Education and Employability Skills: A Report
Education at all levels (primary, secondary and higher) is the first step towards improving quality of life, awareness level and level of skill of people in the society. Improved literacy and education level have a positive impact on overall development and productivity of a region and the society. Quality of education and Unemployment are major issues of concern for the development of any state. With time Bihar has lost its pre-eminent rich culture and education system is still below mark. For employment almost every class of worker be it daily labourers or educated and qualified individuals are moving out of the state to almost every part of the country. Among other drivers like better standard of living, wide scope of job and monetary benefits status of education in the State plays an impertinent role. Institutional capacity is one of the parameters to measure the progress of higher education (also the quality of higher education system) in any state along with the number of Universities and Colleges, Faculty, Gross Enrolment Rate (GER), pass outs rate, drop outs rate and placement rate.
Talking about the young people (below the age of 30) in Bihar, they have dominated the electorate in the last couple of years constituting 31% in 2015 Assembly elections and 24.61% in 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 30% in 2020 Assembly election. Still jobs and employment have been major poll issues, higher education holds negligible attention. It should be noted that in order to remain employable one needs to possess the requisite skills and for that he/ she needs sound education. Talking about Bihar, people in the last election showed tremendous concern towards unemployment rate but they forgot the issues related to skill development and education which is a very important factor to gain employment and retain it.
According to the report published by All India Higher Education Survey (AISHE) in 2019 Bihar’s Gross Enrolment ration (GER) stood in the bottom of the list at 13.6% which is much lower than the national average of 26.3%. Poor access to higher education amongst women in Bihar which is reflected in its Gender Parity Index (GPI) which stands at 0.81 (2013-14), 0.82 (2014-15), 0.80 (2015-16) and 0.79 (2018-19). The figure shows a decline in the GPI the reasons for the same can be both demand as well as supply related. Another concern is college density (number of colleges and eligible population (18-23 years) which is just seven colleges in Bihar per lakh eligible population against the national average being 28. Few institutions of higher education mean overcrowding of the existing colleges and universities (with average enrolment per college being 1616 in 2018-19), having an effect on the quality of higher education institutions as well as the quality of graduates.
If the higher education statistics of Bihar is compared to the nation and other states (equal in population density or size or per capita income) still it lacks way behind and needs tremendous attention towards improvement.
Table 1 portrays the true picture of the status of higher education in Bihar and if we consider employability criteria then major parameters are pass out rate which stood as 40% in 2012-13 and showed marginal improvement in 2018-19 to 45% and placement rate which stood at 27% in 2012-13 showed some potential around 2015-16 but again dropped down to 27.91% in 2018-19.
History of Education in Bihar
Before commenting on the current situation of higher education in Bihar it is imperative to do a retrospective study and examine the state of education during different era. Bihar’s association with organised education and learning has a glorious history right from the Vedic era. Along with the Vedic education, 5th Century B.C witnessed the expansion of Buddhism and Jainism education which opened doors for public. Ashoka dynasty is a witness to the widespread practice of education in Magadh Empire. During 4th and 8th Century, it was a rich centre for education with three world class Universities (Nalanda, Vikramshila and Udantpuri) having their base spread in Bihar. The rich state of Bihar has given to the world great scholars like Aryabhatt and Varahmihira.
Bihar had the Sanskrit Chatushpadi and Madarsas for higher education and the Pathshalas and Maktabs for elementary education in the early Seventeenth century. According to great economist Buchanan kings ruling the state of Bihar (the Darbhanga Raja) provided grants for the education of pandits in his estates. Survey report of W. Adams conducted during the time frame 1837-38 stated that the State had a highly developed and widespread education system with at least one school in every village.
With the introduction of Macaulay’s minutes on Education in 1835 entire India witnessed a radical change as it had a direct impact on the content, methodology and medium of Indian Educational System. Wood’s dispatch in 1854 was introduced with the intention to spread the knowledge of English, Science and other European languages and it witnessed the establishment of Patna College in 1863 with affiliation from University of Calcutta. A survey training school was established in Bihar in 1886 which in 1900 was given the status of Bihar School of Engineering. In the year 1917 Patna College was granted the status of Patna University and since then numerous colleges were opened like Patna Science College (1928) and Patna Women’s College (1940) and renamed like Bihar College of Engineering (1932).
There was an era prior to independence when Patna University was called as Oxford of the East. Appleby, an expert during 1950s stated that Bihar was the best administered state in India and the period witnessed establishment of reputed academic institutions and big industrial projects like Bokaro Steel Plant and Barauni petroleum refinery and fertiliser unit, which provided employment to the locals.
With political interference, increasing role of student in politics, visible caste lines in the system and private parties funding the University system witnessed a downfall in the education system.