India added over 7,000 higher education institutions in the first seven years of the Narendra Modi government, most of them privately run, while witnessing a rise in the pupil-teacher ratio that suggests a fall in quality, official data show.
The pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) in universities and colleges was 24 in 2021-22, according to the latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report, released by the Union education ministry on Thursday.
The AISHE report for 2014-15 had found a PTR of 21, which means every teacher has been handling three additional students since Modi assumed power.
A comparison of the two reports suggests the number of students rose by 26.5 per cent in Modi’s first seven years while teacher strength rose by about 8.4 per cent.
The 2021-22 report counts 1,168 universities or university-level institutions and 45,473 colleges. Of the 1,168 universities, 685 were government-managed (central government 240, state governments 445), 473 were private (unaided) and 10 were public-funded deemed universities.
Of the 45,473 colleges, 42,825 responded to the survey and of them 78.5 per cent were privately managed.
In 2014-15, some 760 universities and 38,498 colleges were listed on the AISHE web portal, of which 740 universities and 34,452 colleges had responded to the survey. Of these, 261 universities were privately managed, and so were 77 per cent of the 34,452 colleges.
While the number of universities rose by 53 per cent between 2014-15 and 2021-22, the number of private universities increased by 81 per cent.
Enrolment in higher education rose from 3.42 crore in 2014-15 to nearly 4.33 crore in 2021-22, marking an increase of 26.5 per cent. The corresponding rise for teachers — 14.73 lakh to 15.98 lakh — represented an increase of just 8.4 per cent.
The enrolment and faculty figures — which determine the PTR — are based solely on statistics provided by the institutions that responded to the AISHE. The 2021-22 report said the responsibility for the accuracy of the information rested with the institutions.
R.K. Chauhan, former UGC secretary and former vice-chancellor of the Guru Jambheswar University, Hisar, said the rise in the numbers of institutions owed mainly to "private players (who) have found education to be a big industry".
"They enter this sector with pure commercial motives. They charge very high fees and cater to the wealthy," he said.
"Students from economically and socially backward groups mostly study at government institutions, whose numbers need to increase and quality to improve."
While Indian law makes education a non-profit sector, academics say private institutions often sidestep the law by charging undeclared and illegal "capitation fees" and by taking "loans" from their corpus of surplus funds, meant to be ploughed back into education.
"The private institutions do not provide accurate data about infrastructural facilities and faculty. So, the teachers' data may show inflated numbers," Chauhan said.
"Still, the increase is much less compared with the students. It means quality has deteriorated in higher education in this period."
Chauhan said the government should use data from the municipal and income-tax authorities, respectively, to identify the "deficiencies in infrastructure and faculty".
Furqan Qamar, former vice-chancellor of the Himachal Pradesh Central University, too said the fall in the PTR suggested a drop in the quality of teaching-learning and research.
He said the AISHE collects financial data from higher education institutions — such as free and salary structures, revenues, government funds and spending — but refrains from reporting them for unexplained reasons.
"This year, too, the financial data are missing, which (prevents) analysts and researchers from commenting on the financial health of higher education," he said.
He questioned the success of the Study In India scheme, launched by the Union government in 2018 to attract foreign students.
While the number of foreign students enrolled in higher education in India rose from 47,427 in 2018-19 to 49,346 in 2019-20, it fell to 48,035 in 2020-21 and 46,878 in 2021-22.
Qamar brushed away the plea that the pandemic was behind the fall.
"Most (developed) countries shrugged (Covid-19) off in this regard and reported a growth in international students, so why haven’t we? Why is the Study In India programme unable to make a dent?" he said.
