What did McDonald, KFC, Subway and the like bring to India? Well, a lot of good food, business for the local businessmen, work for the local lads, money for the Indian economy. The franchise model of business has worked wonders in the food sector in India. Relatively easy to set up, an instant brand recognition and invaluable assistance in terms of knowledge makes it an instant hit in booming economies like ours. Many other sectors have tried the franchise model as well - the hospitality industry for example.
If everything goes right in the next few months in the Parliament we may see the same franchise business model in the education sector as well. "The Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of entry and operation) Bill" is all set to be tabled in the parliament for discussion soon. The cabinet has cleared it and Kapil Sibal is confident that though parties like BSP, RJD and SP would oppose it, the bill would get acceptance in BJP and other sorted out parties and should get cleared without much ado. The Left is expected to rattle a little but they have been disarmed in the recent times by the UPA government's massive numbers.
The bill, when passed, would be a big boost to the education system in India. If Universities like the Harward, Oxford, Stanford and the like start to show interest in Indian education market we may soon move towards a standardization in the education sector which is the need of the hour. The education system in India in present times is raked by malpractices across all fields of study. Unification of education metrics has been echoed a number of times by the education minister and few other government bodies and this bill can do just that in an indirect fashion. A number of universities have had similar successful experiments in countries like Singapore specially in fields of technology, fashion and other contemporary fast paced cources.
Education franchising would bring better education to the people of India, more robust education system may evolve and more than anything else it would create a respect for Indian education scenario in the rest of the world. According to the current trends the Indian student is in high demand in the global market but the Indian education is looked down upon, this Bill may change the attitude of the world.
2 comments:
We have borrowed junk food (obesity) and potty cola (gastritis) from 200 years of American history...
...and they have taken Yoga, Meditation, Nuclear Science, Maths (Pythagoras Theorem for instance), Physics (Gravity for instance), Architecture, Spirituality, Human Resources from 20,000 years of Indian science and arts.
Is there a unfair exchange that you can see here?
Yes a lot of health related issues are bundled with junk food, agreed. But it is an economy booster.
About the good things that the west has taken from us, its a simple principle: take product design for instance - you may have a great/cool 'concept model' but it still needs to be packaged, advertised, promoted, marketted before it can be of any use to anyone. With Yog, Meditation, Nuclear Science (and they made the science to technology which can be used today), Spirituality we have provided the concept and shown that it can work but they should get credit for accepting a good concept and making a good use of it.
I hate to call people 'them', 'they' and 'us'. Vasudev kutumbakam :)
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