How autonomy will kill dreams of higher education

An emergency of sorts has been declared in public-funded universities as the “autonomy” debacle is set to slaughter easy and affordable access to higher education, especially for students belonging to socially- and economically-marginalised sections.

The University Grants Commission’s decision to grant full autonomy to 62 institutions of higher education will, inevitably, commercialise and privatise higher education.While protests and strikes have been organised to challenge and defy the contentious autonomy order, in many cases, they have been misinterpreted and misrepresented — often as “anti-national” protests of unruly students. Thus, it is important to extract personal narratives from these protests and present the issues in a comprehensible manner.

To this end, a day in the campuses was enough to collect stories from students, who are visibly worried and enraged by the looming threat to public-funded higher education.

Arzoo Saha from West Bengal’s Cooch Behar, who is pursuing her Master’s degree from Delhi University, graduated from an understaffed government college in an area where the closest library was 5 hours away. Many of her classmates never completed their degrees. Several of them had dropped out as they could not afford education. She secured 8^th position in the entrance exams held for Delhi University. She, however, could not have studied in DU, if it wasn’t state funded. Saha, an SC student from a lower-middle class family, believes that privatised education would stifle such possibilities.

Then there are others such as Pooja* and Arif who earn to fund their education. Jawaharlal Nehru University is more than just an educational institution for Arif. He had never had three meals a day before coming to JNU. His family did not want him to pursue education. Even now, he funds his own education by taking tuition classes and availing scholarships. This is also true of Pooja* from Delhi University, who had lost her father when she was in standard 3 and her mother later. She works to earn and fund her education. Like Arif, she too believes, “If there is a fee hike anytime soon, it will create a lot of pressure on self-sustaining students.” 

In many other cases, students had to drop out of universities as they could not even afford public-funded education. This is true of Sneha*, who had graduated from a reputed government-funded college, Miranda House. Yet, even with her decent graduation score, she could not continue her education because of a lack of resources. In another instance, Zainab*, a first-year student of Jamia Milia Islamia, fears she might have to drop out. She is a Bangladeshi, whose sister suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. Her father, a retired Army officer can no longer sustain too many expenses. Zainab has desperately tried reaching out to the Vice Chancellor and concerned authorities for a fee concession but in vain.

There are more people, very likely to get affected by this commodification of education. One of the most overlooked among these sections are students from the PWD category. According to Prerna, a PhD student from Delhi University, most of the PWD students in India depend on state-funded universities. This is one reason that they are present in large numbers in Delhi University, JNU, BHU, HCU and the likes. More often, only a few of them are supported by their families and many come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.  Some depend on NGOs which do not have adequate funds. If universities are privatised, any kind of fee hike will hinder the educational as well as employment opportunities of such sections too.

These are a few out of thousands of unheard stories of unnerved students who are witness to this shrinking of opportunities. The majority in India are oppressed and marginalised. Dalits, lower class people, minority groups are culturally marginalised, socially oppressed and economically exploited. Many women, who are still considered a burden on their families, receive education only because their parents are willing to spend the meagre fees that state-funded universities require. Public education has been and still exists as a significant tool for them to challenge hierarchies and empower themselves.

The “autonomy” façade will thwart possibilities of assertion. These anti-student policies of MHRD, in nexus with the right-wing vision of the BJP government, will sell education to good buyers.  It will remove all accountability and undo years of reforms made in this direction. Yet again, the university spaces will be entirely usurped by upper caste and upper-class people, especially men. This will also undermine the thriving culture of social justice of these universities, which has proved to be the chief opponent to the ruling government in recent years.

If all is at stake, why must one sleep with open eyes and observe with apathy, this brutal attack on essential dreams?

Note: Names* have been changed as the respondents requested anonymity.