[prpoint] why foreign education and why is indian system flawed

 

Dear All,

I have been really disturbed by this increasing trend or mania of parents across all communities in India to literally dispatch their sons and daughters to foreign lands for education. There are two categories: 1) one set of parents who want their children to start from undergraduate education 2) another set of parents who want their children to do post graduate studies leading upto Phd programme.

The craze for foreign education seemed valid untill the time India leap frogged into a bigger league of nations after the economic reforms and again during and after recessionary phase. Today so many MNC have parked in India and offer salaries comparable to those in USA. Even Indian transnationals offer big salaries.

Life is a lot more comfortable in India ( domestic servants/cooks available at cheaper rates than abroad) home rentals too cheaper. Home loans and vehicle loans chepaer and bigger accomodation.

We have the finest of IITs and IIMs in India and even medical colleges and recent news is that some of these degrees are being recognised now abroad. So why this rush for foreign education? Why this craze for settling down abroad when we can owe a debt of gratitude to the country of birth and take part in its national building activities? I am not a Manoj Kumar type patriot but just a thought.

The following i think are the bottlenecks? Can they ever be resolved even with a progressive regime under Modi? Aguments for going abroad?

1) First and foremost is the assumption that foreign degree and foreign job increases a boy's or girls' prospects in the marriage market. You connect with the right families and go into upwardly mobile middle class or rich families. Life is cool after that ,. is it really cool? Are there culture clashes?

2) Basic facilities such as sanitation, cleaniness and health care appear far better  abroad than in India. Homes may be posh but the neighborhood stinks of accumulated garbage and not maintained or cleaned by the civic authorities which is still ruled by corruption and indifference and lack of ownership.

3) Easy access to modern basic necessities cooking gas connection, telephone connections and other such facilities better in foreign countries than India.

4) Foreign degree opens up better prospects for better jobs with better pay abroad as also in India

5) Indian business environment fraught with bribery and corruption and even small things are so difficult to access . Better access abroad and much less corruption.

Are all these assumptions valid today as western nations still struggle to come out of recession and china and india seem to be insulated against the crisis.

Arguments against or demystifying life abroad today/

1) Life is very tough abroad. Uncertainty of jobs. No one knows when one is going to get the pink slip

2) 2nd class citizen abroad though with better civil and other facilities than India?

3) We all know how recession devastated people on the home loan front -- distress sales etc inability to repay loans etc, stock market crash reduced values and liquidity. Cost of health care prohibitive an simple  X ray costs as high as US $ 250 against Rs 250 to Rs 500 in India depending on the lab.

4) All domestic aid services frightlfully expensive. Home rentals not less than US $ 1,000 ( Rs 60,000) for a small home. And in the distant suburbs.

yet people people prefer a life abroad : is it because a US $ earns 60 rupees and the NRI accounts burgeon, climate is better, moderate climes overseas and hostile climate in India, business and working atmosphere better abroad as Indian office system is hierarchial and bureaucratic and initiatives are suppressed, access to good health care still restricted to the rich? no proper national schemes in the country as in Canada, UK or Australia?

After reforms business environment has improved, lesser controls, lesser paperwork, lesser corruption, better salaries, better facilities, better access to modern technology and gadgets (tv mobiles laptops desktops broadband 3G and 4G etc) and yet people want to go abroad> Why ? Yet there is still something rottne in the state of Denmark (shakespeare)( India)? is that why?

Have seen many lower and middle class parents distressed by the foreign education mania that they borrow beyond their means to finance their childrens education and having a tough life after retirement. Banks are tough in recovering these loans, though onus falls on the children now. Many are selling homes to move into old age homes because there are no children to look after them and old age makes it difficult for them to maintain their home by themselves or face hassles of fighting with civic authorities over inflated electricity and water bills.

Can we have a debate on this?

--

TN Ashok                
Corporate Consultant,

(Public Affairs/ Media Advisori

Resident Editor, Industrial Economist,

Contributor, Business Line,

Ex Economics Editor, PTI,

Ex Communications Advisor,

Alstom Group of Companies SA France

+91 98101 88700

+91 88005 35205

+91 11 2271 3192

ashoktnex@gmail.com

ashnews@yahoo.com

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Posted by: "T.N.Ashok" <ashoktnex@gmail.com>

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