undermining it before we have an acceptable alternative is clearly not helpful to anybody. If at all, it hampers the marginal students who need the certification. The much respected Joint Entrance Examination for competitive entry into engineering colleges and the Common Entrance Test for management institutes are subject to the same fate. Unilateral decisions have been handed down to replace them with tests that have barely any credibility with the institutions which will need to use those results.

It is not as if the examinations were the worst part of the system and needed urgent attention — in fact these were the parts that were running quite well. Given the demand pressures, they could be accused of pursuing efficiency at the cost of kindness, yet they had established certain standards that were clearly understood by all. There seemed to be no attempt to address the issues — just a simplistic ‘scrap and replace all’ algorithm seems to have been used here.

Government-sponsored education is full of institutions that have gently crumbled away, destroyed by politics or by inattention or neglect by those who were handed the duty of care. For example, State higher education institutions, with a few honourable exceptions are in a shambles. Many of them are seen as breeding grounds for political parties, often a euphemism for gang warfare. The infrastructure, the pedagogies and the curricula are outdated — of little value to current thought and of little relevance to current employers. Again the reaction to this has been rather simplistic. Under the garb of national standards, the National Commission for Higher Education and Research seeks to create a centralised behemoth that increases the degree of control over universities with little impact on outcomes. With no evidence of having managed older institutions well, with no apparent concerted effort to solving the problems that exist, the sweeping solution strikes again — an umbrella organisation that shall be the panacea.

Simplistic solutions, or a one-size-fits-all solutions, are never going to work in a country as massive and diverse as India. Our solutions have to be intelligently designed and honestly executed to meet our ambitions and hopes. A recent disappointment has been the much-talked about Aakash tablet computer that was to bring affordable access to those who had been excluded from the grand connected future. The target price, an ambitious $35 (then Rs 2,500), to be subsidised by the Government is to be designed and built indigenously.

A grand plan that was scoffed at by industry insiders, while those of us who have seen lean model miracles of jugaad happen, reserved our opinion. But, as with the examinations, and the institutions, the idea stood on faulty foundations. Dreams and aspirations are not plans, as it is being proved again with the shameful tablet story.

The story behind the grand simplistic solution is depressing. The tablet is far behind current technology with a touch-screen that is difficult to use. The speed of the machine is such that even simple sites take minutes to load. This substandard design now has to be fully manufactured in India. With this arbitrary constraint of swadeshi being placed on manufacture, the motivate of the project comes to into question. Do they really mean it for children to use it as a learning device? If they do, then where is the broadband connectivity that should be in place before such devices are commissioned? The mind boggles at the myriad unanswered questions: How did such a project get approval? Do the decision-makers know what they are doing?

For a nation that must worry about training its demographic bulge generation, it is almost incredible that our headline projects are so ill-thought. While many good ideas may be simple, all simple ideas are not good. Simplistic ideas are worse; they either signal incompetence or disrespect for the people.

(The writer is an education strategy consultant who has lived, worked and taught in London for a over decade. She is now based in New Delhi.)

This article was publised in the Pioneer on March 8, 2012 and can be accessed here

Don’t Cry for the Rupee

This article was published in the Mid-Day on Jan 18, 2012: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2012/jan/180112-Dont-cry-for-the-rupee.htm

It is not all bad news when the rupee falls and here are the reasons why

National symbols have emotional overtones, even everyday ones like the national currency. It is no wonder then that the national pride seems to take a hit each time the value of the rupee tanks against the US dollar. Any upsurge in the currency seems to be a matter of relief, almost of validation. The rise of the rupee vis- -vis the dollar seems to represent faith in the new economic story we have wrought, which has brought us into the conversation in the new world economic order. If the rupee falls, it dents the faith. And yet, it is not all bad news when domestic currency falls.

Volumes
It is true that when the rupee falls, then our imports become more expensive. At the same time, while in rupee terms, our exporters earn the same; Indian goods are cheaper in dollar terms. This is like the currency depreciation giving a national discount on our goods — which normally boosts sales. So, for example, our BPO industry, which was on its way to becoming uncompetitive, due to rising prices now comes back into play –at least in the short term. It is even easier for goods manufacturers to declare reduced dollar prices on their products and improve their volumes. The people who suffer in these times are those who are dependent on imported goods and components — their costs go up.

The same of course works for investments; it is cheaper to buy assets in India now than it was six months ago. This has to be good news at a time when we are opening up our economy at a cautious but steady pace. Of course, conversely, it hits those of us who were planning to buy businesses in other countries — unless our target market has a currency that lost value too.

Stringent
The depreciation of the rupee was a regular part of policy in the days of, ‘Be Indian, buy Indian’. We were a poor country and needed export revenues and other dollar receivables to pay for essential imports such as oil and basic machinery. Investing in business abroad was unthinkable. Things improved after the 1991 reforms, the boom years were good to us. The rupee strengthened as we earned dollars. Reserves rose and we were able to import goods and invest in assets in other markets. But now, in times of economic crisis with tightening demand, the boost that we receive from this rupee depreciation is a blessing in disguise. It may even be a boon in the long term for outbound investors, who are forced to look more keenly for value in their acquisitions — investments that looked good with a strong rupee now need to pass more stringent tests to justify the outlay.

