CONSUMER ISSUES INVOLVED IN EDUCATION SECTOR

 

CONSUMER ISSUES INVOLVED IN EDUCATION SECTOR

The Constitution (Eighty Sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Art. 21A in

the Indian Constitution, which meant that there was a fundamental right to

education available to all children aged between 6-14. As per the 7th All

India School Education Survey, there were 12.29 crore students enrolled in

primary education, 2.18 crore students enrolled in secondary education

and 1.14 crore students enrolled in higher secondary education.

With regards to infrastructure, there are around 15.22 lakh schools all over

India, 799 universities, 39,071 colleges and 11,923 stand alone institutions

for higher education.85 With regards to the personnel, there are around 58.16

lakh teachers at the primary school level and 21.27 lakh teachers at the

secondary school level.

CONSUMER ISSUES

Every person recognises the value of education, which is why that expenditure on education is a priority. As per the 68th NSSO Report, 66% and 76% of rural and urban households respectively reported an expenditure of 3.5% and 7% of the monthly personal consumption expenditure respectively on primary education per person per month.

Given this importance to education, the consumer grievances must be looked

at:

1. Delay in providing study material which is of high quality.

2. Lack of qualified faculty or study material.

3. Lack of providing certificates, report cards etc.

4. Problems in admission process.

5. Problems in conducting exams.

6. Non-adherence to curriculum or UGC guidelines.

REGULATORY AUTHORITIES

Broadly speaking, there are four regulatory authorities for the education

sector:

1. The Ministry of Human Resource Development is responsible for

development of human resource in India through education. It functions

through two departments – the Department of School Education &

Literacy and the Department of Higher Education.

2. The University Grants Commission was established by the University

Grants Commission Act, 1956  for development and maintenance of

educational standards in India.

3. There are numerous statutory bodies for certain professional disciplines

– the Medical Council of India, the All India Council of Technical

Education, Indian Council for Agricultural Research etc.

4. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council was established

following the recommendations of the National Education Policy, 198693

and the Programme of Action, 1992 which asked for setting up of an

autonomous institution for accreditation of higher education

institutions.