
Dr. Rajiv R Thakur, Dean –Development & Professor Strategy, BIMTECH, Noida
Mr. Ankit Mishra, BIMTECH, Noida
Unlike the popular belief, development of any country is not economic alone; rather it is measured by the people and their capabilities. Human Development Index (HDI), a measure of development initiated by UNDP includes knowledge, a long healthy life and decent living standard of people. Amongst the top ten countries in HDI 2018, a country like Singapore ranked 9th under HDI has 38th ranking in terms of nominal GDP and the number 1 HDI ranked country Norway is at 28th rank in terms of nominal GDP. Contrarily, the US which is no 1 in nominal GDP terms is at 13th position in HDI rank. Such findings and more suggest that economic policies have varied impact on the development of people and their capabilities, a higher level economic growth does not necessarily have a higher positive impact on people.
In this paper, further focus is on analyzing the status of higher education contributing to knowledge creation across states of the country and comparing it with the development status. The objective is to understand the kind of impact knowledge has on the development status of different states in the country. The preliminary finding from AISHE report shows a state like Kerala having Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of 36% in the year 2017-18 and the Development index 2017-18 is found to be at 0.78 which is much ahead of the many other states. On the other hand a state like Bihar which had 13 % GER in 2017-18 is having Human Development Index at 0.56 much less than Kerala. Further in- depth stud suggest that there is a significant role of knowledge creation towards human development. The paper delves over the status of higher education in India and its state wise variations and draws up priorities to improve the status of higher education for a long term sustainable impact on human development
Introduction:
Human Development Index (HDI) by UNDP explains human development combining three aspects namely, knowledge, long healthy life and decent living standard of people. Unlike the popular belief, development of any country is not economic alone. The difference between economic development and human development can be very well explained by looking at the empirical data of GDP levels (economic) and HDI index (development) of few countries. Amongst the top ten countries in HDI 2018, a country like Singapore, which ranked 9th under HDI has 38th ranking in terms of nominal GDP and the number 1 HDI ranked country Norway is at 28th rank in terms of nominal GDP. Contrarily, the US which is no 1 in nominal GDP terms is at 13th position in HDI rank. These data show that rich and advanced countries measured in terms of GDP alone do not guarantee higher level of human development in those countries, the US being one of the foremost examples. Countries ranking lower in GDP terms like Singapore or Norway have higher human development index thus indicating that there are more factors to development in human society than the economic side of it. India which is 6th largest country in terms of nominal GDP is poorly ranked at 130th rank in human development as per HD Index. India’s neighbor Sri Lanka though at 66th position in terms of nominal GDP ranking is above India at 76th rank in HDI ranking. These make the difference more clear and visible,
It is therefore important to understand that HDI, a comprehensive index as a measure of development indicates the limitations of measuring a country’s development on economic parameter alone and thereby necessitating study of the impact of other factors such as health and knowledge as per HDI index on human development. Of the three factors, impacting people development and their capabilities as per HDI, knowledge is one of the three. This paper focuses on analyzing the role of knowledge (education) and its impact on people development in different states of India. Further the paper has focused on higher education only as far knowledge creation is concerned. The objective is to understand whether knowledge (education) makes an impact or no and if it does what kind of impact it has. More importantly, it is the attempt of the paper to understand the status of higher education in India and its state wise variations measured under certain parameters. This shall help policy makers to redraw the priorities to improve the status, particularly in those states which are lagging behind and getting adversely impacted in development.
Measuring Development
The GDP or Gross Domestic Product of a country provides a measure of the monetary value of the goods and services that country produces in a specific year. This measurement is an important aspect of economic analysis prevalent today. At an individual level, Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area’s total income by its total population. The parameter shows the average income individuals of a country have. Beyond these macro and micro measurements of economy, Gini coefficient is a measure which is a single number aimed at measuring the degree of inequality in the distribution of income in a nation. It is used to measure how far a country’s wealth or income distribution deviates from a totally equal distribution. This index is used and measured in 157 countries of the world.