Plenty
The decade of plenty has also been one of inflationary pressures being built in the domestic economy. That means our goods became more expensive, but the rupee depreciation cancelled that out in some measure — so the dollar prices do not look that inflated. We do not have to pay the full penalty for our internal price pressures and inefficiencies when we step out of the country to sell our wares. We pay in other ways, of course. The currency exchange rate is like a dance in tandem with interest rates, domestic prices and a few other partners. When currencies fall, there will be linked changes in our dollar debt, our domestic inflation, and our interest rates. The combination is often unpredictable. This uncertainty is what traders and investors hate. Uncertain markets become volatile, which is fun only for currency traders, as they can make money in the rapid ups and downs. Long term investors who create value like to understand what they are getting into before they invest. For them, the currency rate dance needs to be predictable. China is a case in point — for years their currency was pegged to the dollar to give an illusion of stability, which boosted investments and trade, even though the currency was artificially undervalued.

Conditions
For a currency to do its job well, it needs to respond to market conditions. For currency policies to be effective, future problems need to be anticipated and pre-empted. Given current realities, where it makes sense to bring in and hold hard cash — a weaker rupee for a while makes us a more attractive market. But more than just the level, what traders, investors need is predictable patterns that will help them decide.
Meeta Sengupta is a writer and researcher in education policy and international business

Currency Scene

Burgernomics
New Delhi: If a Big Mac burger from local McDonald’s outlet is taken as a benchmark, India is the place to get it cheapest in US dollar terms, but this analogy also makes the rupee the world’s most undervalued currency. As per the latest Big Mac index, compiled by the Economist magazine to analyse purchasing-power parity of various global currencies, the Swiss franc is the most overvalued in the world, while the rupee is most undervalued. India was included in the index in July last year and has continued to rank the lowest on the list, which is compiled on the basis of the US dollar equivalent of the price of one Big Mac burger, priced USD 4.20 apiece in the US. As per the latest index, prepared on basis of market exchange rate as on January 11, its price is the highest at USD 6.81 in Switzerland, while the same is sold in India for just USD 1.62 –the lowest in the world. Rupee had depreciated sharply by about 19 per cent last year and even fell to a record low of 54.30 against the US dollar on December 15, 2011. The current exchange rates peg the Indian currency at about Rs 51 against the US dollar. The price of Big Mac burgers of McDonald’s is considered for the index for the reason of the presence of fast-food chain across most of the countries and the magazine calls this theory ‘burgernomics’. “Though because Big Macs are not sold in India, we take the price of a Maharaja Mac, which is made with chicken instead of beef,” it added. “Nonetheless, our index suggests the rupee is 60 per cent undercooked. The euro, which recently fell to a 16-month low against the dollar, is now trading at less than euro 1.30 to the greenback,” the Economist noted.

Reference
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at 51.0650 and the euro at 64.9998, as against 51.6545 per dollar and 65.3173 per euro on Monday. In a press release issued by the RBI, the exchange rates for the pound and yen against the rupee were quoted at 78.4818 per pound and 66.59 per 100 yen, based on reference rates for the US dollar and cross-currency quotes at noon. The reference rate is based on the noon rates of select banks here and the SDR-Rupee rate would be based on his rate, the release added.

Strengthens
Mumbai: The rupee strengthened by 32 paise to 51.05 per dollar on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market in early trade yesterday, supported by continued foreign fund inflows. Dealers said consistent dollar inflows and euro’s gains against the US currency overseas, mainly supported the rupee. The rupee had gained 15 paise to close at nearly one-and-a-half month high of 51.37/38 against the dollar on Monday, on the back of late recovery in equities and mild dollar selling.

Meeta Sengupta is a writer and researcher in education policy and international business

Innovation in E…

Innovation in Education

Meeta Sengupta
18 January 2012, 11:30 AM IST

Many of our schools and colleges are still stuck in the industrial age – assembly line methods inform our pedagogy. Schools evolved from a need to feed the factories, bureaucracies and armies with people who could follow instructions and sustain repetitive processes. What was needed was a reliable part that would keep the machinery of the state or organization running smoothly. Schools responded to the needs of the employers of the day and trained students in performing task based activities, in stamina and in discipline. They learnt to respect hierarchies – which represented both power and aspiration.

It is acknowledged that education is about preparing children for the future. A future that is unknown and changes more rapidly than traditional curricula committees can keep pace with. The future of education has to include pedagogic models that totally invert the structures of the past – where schools are not about promotions or competition, for the business of learning and the business of assessment are different beasts.

Innovative models that include group and peer learning, game based learning and freeform pathways have been used in schools with a certain degree of success. Some have gained credibility over the years – and gamification is a science in itself now. Others have more skeptics than supporters, such as pure online learning.

India has been at the forefront of the back end of this innovation revolution – with a large and mature contingent of instruction design teams. But these design teams have been working to supply international markets, with the Indian education market being too nascent to support the industry. Even today, the innovators are held back due to the hurdles presented by a new market.  The education entrepreneur seeking to build eVeltio Ten, a network for teachers spoke of the dissenting voices that told them not to try to sell to teachers because they think technology is the enemy. Some how or the other, providers found ways to avoid the teacher and sell to students or the administration. The teacher, however, had to run the smart class, had to deal with the students’ improved access to canned digital content.  A shared learning solution to the new issues facing teachers is on offer today.

