- One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) scheme, aims to provide nationwide access to scholarly research articles and journals.
- It is a central sector scheme.
- ONOS scheme will be coordinated by the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), which is an autonomous inter-university center under the University Grants Commission (UGC).
- Traditional academic publishing relies on a ‘pay to read’ model, where libraries and institutes pay fees to access published research.
- ONOS aims to democratize access to high-quality academics for students and researchers across India, particularly benefiting those in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
- ONOS will provide access to over 13,000 high-impact journals from 30 leading international publishers, significantly improving the availability of academic resources for students and researchers.
- The initiative targets over 6,300 institutions, benefiting around 1.8 crore students, faculty, and researchers, and enhances access to international journals, boosting India’s visibility in global research communities.
Issues in the Education System in India
- Election-Driven Focus of the Government:
- During elections, the poor gain bargaining power, leading to a focus on immediate needs like freebies and guarantees. While people aspire for income security and better basic entitlements, they are skeptical about the government’s commitment, be it education, health, living conditions, etc.
- Education Sector Crisis:
- The education sector is in crisis due to reckless commercialization and politicization. It lacks a step-by-step strategy and a national consensus and focuses on easy solutions like technology as a substitute for solid investments in quality education.
- Limits of Edutech:
- The book “The Learning Trap” highlights the limitations of technology in fixing the broken education system. Edutech start-ups, such as Byju’s, failed to deliver on promises, emphasizing the need for good teachers over technological solutions.
- Impact of Tuition Industry:
- The tuition industry, valued at over Rs 58 billion, is rapidly expanding. Government policies devaluing high school examinations and the focus on national exams as gateways to professional careers contribute to the growth of this parallel education system.
- Preference for Tuition Centers:
- Parents increasingly prefer tuition centers to regular schools, leading to stress-induced suicides and mental health problems among students. The divide between well-educated and less-educated students is widening.
- Quality Variance in Schools:
- India’s public and private schools vary in quality, with poorly trained and paid teachers contributing to the rise of tuition centers. The government’s focus on running its schools neglects monitoring and quality improvement.
- Widening Educational Divide:
- The educational divide between the rich and poor is widening, with the second category of students struggling within a failed system. The government’s approach to teaching materials lacks innovation and fails to address the growing challenges.
- Lack of Societal Involvement:
- Education should become a societal concern rather than solely a government responsibility, which is missing in the Indian context.
- Solutions involve widening social participation, engaging civil society, and encouraging volunteerism, while also making teachers accountable for results.
- Insufficient Education Spending:
- India’s education spending is insufficient, stagnating at 2.61% of GDP, far below the recommended 6% by the Education 2030 Framework for Action. Adequate attention and increased budget allocation are missing for real growth and development.
- Political Leadership and Fiscal Imagination:
- Real growth and development hinge on political leadership commitment and fiscal imagination. With India’s spending on education remaining low, a fundamental shift is lacking that can meet the challenges and achieve global leadership in education.
- Inadequate Infrastructure in Schools:
- According to the UDISE for 2019-20, only 12% of schools have internet facilities and 30% have computers.
- About 42% of these schools lacked furniture, 23% lacked electricity, 22% lacked ramps for the physically disabled, and 15% lacked WASH facilities (which include drinking water, toilets, and hand wash basins).
- High Dropout Rate:
- The dropout rate is very high in primary and secondary levels. Most of the students in the 6-14 age groups leave the school before completing their education. It leads to a waste of financial and human resources.
- According to the National Family Health Survey-5, not being interested in studies was the reason given by 21.4% of girls and 35.7% of boys aged between 6 to 17 years for dropping out of school before the 2019-20 school year.
University Grants Commission (UGC)
- It came into existence on 28th December 1953 and became a statutory body by an Act of Parliament in 1956, for the coordination, determination, and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination, and research in university education.
- It also regulates the recognition of fake universities, autonomous colleges, deemed to be universities, and distance education institutions.
- The head office of the UGC is located in New Delhi.