With times, thinking on measuring human development evolved into more holistic measures. It was increasingly felt that material well-being is important, but it is also important to enjoy sufficient well-being in things like community, culture, governance, knowledge and wisdom, health, spirituality and psychological welfare, a balanced use of time, and harmony with the environment. This thinking brought forward the measurement concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) in the 1970s. GNH is a much richer objective than GDP or economic growth. How we are doing as a society or nation is an important question in GNH. This index is used and measured in 156 countries of the world.
Increasing concern for environmental sustainability has brought the concept of Green GDP. It is a term used for expressing GDP after adjusting for environment degradations. Green GDP is an attempt to measure the growth of an economy by subtracting the costs of environmental damages and ecological degradations from the GDP. Further, recently a measurement Global Peace Index (GPI) has been introduced which measures the relative position of nations’ and regions’ peacefulness. The GPI ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their levels of peacefulness. The GPI starts with the same personal consumption data that the GDP is based on, but then makes some crucial distinctions. It adjusts for factors such as income distribution, adds factors such as the value of household and volunteer work, and subtracts factors such as the costs of crime and pollution.
On the other hand, Human Development Index (HDI) measuring human development, the index in focus in this paper is a statistical tool used to measure a country’s overall achievement in its social and economic dimensions. The social and economic dimensions of a country are based on their level of educational attainment, the health of people and their standard of living. Human Development Index (HDI) is calculated as (Life Expectancy Index X Education Index X Income Index) 1/3. The new Human Development Index (HDI) is geometric mean of Life Expectancy Index (LEI), Education Index (EI) and Income Index (II). After this calculation total value lies between 0 and 1. As per the values gained, countries are placed in the list of the division of countries. They are divided into very high human development, high human development, medium high human development and low high human development countries.
Education Index assessment
Higher education is found to be effective in enhancing the human capabilities and their productivity levels and add up to the desired outcomes of economic growth and development. It has an impact on socio-economic and development of a country and has an influence on raising the quality of human life and capital. Nelson Mandela believes that instruction is the most powerful weapon to change the world. Instruction is considered extendedly a real tool to reinforce commercial growth social and private cases. As per him, advanced instruction is the most important factor in stable human improvement.
One of the three measurements in HDI is the education index assessment. Until the year 2009, knowledge and education used to be measured by the adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER). However with the new index, Education Index assessment is composite of two indices, namely Mean Years of Schooling Index (MYSI) and Expected Years of Schooling Index (EYSI). In the present paper the gross enrolment ratio (GER), yardstick used until 2009 for measuring education levels has been used to study the impact of education on development in the states of India.
Of the seven states in India picked up in Table 1 Maharashtra leads in GDP terms with Rs 24.96 lakh crores in the year 2017-18. Uttar Pradesh one of largest states in the country is at Rs 13.75 lakh crores GDP. Odissa is at the bottom and Bihar is a notch higher at Rs 4.87 lakh crore. GDP levels in 2009-10 remained in similar order across these states. If GDP measuring economic prosperity of states were alone the criteria for development, Maharashtra state should have been at the top followed by U.P. However, looking at development from a holistic prism of HDI, within India across these states, GDP size does not necessarily have a direct and positive impact on human development. For instance states with higher GDP such as Maharashtra, U.P., having relatively bigger size GDP as compared to Kerala are lower in Human Index levels. While Kerala amongst the three states tops HDI at 0.784 ( with GDP of Rs. 7.47 Lakh Crores ), Maharashtra and U.P. having much higher GDP sizes ( Rs 24.96 and Rs 13.75 Lakh crs) have HDI at 0.695 and 0.583 respectively which are much lower than Kerala. Jharkhand which has a lesser size GDP than Bihar is much higher than it in HDI. Odissa also is ahead in HDI from Bihar even though it is almost similar in GDP size. These suggest that economic policies alone have varied impact on the development of people and their capabilities, a higher level economic growth does not necessarily have a higher positive impact on the development of people. There is a definite role of other factors as indicated in the HD index such as health and education.