Similarly, students have the option to learn socially, via various networks on offer – many of them customized for learning and assessment – such as Xplore. Others, such as Education Initiatives have been in the standardized assessment area for a decade – a very Indian innovation nonetheless. School Cinema has curated movies to derive lessons for students. While the larger players such as Educomp brought audio-visual learning to the classroom, others such as iDiscoveri took them further down the chain. Innovations today are more engaging, interactive and find new ways to build and reward achievement.

These innovations are young still, and many are being tested with schools and students. Yet they are the way of the future and will define the path to leapfrogging over other nations in education attainment levels. The current learning by rote system has served its purpose and time. While still not denying the utility of examinations, competition, the hunger to win or the other benefits of the traditional system, it is time to move on and hone a different set of skills and abilities.

It becomes the responsibility of enlightened educators to abandon their fears and the need for thcae familiar and comforting blanket of habit and try out new ways of teaching – with or without technology. They owe this not only to their present students, but to future generations. Innovations are not created via bright ideas alone – but are honed through practice and feedback from – dare I say it – mistakes. The best education practices for any community will only come from the responses of the student and teacher community. It is they who must build the future of learning.

 

7

Many of our schools and colleges are still stuck in the industrial age – assembly line methods inform our pedagogy. Schools evolved from a need to feed the factories, bureaucracies and armies with people who could follow instructions and sustain repetitive processes. What was needed was a reliable part that would keep the machinery of the state or organization running smoothly. Schools responded to the needs of the employers of the day and trained students in performing task based activities, in stamina and in discipline. They learnt to respect hierarchies – which represented both power and aspiration.

It is acknowledged that education is about preparing children for the future. A future that is unknown and changes more rapidly than traditional curricula committees can keep pace with. The future of education has to include pedagogic models that totally invert the structures of the past – where schools are not about promotions or competition, for the business of learning and the business of assessment are different beasts.

Innovative models that include group and peer learning, game based learning and freeform pathways have been used in schools with a certain degree of success. Some have gained credibility over the years – and gamification is a science in itself now. Others have more skeptics than supporters, such as pure online learning.

India has been at the forefront of the back end of this innovation revolution – with a large and mature contingent of instruction design teams. But these design teams have been working to supply international markets, with the Indian education market being too nascent to support the industry. Even today, the innovators are held back due to the hurdles presented by a new market.  The education entrepreneur seeking to build eVeltio Ten, a network for teachers spoke of the dissenting voices that told them not to try to sell to teachers because they think technology is the enemy. Some how or the other, providers found ways to avoid the teacher and sell to students or the administration. The teacher, however, had to run the smart class, had to deal with the students’ improved access to canned digital content.  A shared learning solution to the new issues facing teachers is on offer today.

Similarly, students have the option to learn socially, via various networks on offer – many of them customized for learning and assessment – such as Xplore. Others, such as Education Initiatives have been in the standardized assessment area for a decade – a very Indian innovation nonetheless. School Cinema has curated movies to derive lessons for students. While the larger players such as Educomp brought audio-visual learning to the classroom, others such as iDiscoveri took them further down the chain. Innovations today are more engaging, interactive and find new ways to build and reward achievement.

These innovations are young still, and many are being tested with schools and students. Yet they are the way of the future and will define the path to leapfrogging over other nations in education attainment levels. The current learning by rote system has served its purpose and time. While still not denying the utility of examinations, competition, the hunger to win or the other benefits of the traditional system, it is time to move on and hone a different set of skills and abilities.

It becomes the responsibility of enlightened educators to abandon their fears and the need for thcae familiar and comforting blanket of habit and try out new ways of teaching – with or without technology. They owe this not only to their present students, but to future generations. Innovations are not created via bright ideas alone – but are honed through practice and feedback from – dare I say it – mistakes. The best education practices for any community will only come from the responses of the student and teacher community. It is they who must build the future of learning.

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A well-deserved and well-earned right for NRIs

The NRI cares more about the brand value of India than those who are sheltered within the domestic borders of the country

Meeta W. Sengupta & Shefaly Yogendra

The right to vote for non-resident Indians (NRIs) was granted last year, but was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently. While the response from NRIs is mixed—the provision requires NRIs to be physically present in India to cast their votes—the response from many resident Indians is a chorus of disagreement. Why, they argue, must those who left India have any right to vote, especially if they do not live with the consequences of that ballot?

Come election time, all major democracies allow and enable their citizens living abroad to cast their votes, either through postal voting or in-person voting at a local consular office or embassy. India, the world’s largest democracy, has effectively disenfranchised its vast diaspora. A country that wishes to be seen as a great power—while also being a celebrated democracy—cannot afford to fall short of global standards of enfranchisement.

