At the outset, we have to seriously define what higher education meant especially in the context of present day challenges not only within the country but from the global perspective. If we mean higher education to be spread to rural areas to making it inclusive and equitable , it purely meant that more infrastructure in terms of providing such scope and facilities at our rural centres which resulted in more students from the rural and from lung areas going in for post matriculation and graduation levels and spreading and upgrading literacy to finally scramble for a job in a government run establishment by more students after completing the educational courses. The data available even in the absence of a concerted drive to make it available in terms of more institutional support and making it more rural stressed, we find representation from the rural areas fairly enough not only in each and every ordinary sphere but even in prestigious competitive courses at the national levels and candidates from our rural areas fairing sufficiently better.
However, recently announced National Education Policy has lot of ingrained added advantages in imparting basic and elementary education in one’s mother native language and with lot of elasticity and baskets of varied choices and preferences, Indian students had better chances to study varied range of subjects and thus withstand competition even at global levels. How the Policy could in better form be implemented in our rural areas is most important and should engage top policy planners , educationists and even bureaucracy.
What Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu , in this connection, while recently addressing inaugural ceremony of the Delhi University centenary celebrations, wants by impressing upon the need to take higher education to rural areas is not only having added infrastructural structure for it but bring in such changes and innovative outlook so as to be in a position to spread literacy which had lot to do to change the face of the rural landscape in education , research and its orientation with reference to the emerging challenges that are seen towards better human development, nation building and creating a prosperous future. We have to make a difference in the very approach in this respect as between the urban areas and the rural areas for obtaining better results.
Not entirely needless to say, the available data as of the year 2011 from the rural India in respect of youngsters especially ”educated” ones bidding adieu to conventional farming is at the alarming rate of over 2000 per day . While it should be causing concern , therefore, needs to be addressed adequately and perhaps more and ”realistic” education spread may resolve the devastating trend . After all, why are the young among the farming community giving up farming ? Are in the rural areas or near by into a cluster of them, absence of modern education and research on Agriculture and numerous allied activities responsible for that? Why even this theory is proving wrong looking to Agricultural graduates switching over to other professions / jobs ? Is the same phenomenon called the Indian agro brain drain and how could, therefore, more spread of conventional education that too of ”higher levels” help in salvaging the main , most important and still largely dependable activity largely contributing to the country’s GDP which is Agriculture? That workforce which is engaged in Indian agriculture is roughly over 55 per cent proves the vulnerability of agriculture and the need of spread of more education that helped hanging the face of agriculture.
Recent global upheavals on account of the worst ever impact of Corona virus pandemic which resulted in drop in production, both industrial and agricultural, in most of the countries and shot the inflation curve up menacingly , Indian agriculture performed exceptionally well so much so that the country could feed 80 crores of the people free of cost for nearly three years and able to export to many deserving countries as well. What therefore implies is that Indian agriculture can do wonders both in terms of arresting dipped contribution to GDP , afford new and varied markets, create new opportunities for employment, increasing money incomes as also increase the overall production . New vistas of higher technical and professional educational avenues, therefore, need to be provided in our rural areas. A broader outlook away from stressing upon conventional higher education to produce “Babus” in colonial sense need to be developed .
We need to develop start ups , industrial units related to agriculture and educational institutions in rural areas imparting requisite training , education , research facilities and the like to students so that later, vast scope for marketing , granting licences for that , supplying fertilizers and pesticides like opportunities are provided for them . NABARD like institutions primarily related to agriculture can be opened in select rural areas and only those possessing degrees from the Agricultural field must be recruited in its branches /offices and not the ones from the Management or pure accountancy fields alone . That way and employing similar numerous practical ways, higher education spread as wished by the Vice President can really transform our rural areas. It has to be borne in mind by the policy planners of education, agriculture, industries and commerce, banking and the like that imparting education must be such , besides enlightening one’s mental faculties, which have a definite route leading to ”how to earn a livelihood ” and not just spreading it haphazardly distributing degrees at University convocations.
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