State |
GDP in ₹ lakh crore
(2017-18 est.) |
GDP in ₹ lakh crore
(2009-10) |
Human development Index (2017-18) |
Human development Index (2009-10) |
Kerala |
7.47 |
2.31 |
0.784 |
0.732 |
Maharashtra |
24.96 |
8.55 |
0.695 |
0.651 |
Andhra Pradesh |
7.54 |
4.76 |
0.643 |
0.581 |
Bihar |
4.87 |
1.62 |
0.566 |
0.511 |
Jharkhand |
2.55 |
1.006 |
0.589 |
0.572 |
Oddisa |
4.15 |
1.62 |
0.597 |
0.533 |
Uttar Pradesh |
13.75 |
5.23 |
0.583 |
0.529 |
India |
129.85 |
61.08 |
0.640 |
0.570 |
Table 1.
(Data from CMIE, Wikipedia, PRSindia.org, Nipfp.org, AISHE, http://hdr.undp.org/en/data#)
Education and Human Development
The findings from All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2017-18 report shows a state like Kerala having Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of 36% and the Development index 2017-18 is found to be at 0.78 which is much ahead of the many other states. On the other hand a state like Bihar which has 13 % GER is having Human Development Index at 0.56 much less than Kerala. Increase in Human Development Index in the year 2017-18 of Bihar state over 2009-10 is also meager at 0.05 in spite of being at a low base level as compared to other states. These data suggest a relationship and role of knowledge creation towards human development.
Maharashtra though top most state in terms of GDP amongst the states listed in Table 1 but lags behind Kerala in HDI ranking and one of the reason apparent could be lower GER at 31.2% in 2017-18 as compared to Kerala with GER of 36.2%. Andhra Pradesh having much less GDP than Uttar Pradesh has a higher HDI ranking which possibly is impacted by the higher GER of 30.9% as compared to 25.9 % of Uttar Pradesh. Bihar at the bottom of the HDI ranking in the table has also got the lowest GER of 13 %. Jharkhand a relatively new state carved out of Bihar has a higher GER of 18% and also scores a higher HDI rank at 0.589
State |
GDP in ₹ lakh crore
(2017-18 est.) |
GDP in ₹ lakh crore
(2009-10) |
Human development Index (2017-18) |
Human development Index (2009-10) |
GER (2017-18) |
GER
(2009-10) |
Kerala |
7.47 |
2.31 |
0.784 |
0.732 |
36.2% |
13.1% |
Maharashtra |
24.96 |
8.55 |
0.695 |
0.651 |
31.2% |
21.4% |
Andhra Pradesh |
7.54 |
4.76 |
0.643 |
0.581 |
30.9% |
16.9% |
Bihar |
4.87 |
1.62 |
0.566 |
0.511 |
13% |
11% |
Jharkhand |
2.55 |
1.006 |
0.589 |
0.572 |
18% |
9.4% |
Orrisa |
4.15 |
1.62 |
0.597 |
0.533 |
22% |
11.3% |
Uttar Pradesh |
13.75 |
5.23 |
0.583 |
0.529 |
25.9% |
10.9% |
India |
129.85 |
61.08 |
0.640 |
0.570 |
25.8% |
15% |
Table2.
(Data from CMIE, Wikipedia, Nipfp.org, AISHE, http://hdr.undp.org/en/data#)
It is evident from the above analysis that GER in higher education has an impact on the human development and has a positive relationship. States with higher GER are showing higher HDI ranking, though latter doesn’t necessarily move in the direction of GDP movements. Globally across, a similar trend is found to be prevailing at national level. From Table 3, it can be inferred that Norway with HDI rank 1 has 99 % literacy rate with 80.55% GER in higher education and a high education index of .915. Germany in top 5 HDI rankings again has 99 % literacy rate with 0.94 education index though the higher education GER is 68.33%. Pakistan which has 150th HDI rank has a low literacy rate of 58% and a lower education index of 0.411 and an abysmally low GER in higher education at 10.12%. Amongst the countries in Indian Sub-continent countries listed in Table 3 India at 130th HDI ranking is shade better in literacy rate at 74.04%, education index of 0.566 and GER of 25.8% in higher education. This implies that across countries there is a movement in same direction in education and the development levels of people.