 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with his counterpart from Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad Bissessar during the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conclave in Jaipur on Sunday. PTI

 

Those who oppose giving NRIs the vote ask: If NRIs do not pay tax, should they have the right to vote? This argument is a non-starter. Citizenship rights are not dependent on economic contributions. This logic would disenfranchise India’s large number of poor citizens and the many senior citizen parents. As for contribution, the repatriation of funds to the mother country by NRIs is among the highest among expatriates in the world. In regular years, this reliable and regular repatriation has supported India’s dollar reserves and is significant to be used in national projections. In 2011, total NRI deposits in India were estimated to be Rs2.3 trillion. NRI remittances enable much capital expenditure, investment and saving in the domestic market. NRIs also invest directly, and through transfer payments in industries and charities, thus supporting and enabling India’s growth. 

NRIs, the ones who got away to better circumstances, it is argued, do not have the right to contribute opinions to internal affairs since they do not have to suffer the daily grind. Although NRIs have very few rights, they do have to face the consequences of happenings in the mother country. Poor electoral choices lead them, too, to suffer consequences of delayed contracts, red tape and variable quality outcomes in many spheres.

The reputation of a country affects the way citizens are perceived abroad, too. A citizen of a booming, honest and friendly country is treated very differently from a citizen of a graft-ridden, poor nation. NRIs, therefore, care more about the brand value of India than those who are sheltered within their domestic borders. It is the individual NRI out there who is at the front line of what are personal, but very significant, political efforts on behalf of their country. The dignity with which they present themselves, the quality of their contributions, the ability to hold their own in unfamiliar circumstances, all add to the respect of the home country. NRIs uphold a positive brand image of India, invest in it and build their success on it wherever in the world they are. They are the ones who suffer first if the national prestige of India suffers. Part of the daily negotiation for an NRI is to fit in with the rules and norms of the other place, and to be seen as trustworthy. This is a great opportunity to counter some of the negative stereotypes pervasive about India.

NRIs have by and large been an exemplar migrant group in their host countries, with their very high employment rates and very low involvement in crime and nefarious activities. Over decades, NRI communities have had to fight the stereotypes both in and out of work situations. The rising number of first generation migrants taking high-profile white-collar jobs outside India, and the consistent good behaviour of the group have helped enhance the comfort that is felt in doing business with India.

NRIs are also a valuable resource when they come back to India. They bring with them broader perspectives, new ideas and different ways of doing things. The combination of local knowledge and cross-border processes often leads to valuable innovation. Indeed, many of the innovations for large social issues in India are the brainchild of returned NRIs. A citizen residing abroad, especially a first generation immigrant, almost inevitably feels the “pull” of home, and the prospect of return always remains a very real possibility. The sense of belonging is one of the challenges of a traveller’s life.

Ambassadors, however, are always of the place they came from. Their fortunes remain intertwined with their origins, and the divide between the resident and the non-resident is artificial. When things go well for India—it reflects well on all of us. When things go wrong—we all stand together to criticize and defend what is ours. Good work done by each group supports the other both economically and socially. Creating artificial internal divisions diminishes us as a country, especially when we need to invest effort in finding synergies to build a strong country worthy of being called a great power.

Meeta W. Sengupta and Shefaly Yogendra are, respectively, a business education adviser and a risk assessment adviser.

Comment at views@livemint.com

 

 

This article was published in the Mint newspaper on January 13, 2012 and the link to the article is here: http://www.livemint.com/2012/01/12215425/A-welldeserved-and-wellearne.html

 

In the End, the Market is the Winner

The logjam they call it.

Cabinet’s simple nod allowing increased foreign investment and control over retail outlets exposed process failures and gaps in the nation’s leadership. Political parties hiccupped a bit before organising around their stance – it took them a while to figure out where their
vote bank lay. And then it was all over. The flip flop over permitted foreign direct investments in the retail sector was an embarrassment for the nation, highlighting the lack of cohesion or commitment to reform at the very top of government. Poor internal communication, lack of consensus building across party lines and a general air of confusion was allowed to prevail as interests aligned, and pressure groups asserted themselves. The permission was rescinded, and then almost as if by stealth, largely granted – thereby giving rise to a new term: reform by stealth.

There are arguments on both sides—favouring liberal reform, and for protectionism. The arguments for foreign investments in the sector include the need for scale to bring in  efficiencies that will lower costs. Only large players in this sector will be able to invest in the cold chain and improve the patchy infrastructure that has held back the sector for years. Supply side constraints have been named and shamed as the culprits for structural inflation in the country. Additional investment by foreign players coupled with better industry practices are expected to ease out the inefficient players or processes from the market.

On the demand side, consumers who have hitherto been prey to the middleman and
serviced only by local stores, will now see greater choice. Efficiencies due to scale and
refining of processes should ultimately feed back to the consumer resulting in lower prices.
We should, as consumers, now have a better shopping experience than before. The timing
of course is political, influenced by a host of issues that do not detract from the economic
logic of the proposed reform.
Two assumptions are being made by those who oppose Foreign Direct Investment in the
retail sector. Firstly, that the consumer will rapidly, and inevitably change over to the new
format store attracted by lower prices and glitzy presentation. The Indian consumer is
a very savvy and active participant in retail space. The level of analysis that goes into most
purchase decisions is fairly sophisticated and loyalties are not to a brand or shop but to the
product—which means quality, access and price.

