Let us start with a story first, an average student passes out of a higher school and is ready to join college; but unfortunately his marks are a little less, and the prestigious colleges in his state will not even look at his mark sheet. He knows no one ever will consider him for any job if he does not have that magic paper, a graduate's degree in his hand. His value in the marriage market will go down. Let us say his father is influential or rich and he tells his son not to worry he will buy him a seat in a private institution. Thus our hero gets a seat in a private college or a professional institute by paying a lump sum of money. Colleges, particularly professional colleges are money making machinery for their owners. We find a mushrooming of medical, engineering, nursing colleges or institutes run by private organisations or owners all over the country.
Higher education is a very lucrative business for unscrupulous politicians and business men. The politician gets the permission to set up a college, the business man provides money and one more mediocre college comes up in a provincial city lacking infrastructure, good teachers and related facilities needed for professional students. Usually these colleges claim that they are affiliated to an established university in the state. They normally follow the syllabus necessary to pass the course and their students sit for the examination conducted by the particular university. However, they differ from the state run colleges in two ways. The teaching methodology lacks the high standard set up by the university in question and secondly admission to these colleges is only obtained by paying a substantial amount of money as a donation.
Why do the owners of private colleges charge huge donations? Basically they attract students who are poor academically but come from rich backgrounds. Their mark sheets show dismal numbers but their families are rich enough to buy them a seat in private colleges. The owners of private colleges ask for large sums of money as a donation, sometimes as building donation sometimes donations for infra structure. The building donation may or may not help in construction of a new college wing or provide better equipment for the laboratory or stock new books in the library. There is no audit done for the donation and the money eventually goes in the pocket of the owner of the college.
College education has become a lucrative business. It is a win/win situation, the student eventually gets, after stipulated years of study, a piece of paper which says he is a graduate or an MBBA or a B.Tech, and the owner gets richer every year on the donations given by guardians of such students. It does not matter if the students are ignorant of the subject they suppose to have studied in the college, or are incapable of putting that knowledge to test in the hospitals, in the operating theatres or in building bridges across the rivers. The history of private colleges in the country is generally murky and it is a lucrative ground for the unscrupulous to make more money.
Tags:
Education Becoming A Business
Money Making Business
Indian Education System