Countries |
Literacy rate |
Education Index |
Higher education GER |
HDI Index and rank |
Norway |
99%(2014) |
0.915 |
80.55% |
0.953 (1) |
Germany |
99%(2014) |
0.940 |
68.33% |
0.936 (5) |
Singapore |
97%(2014) |
0.832 |
83.94% |
0.932 (9) |
Finland |
100%(2017) |
0.905 |
86.99% |
0.920 (15) |
India |
74.04% (2011) |
0.566 |
25.8% |
0.640 (130) |
Bhutan |
71.4%(2017) |
0.445 |
27.02% |
0.612 (134) |
Bangladesh |
72.76%(2016) |
0.508 |
17.62% |
0.608 (136) |
Pakistan |
58%(2017) |
0.411 |
10.12% |
0.562 (150) |
Table3.
(Data source: country website, Economic survey, UNESCO and UNDP)
Few of significant findings from AISHE report suggest the positive relationship between the higher education in Indian states and development of people. Few of the relevant findings can be listed as:
- Kerala has the highest GER and consequently have higher HDI as compared to all other states.
- As compared to 2009, in 2017 Kerala’s GER has improved immensely and so has it’s HDI over the period.
- All other states except Bihar has seen improvement more than 9% on an average in their GER which has a positive impact on their HDI
- Bihar, despite its low performance in improving GER has improved drastically in HDI which can be explained because of improvements in its economy and health over a very low base considering that the state is quite backward in each of these parameters.
- One thing to note here is that the change in 2017 over 2009 of HDI in Kerala and Bihar both is quite closer to each other despite having huge difference in change in GER of both states. This anomaly can be explained because of the low base in all three parameters in case of Bihar and improvements over a period on these parameters yielded a higher rate of growth.
- In country wise data, the impact of education Index can be seen on HDI of the country. This is applicable to almost all countries.
- Countries having higher GER have higher education Index ( Germany being an exception) which contribute to higher HDI .
- Huge differences in GER in countries like Norway and India also has large differences in education Index.
Status of Higher Education in India
In order to understand variations in education levels and development levels measured by Development index in the indicated states in India, the study has focussed on the AISHE data reflecting upon the status of higher education across these states. Table 4. shows the number of institutions in the states, their growth over last 5 years and number of colleges per lakh population. The most developed of these states as per HDI index has the highest number of colleges per lakh of population in 2017-18 and the growth of university over last 5 years have also been highest at 5.22% . Bihar the lowest in HDI index has just 14 colleges per lakh of population and the growth rate of universities in last 5 years have been just 3.41% and colleges 2.27% . Remaining states show a corresponding trend between HDI levels and the number of colleges per lakh of population. States those have been proactive in providing opportunities for education to its people have seen higher GER and hence better education possibilities translating into better human development. It is evident that GER is also dependent on certain factors like density of educational Institute in the region, disciplines offered, quality of education in the institutions, facilities provided by institutions and also the participation of stakeholders in general.
Table 5 shows GER growth over years keeping very low in development lagging states like Bihar and states like Kerala having taken lead in growth of GER over the years. However states like Jharkhand has caught up in GER growth rates but for them reaching the desired level is also a humongous task. What is equally concerning is that economically prosperous states like Maharashtra is lagging behind with a very low growth rate in GER which is not a healthy sign for the development of its people. Similarly the larger states like Uttar Pradesh are also quite low on growth of GER which would further arrest its efforts to develop.
Pupil Teacher ratio is another critical parameter to measure the effectiveness and quality of education having deeper impact on outcomes. Backward states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have a highly adverse ratio of 67, 59 and 60 respectively whereas states like Kerala and Maharashtra have better ratio than national average of 30 having a ratio of 20 and 27 respectively. Incidentally states like Andhra Pradesh and Oddisha are having favourable pupil teacher ratio though in other parameters of education they are lagging behind.
What is most intriguing is the growth of teacher recruitment over last 5 years in backward states of Bihar, Oddisha, Uttar Pradesh which has been negative, raising question over the priority of education in their policy, it being the most critical tool for people development.