The second assumption is that the Indian investor will not be able to compete against
the outsider with deep pockets. Not just the larger domestic players, even the smaller
local stores have much deeper access to their consumers and if they are able to step up to
the plate, their market cannot be snatched away by anybody. Those who respond to the
pressures introduced by the new competitors will clearly emerge better off. Those who allow their inefficiencies to dominate will (either be positioned very safely or will) suffer. This, in a free market is only fair—you pay for your karma.

In all of this, consider then, the position of the new entrant. A market that is enticingly large, yet notoriously tough. They face consumers that vote with their rupees and are used to being pampered by international standards. They foresee long term investments that need to be made in order to be able to just keep their real estate investments (shelf space) supplied. This, even at normal prices is going to take deep pockets and long term commitment. The lower prices that we expect from them will put them in a tighter spot. The learning curve in the Indian market is going to be steep and the design issues unique.
Recent history in the organised retail sector does not offer the new investors much hope,
with most chains having suffered and shut down. New investors come in with the
knowledge that their Indian counterparts have equally deep pockets, better market insight
and the uncanny ability to be ’inspired’ by any previously successful model. This is a challenge for the new entrants. Customer service standards in India are generally excellent, with mass customization almost ingrained in the retail DNA. All this at almost no extra cost. There seems to be little reason for the local co nsumer to shift demand away from the convenience of the local shopkeeper’s personalised home delivered service. Can
supermarkets match that? Would they be able to provide the instant, on call delivery
as the traditional set up does—almost as if it were an ensuite store larder. Can the new
entrants provide instant credit as the friendly neighbourhood shop does?

So, what are the opponents to FDI in retail afraid of? The slippery slope argument is well
deployed here—“Remember the East India Company?” they ask. “The foreigners will come
and take over our businesses and our freedoms will be theirs!” they exclaim. Our traders will suffer, clearly. While farmers groups have reportedly said that they get better prices from larger chains, and that they support the entry of more powerful players—they must realise that they will also be under pressure year on year to improve yields and lower prices. The disintermediation of five layers of middlemen from the process is the destruction of a way of life and income for a significant section of society. Both these pressures, of course, benefit the consumer in terms of lower prices.
At the core of this argument is the ceding of economic power to large conglomerates in
ways that directly impact the entire supply chain—from the producer to the consumer.
Views expressed so far seem to be guarding and garnering vote banks rather than seeking
understanding of the complex needs of the people. Some fears seem valid, such as the
possibility of dumping. Initially, foreign supermarkets may take a hit on prices, suffering losses for a few years till smaller players are priced out of the market. These  need to be addressed via industry regulation.
Proportionate checks and balances can be used —all the way from self-regulation to the World Trade Organisation’s anti dumping regulation —and these must be used well.
Indian investors need only fear competition if they are not willing to give up their fat margins or inefficient processes. Competition is not debilitating. It is a call to rise out of previous lethargy; a signal that old rent seeking patterns are being challenged – patterns that either indicate inefficiencies or unfair practices.
Those who rise to the challenge will emerge stronger, regardless of their investors, domestic or foreign; small scale or large. Ultimately, it is the consumers who must decide what they support—not by regulation, but by the choices exercised at the till. And this is where this reform truly wins, in giving power back to the people. Now it is up to the consumer, the people to prove that they can chose well—for their present and for their future. This too is a vote they cast, and this is how they decide who wins the battle of the markets.

This article appeared in Pragati magazine, January 2012 issue

Making the Nanny State Redundant

Making the nanny state redundant was published in the Mint newspaper

It is time to step up and shoulder our responsibilities and not expect to be policed into looking after ourselves

The terrible hospital fire at an expensive private hospital in Kolkata is all the more unforgivable because it was preventable. It underlines not just complete system failure, but also utter defiance of all that is right. The system is to be laughed at or placated—who in their right minds ever bother with lights, wires, fire alarms, flammable materials, radioactive waste? That is all paperwork, saar.

The system and authorities are cheap commodities, it seems. They can be mollified with a few scraps from the immense benefits that accrue due to such callousness. Right? There must be some significant advantage to defying rules, or why would one do it? Personal machismo? Savings achieved? What is it that allows individuals and organizations to take on the moral burden of creating death traps wherever they go?

People evacuate patients after a fire broke out at a nursing home in Kolkata on 9 December 2011. AP

The hospital fire is not an isolated incident of callousness. Look around you, ye nation of the golden bird on every branch. Open manholes, where children have fallen in and died. Hanging wires, some cut midway and live. I wanted a picture of tangled wires for this article— anybody wants to help me? It cannot take you more than a minute to locate such a fire hazard. How about a pile of rubbish, breeding forces that will destroy our health? Shall we talk of potholes, of broken footpaths (where they exist) or shall we go back to talking of traffic and how we kill each other every day.

I learnt this in kindergarten—you make a mess, you pick it up. If the gas pipe people dig up a road, they must make it good. If the water pipe company does so—it becomes the company’s responsibility. Oh, and if you have a wedding or function in the family, please do not feel free to drill into the road. And if you do, please fill it up—exactly as it was. How would you like it if during a surgery, the doctor opened you up and refused to stitch you up again?

