Beyond NEET paper leak: Expanding supply is the only lasting solution |
Scott Anderson’s excellent book King of Kings documents the Shah of Iran’s curt reaction to food shortage warnings in 1978 as “There are no shortages, only hoarding by greedy businessmen.” The technocratic reply that “hoarding depended on shortages” angered the emperor, who then ordered people to “stop complaining and work harder”. This royal delusion — the Shah was unemployed within 12 months — echoes the regulatory cholesterol holding back a massive entrepreneurial response to India’s voracious demand for education. While tactical responses are necessary before 21 lakh-plus students retake the NEET-UG exam on June 21, the only lasting solution is to expand supply through deregulation that empowers education technocrats, such as principals and deans, to set up institutions.
India’s inability to create mass prosperity arises from the low productivity of our employers and youth. Reforms over the past decade have focused on employer productivity; we must now tackle outdated regulations choking the expansion of schools, colleges, and universities. The Radhakrishnan Commission of 1948 and the Kothari Committee of 1968 responded to educator John Gardner’s challenge to design education systems that are equal and excellent. But India’s youth population today is larger than America’s total population. We are no longer a poor, new, and hesitant republic, and our education policy should stop behaving like one. This entails ending five false binaries.
Quantity vs Quality: India has run a randomised control trial in education regulation. The Medical Council of India was bribed to keep medical capacity down, while the All India Council for Technical........