Parameter 1 Institution
States/parameter |
Total(2017-18) |
Specialization
(2017-18) |
Growth(last 5 yr average) |
College/lakh(2017-18) |
Kerala |
1759 |
Agriculture: 4
Engineering: 101
Management: 26
Medical: 149
|
Univ.: 5.22%
College: 3.29% |
44
|
Maharashtra |
6318 |
Agriculture: 104
Engineering: 233
Management: 95
Medical: 220 |
Univ.: 4.77%
College: -0.98% |
33 |
Andhra Pradesh |
3446 |
Agriculture: 17
Engineering: 223
Management: 38
Medical: 195 |
Univ.: 6.15%
College: 0.63% |
48 |
Bihar |
930 |
Agriculture: 6
Engineering: 28
Management: 2
Medical: 25 |
Univ.: 3.41%
College: 2.27% |
14 |
Jharkhand |
395 |
Agriculture: 00
Engineering: 15
Management: 2
Medical: 13 |
Univ.: 15.32%
College: 2.30% |
8 |
Orrisa |
1423 |
Agriculture: 00
Engineering: 65
Management: 26
Medical: 40 |
Univ.: 4.61%
College:
-0.58% |
23 |
Uttar Pradesh |
7849 |
Agriculture: 13
Engineering: 114
Management: 77
Medical: 103 |
Univ.: 5.25%
College: 6.30% |
28 |
Table 4.
Data source: AISHE reports
Parameter 2: student and enrolment
States/
parameter |
GER(2017-18) |
GPI(2017-18) |
Social
Category
(2017-18) |
Level wise Enrolment
(2017-18) |
Level wise out-turn
(2017-18) |
Growth in enrolment(Last 5 year Average) |
Kerala |
36.2% |
1.26 |
GEN: 557395
SC: 67764 ST: 10089 OBC: 447669 |
Phd: 3755 UG: 2421610
M.Phill: 719 PGDip: 1489
PG: 51707 Diploma: 669 |
Phd: 616
M.Phill:577
PG: 39440
UG: 147016
PG
Dip: 518
Diploma: 14404 |
8.82% |
Maharashtra |
31.1% |
0.91 |
GEN:2223305 SC: 503283 ST: 184995 OBC:1220174
|
Phd: 9206 UG: 3314911
M.phill: 2421 PGdip: 19730 PG: 445783 Dip: 315911
|
Phd: 2654
M.Phill: 1158
PG: 148926
UG: 598579
PG
Dip: 8752
Diploma: 99513 |
4.12%
|
Andhra Pradesh |
30.9% |
0.78 |
Gen: 641395 SC: 273702 ST: 73655 OBC: 708530
|
Phd: 6289 UG: 1290153
M.phill: 897 PGdip: 2614 PG: 219296 Dip: 167214
|
Phd: 2368
M.Phill: 354
PG: 87170
UG: 255919
PG Dip: 1416
Diploma: 36902 |
-0.85% |
Bihar |
13% |
0.79 |
Gen: 670331 SC: 160254 ST: 21541 OBC: 662469
|
Phd: 2856 UG: 1333769
M.phill: NA PGdip: 2771 PG: 125139 Dip: 44349
|
Phd: 872
M.Phill: NA
PG: 37225
UG: 36902
PG Dip: 886
Diploma: 7957 |
2.13% |
Jharkhand |
18% |
0.96 |
Gen: 240840 SC: 662469 ST: 122919 OBC: 262048
|
Phd: 1798 UG: 578778
M.phill: 204 PGdip: 4003
PG: 69168 Dip: 29585
|
Phd: 354
M.Phill: 174
PG: 15929
UG: 126074
PG Dip: 1333
Diploma: 6851 |
9.57% |
Orrisa |
22% |
0.85 |
Gen: 534039 SC: 153035 ST: 124967 OBC: 203736
|
Phd: 2982 UG: 793548
M.phill: 1080 PGdip: 3000
PG: 73233 Dip: 125599
|
Phd: 798
M.Phill: 959
PG: 19267
UG: 19267
PG Dip: 1087
Diploma: 32361 |
7.26% |
Uttar Pradesh |
25.9% |
1.06 |
Gen: 2958984 SC: 1086562 ST: 45336 OBC: 2364493
|
Phd: 15408 UG: 5446769 M.phill: 860 PGdip: 19621
PG: 637473 Dip: 260547
|
Phd: 2615
M.Phill: 441
PG: 234261
UG: 1363021
PGDip:10568
Diploma: 68038 |
5.69% |
Table 5.