We have shamed ourselves, as a people. And we cannot keep blaming the system or the government—vile as it is when corrupt. It is up to us to create our environment, to build our communities in our own image. Look around you, and see your image reflected back. Do tell me if you like what you see. Or has learnt blindness taken over? We must not absolve the government, system or authorities of their responsibilities. Yet, it is the people who will have to lead the battle for self-respect.

Self-respect does not come from delegating responsibilities, whether to the state, the community or others. Self-respecting environments take effort to build and maintain. It starts with little things such as keeping things around you clean and in good repair, even if you don’t own it. Keeping service lanes clear. Behaving with courtesy. It does involve a little awareness of the needs of others in the community, and a clear sense of lines that must not be crossed. As a society, as a civilization, we do need to acknowledge and behave with certain maturity. We are not marauding nomads, we are a people. We build for the future, and what we build must last, so that our children may progress—not be destroyed by our callous fires and floods.

It is time to step up and shoulder our responsibilities and not expect to be policed into looking after ourselves. Each time lines on the road are replaced by cement barriers to prevent people driving on the wrong side, or cutting lanes, we know to our shame that we have been jailed. Each time taxes are paid only after an enquiry, we are feeding the police state. Each time a rule is broken by us the people, we create another reason for the state to treat us with mistrust and disrespect.

Our freedoms are ours to preserve, by our behaviour. It behoves us, for the sake of our self-respect, for our freedom and for our well-being to make the nanny state redundant—it is not their job to pick and clean after us. Let us not give them a chance to create more rules and forms that bind us. Let us not give them excuses to not do their job, just because they were busy firefighting and dealing with the consequences of our jugaad. Till we do that, do we even have the moral right to ask the state to do its job well?

Meeta Sengupta is an independent consultant in education strategy

Comment at otherviews@livemint.com

This article was published in the Mint newspaper on December 13, 2011. The link is here: http://www.livemint.com/2011/12/13004156/Making-the-nanny-state-redunda.html

Education Policy Design

Here is an article that appeared in CFO-Connect, December, 2011

Link: http://www.cfo-connect.com/title_detail.asp?art_id=981&cat_id=6

Text:

Education Sector: Policy Design is Key

Success lies in how well we design our education policy, says Meeta SenguptaThe Indian government cannot be accused of not being ambitious in trying to bring higher education to more people. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), which measures the proportion of eligible population that has enrolled, is currently hovering at around 11-13 per cent levels for higher education in the country. Over the next five years, the target has been set at between 27- 30 per cent of the eligible population.The demographic dividend that we speak of now, is a two-edged sword. If trained and deployed well, our youth shall be the source of plenty for the future. If we get this wrong, then we will be saddled with a vast young population that has nothing to do, and nowhere to go. This is the nature of our battle which is upon us, and it is to do with educating and skilling, and organising our youth. As with all wars, there are business opportunities to be had here too, albeit in a regulated environment. Regulation and reformEducation in India is regulated, managed, and largely delivered by both the Centre and the State governments. In practice, this means that there is a diverse range of providers, standards, pricing, and regulations that consumers and providers need to negotiate. Though, they navigate these with care, many often trip up and then find their way through the maze. For example, the prestigious Indian School of Business, which is accused of not having received proper approvals from the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) for its programmes – an issue that should have been resolved years’ ago for an institution of such excellence and resources. The nature of the battle which is upon us, is to do with educating and skilling, and organising our youth Strictly not for profit - The regulatory quagmire often seems unmanageable, with restrictions such as profits being disallowed in the sector. Any profits in an educational institution can only be deployed in another educational venture. This is social engineering by regulation – where educational trusts find themselves expanding to utilise the surplus – thus serving more people than they may have originally planned to. The latent demand for schools and colleges is large and this is a way to retain investment within the sector. While noble in intent, such regulation often encourages participants to find ways to get around it. In this case, since costs are not disallowed or controlled (thankfully) –it is an easy enough matter to understate profits, if such is the intention. We have recently cleaned up the mess created in the ‘deemed university’ segment of the sector, with the Centre’s move to de-recognise 44 such universities for their non-performance. The Centre has informed the Supreme Court (SC) that the 44 institutions will be treated as regular colleges affiliated to universities in their respective states. The battle against ‘capitation’ fees is still on – with the government disallowing premium upfront fees being charged by private institutions in violation of the fee limits imposed by regulators. Profit is a bad word, or to be more precise, profiteering is to be disallowed. A more forward-looking approach - While it is right for governments to take responsibility and protect consumers from being exploited, entire policies seem to have been crafted to keep private enterprise out. Philosophically, there is keen debate on whether education is a public good and therefore, the sole responsibility of the state. This debate combined with the socialist underpinnings of our Constitution, have created policies that have overburdened our government. Current realities, in the shape of the potential demographic dividend (or otherwise), have forced a re-think and a recently re-energised Ministry of Human Resource Development has demonstrated a more outward looking stance in recent years. The passage of the pending Bills in Parliament that will restructure the sector is awaited. New institutions have been mooted, such as the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), and are designed to provide oversight to higher education in the country. The emphasis has shifted from providing education to facilitating structures that enable processes – such as accreditation and assessment among others. Yet, the overwhelming numbers make many wonder – do we have the bandwidth to deliver both quality and quantity education? In the 11th Five Year Plan, the emphasis was clearly on quantity, often ignoring quality imperatives in the race to massification. Plans for the future appreciate the need to invest in quality while maintaining the momentum for scale. In the 11th Five Year Plan, the emphasis was clearly on quantity, often ignoring quality imperatives…. Plans for the future appreciate the need to invest in quality of education Bigger role for private sector - Reforms are slow and steady in this sector. Very recently, the Cabinet at the Centre approved Public Private Partnership (PPP) investments in schools, starting with 2500 model schools that will work with more supportive pedagogies. Planned as post-primary schools, the infrastructure cost is to be borne by the private investor in exchange for which half the students can be fee-paying while the government sponsors most of the rest. Similarly, even in higher education, private education is playing a more significant role than before. Also, the establishment seems to be treating private education institutions with less suspicion; they are now seen as equal participants in the race to higher enrolment and education attainment in the country. This shift is fairly recent – till a few years ago private education providers, especially in higher education, would feel it necessary to defend their achievements and presence. Professional education, on the other hand, has been dominated by private players who now provide more than 80 per cent of the capacity in engineering and about 60 per cent in management. Medical colleges too, abound in the private sector – though it is true that the government-sponsored colleges still have more prestige and demand than the private players. This is true of higher education worldwide. More respected institutions, as evidenced by their elevated positions in world rankings, are funded traditionally, via grants and endowments, often seeded by their governments. Private sector institutions, while performing well enough, tend not to be in the top echelons. Still, the private sector has been a big participant in the education sector with clear models emerging for business success in the face of government regulation. Private sector schools are more often than not much more in demand than their government counterparts – creating a hierarchy of sorts. A recent study conducted in Tamil Nadu shows that over 75 per cent of teachers in government schools sent their children to private schools where they perceived that standards of education and discipline were superior. At the higher education level the perception is the opposite, while for professional education, the brand name seems to matter more than the funding. A recent survey by global market research company Synovate shows that the perceptual differences between private and government providers of higher education are not so significant in the minds of students and parents. Surprisingly, the study shows a reasonable degree of satisfaction with the quality of education. This is in contrast to the other data – low rankings in world tables, employers unable to fill places due to poor quality graduates, and engineers with admittedly poor soft skills, among others. The level of dissatisfaction with the quality of education is universal among those employers who use the ‘products’ (the pupils) of this system. The divergence in these views further highlights the gaps in the process – where neither the supply side nor the demand side, seem to align at any point. The future landscape of education The sector will continue to be dominated by the government in the next decade, and yet the evolution will be visible. From being a government owned, government-controlled patriarchy, the sector will grow via inputs from other stakeholders too, whether domestic or foreign. While the easing up of regulation and control remains a distant target, there are spaces being cleared for specific types of participation, not just to bring more funding into the system but also to support the free flow of ideas that will contribute to the knowledge economy of the future. An example – Innovation universities, envisaged as free from the administrative and audit burdens of traditional universities, are essential to the growth ambitions of the nation. Independent pockets of excellence are expected to pilot reforms as they provide better results via both process and content. These universities are ambitious in scope and scale – almost as if the government had thrown down the gauntlet at the private sector to prove its worth. It has been a few years since they were mooted and little progress has been made since then. Industry will drive professional education - Regardless of the slow progress on innovation universities, private sector participation will increase dramatically at all levels in education. Universities with strong linkages to industry, often funded by philanthropy, are already in play. The private sector dominates professional education and is well placed to dominate primary education. Vocational training has lagged and the government infrastructure