PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN EDUCATION AN IMPACTFUL MEANS OF PROMOTING SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH IN INDIA

Abstract

“The country needs a large number of centers of higher learning which are world class,” said Arun Jaitley, the Indian Union Minister of Finance of the Bhartiya Janata Party led government, in his maiden budget presentation for 2014, where he committed increased funds for higher education. This view conflicts with the 12th Five-Year Plan -- proposed by the earlier government -- that had advocated a halt to government-funded higher education. The new government proposed to add to the existing elite institutions of management and technology, medical colleges, new Humanities centers as well as programs for training teachers. Despite this increased outlay and commitment to the cause of education, K.R. Sekar, who oversees the education practice at Deloitte Haskins & Sells Llp, a consulting company, was concerned about the lack of clarity on the question of private investment in education or an outline of a path of education reforms.The paper also projects that such digital re-imagining can only come for a healthy and cooperative partnership between the private and the public structure, where the private structure can bring in the technology and the state of the art instructional design and the public structure can help foster the mindset for such a transformative venture.