Data source: AISHE reports
Parameter 3: Pupil Teacher Ratio
States/
parameter |
Pupil Teacher ratio
(2017-18) |
Growth in no. of teachers(last 5year average) |
Kerala |
20 |
2.76% |
Maharashtra |
27 |
0.25% |
Andhra Pradesh |
19 |
-1.79% |
Bihar |
67 |
-0.98% |
Jharkhand |
59 |
8.91% |
Odissa |
28 |
-1.72% |
Uttar Pradesh |
60 |
-3.21% |
Table6.
Data source: AISHE reports
Policy Implications and the Way Forward
India has gained in world economy owing to the skilled workforce. However, the potential of its human resources is harnessed much less than its potential because of lack of education amongst the majority population, unemployment and existing poverty levels. World Bank and UNESCO constituted a taskforce in the year 2000 which had observed the positive impact of higher education in increasing wages and productivity. The report inferred that the latter have a direct impact on enriching the individuals and the society thereby impacting human development.
India focuses on three goals in its policy towards higher education, namely, expansion, inclusion and excellence. However, vast differences have been noticed in the outcomes across its states and in also pursuing such policies. The recent document published by The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Ayog), Strategy for New India @ 75 emphasizes making higher education more inclusive and improving the GER to 35 % on an average from 25 % by 2022-23. It has recognized the importance of improving access and equity of higher education in the country besides its emphasis on excellence. One of the important directions to make higher education attractive is to improve employability of students. Curriculum which is old and not aligned with the job market requirements cuts down on the relevance of the education and has an impact on the abilities and creativity of students. Further it recognizes the need of faculty recruitment as a large number of posts are vacant. Moreover due to lack of training their competence is also inadequate. It is suggested that there should be merit based incentives which can attract better talent to the teaching profession.
With the advent of digital technology and the remotest of India being connected through internet, scope of online teaching platforms should be harnessed to make the education more inclusive. The document sees an opportunity in broadening the scope of Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL). It suggests that universities of high credence should be allowed to offer online education programme. Technology can also facilitate overcoming the problem of faculty shortages.
Besides ensuring the reach and increase in GER, increased focus on quality and excellence is timely and here lies the big challenge. As the issue in front of the country is not only of providing opportunity of higher education but also ensuring that the education is of relevance and of quality.
There has been a realization and demand for taking the spending on education beyond 6% of gross domestic product which is far less at present times. The role of private sector is recognized in increasing the spending besides the funding agencies. The states have recently got larger devolution of funds under the 14th finance commission. NITI Aayog is expected to guide states in matters of education expenditure and ensure threshold bounds. A better coordination I required between central government, other central agencies and state govt. for better and effective coordination towards implementation.
Looking beyond, it is important to mention here that India may have witnessed its economic emergence supported by higher education however its larger potential has been restricted due to lagging access and relevant learning outcomes at primary and elementary levels for the masses. The progress achieved so far may not be sustainable unless the majority in the society can be self dependent and confident which can only happen with right knowledge and skills. A sincere attempt has to be made in not only devising but timely and effective implementation of policies for providing opportunities for education at all levels ensuring proper choices for a sustainable future.
References
http://aishe.nic.in/aishe/reports;jsessionid=F00DFBCDB115326C020D9A1C2F2FC731; All India survey on Higher Education report 2017-18
www.prsindia.org
http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics-new/Abstract2009-10.pdf; Ministry of human resource development Bureau of planning, monitoring & statistics 2011 report
http://hdr.undp.org/en/data United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
http://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/Strategy_for_New_India.pdf
Strategy for New India@75, Niti Ayog, Govt. of India, 2018