has proved totally outdated and inadequate. A large number of private sector players have created quality niche programmes – some of which seek scale. Others are merely servicing a felt need that has not been met by traditional training infrastructure. It is possible that this ‘commoditised’ training will see consolidation, but this is unlikely for another five-to-seven years while a semblance of standardisation is achieved. Foreign participation likely - Foreign universities will also form a significant part of the landscape for the future. Currently, the regulatory mechanism is in limbo as the Bill is stuck in Parliament. Current restrictions are often debilitating – for example, Indian government universities cannot hire foreign faculty as full time or tenured staff, thus compounding the talent crunch essential for the scale ambitions of the system. This has certainly put much investment on hold, yet the scale of the market is attractive enough for many players to invest in the future. Joint degree and research programmes are among the forms of collaboration formalised by MoUs between local and foreign partners. These are gathering momentum each year and will form a significant part of the next decade in education. India, with its costs and talents, is the perfect place to outsource ‘knowledge operations’ with quality control and standards supplied by the partners. Yet, foreign universities are not expected to dominate the sector. Regardless of the slow progress on innovation universities, private sector participation will increase dramatically at all levels in education Vocational education still underdeveloped - The elephant on the table is clearly vocational education where the sheer size of the potential demand seems very attractive – till one realises that this is a nascent market with participants who are currently trapped in low-productivity equilibrium. This is the ideal opportunity to add value via productivity training though funding such training will remain an issue that holds back the growth of this industry. Step-motherly treatment for distance education - While technology enables distance education, it is also true that such qualifications receive step-motherly treatment in the market with many job advertisements clearly stating that those with distance education degrees need not apply. This does not augur well for a system that needs to scale up rapidly and has a large supply of potential distance education suppliers. Both distance education and vocational education suffer from similar issues in positioning and will have to work to build credibility in the future. Public support for primary education - Primary education will continue to be seen as a public good, as supported by the Right to Education Act, thus ensuring that the government continues to support a majority of students. Primary schooling is traditionally the most cash-rich part of the education business with pay-back periods that can be as short as two years depending upon the infrastructure provided by the schools. A number of small private sector schools also offer bare bones’ facilities and are a growth industry – supported and held to market standards by their local communities. The degree of regulation here is unlikely to change, as this is seen as a vulnerable market. Here, demographics will drive demand and will lead the growth of the entire industry. Growth in vocational, higher, and professional education will clearly be subsets of this growth. Lack of data is a constraint to future investment - One of the biggest challenges in the sector in planning for the future is the lack of reliable and consistent data. Combined with the high degree of investment and long lead times for most education projects, this presents a big challenge for investors. For example, the engineering sector now sees a glut of schools – so much so that the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan have written to the regulatory body AICTE, to disallow any new colleges in the sector. AICTE itself currently seeks to resolve this issue by seeking data from the very same states on the potential supply demand situation. This situation highlights all that needs to be fixed in the system – the complete and arbitrary right of the regulatory body to stop new entrants, the paucity of demand and supply data, the lack of quality control in the sector, and the disconnect with employability and employer information. It does highlight one very interesting fact – that the consumers of such educational degrees are very market savvy and will not invest time or money in them unless they see true value for the long term. Policy makers too, have a very tough time in this situation with very little reliable information. It is as if they are building policy blindly – or at least blinkered, on anecdotal evidence or case studies that validate many of their decisions. They must operate for scale, serving those who get left behind in the count; regulating the mass in the middle that is almost impossible to understand without granular information. Sound policies are an enormously ambitious expectation in a scenario where the government is in a rush, chased by demographics, with few resources to pause either for planning or standards. Education policy design The key issues in education are going to be design issues – from the policy to the product level. The market is waiting, and the pieces in the supply chain are in place. Joined-up thinking is lacking in the sector and will be the downfall of the nation if it is not rectified. Education policy needs to be designed with care and for flexibility, and scale, for it to succeed. For this I propose four pillars for education design – Strategy, Structures, Soul, and Scores. These are briefly outlined below. The complete and arbitrary right of the regulatory body to stop new entrants, the paucity of demand and supply data, the lack of quality control in the sector, and the disconnect with employability and employer information are big concerns Four pillars for education designStrategy: A national strategy for education is essential to ensure that a mid-term to long-term view is clearly communicated to all participants. Policies, state principles, and guidelines cannot be implemented directly – unless clarity and direction are provided via a strategy. A strategy will not only delineate goals that must be met – it will also allow all the stakeholders in the system to align their resources to the shared target. The importance of a clearly articulated strategy in generating synergies takes second place to the genuine benefits of participants actually walking in the same direction.Structures: Implementation of goals is via agencies – and this is something we have aplenty. For every task, for every mission, and for every need we have an agency that is supposed to take responsibility. Sadly, many of them do not actually deliver to their purpose, certainly not to the standard expected of them in this day and age. Our imperatives and expectations have changed since the days when the economy could survive at 3 per cent rates of growth. The engine of growth is education and to deliver near double-digit rates of growth, these agencies need to deliver to their purpose. Not only must these structures perform, and well – they need to be able to mesh and talk to each other in line with the national strategy. Without such linkages, stand alone efforts will be a waste. Soul: A sense of passion, commitment, and simple honesty of purpose are vital to the survival of a robust system. An education system where teachers are not motivated or honest enough to even come in to class; or where certificates can be purchased, defeats itself. The soul of a system lies with its purpose and how well this is communicated and implemented by its participants. The community that it serves is an integral participant, and education systems need to be integrated with their various communities – employers, teachers, investors, and administrators among others. Ignoring the needs of participants will be counterproductive. Without people, no organisation or purpose can succeed, and these people need to feel a higher sense of purpose and fulfilment to be able to perform above and beyond the call of duty. Scores: At the micro level, we tend to over-perform at score keeping – where examinations, grades, and scorekeeping overtake the core process of learning. This needs to be aligned with stated goals of the individual and institution. At the same time, at the macro level we under perform. We need effective systems that collect valid, reliable, and current data on outcomes, inputs, attainments, and resources in such a manner that effective feedback loops can be put in place. This is an integral part of the infrastructure of education and must form the basis of a future education policy. Conclusion Large and complex challenges rarely come with as much hope as our current situation in the education sector. We are at the beginning of the ride that will take us through the next 30 years – and the way we design the ride now will determine whether the journey will take us into successful territory or not. Intelligent investments and implementation, with an honest intent to have good outcomes are the keywords that will take us into a prosperous and safe future.

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Authorview other articles by this author Meeta Sengupta Director, Centre for Education Strategy, Educator and Consultant in Education Strategy and Design. meetasengupta@centreforeducationstrategy.com