Education Is The Wealth Of Highest Degree Education Essay

Education plays an important role in molding professional and personal life of each person. Mahatma Gandhiji said The purpose of education is to bring out the best in you. Swami Vivekananda defines education as ‘the manifestation of the perfection already in man.’ [3] Education determines the quality and standard of life of every individual. Hence, no one can deny that education determines the quality of life.

It is the education which makes a country developed economically and technologically. Education plays a key role in the development of human resources in the country and thereby enhances economic development also. Good Education produces employable youth in the country. There are lots of employment opportunities for the well qualified individuals in the country and also abroad. The creation of well qualified individuals is the result of quality education. Ultimately, making quality education is in the hands of the personality called ‘teacher’ who delivers it to the recipient in an efficient manner. It is said that the effectiveness of formal education depends to a great extent on the quality of manpower [4] . The quality of education imparted to children depends to a large extent on the quality of teachers in the schools and colleges. The responsibility is more for the higher education teachers than the teachers of school education.

Higher Education in India is one of the most developed in the entire world. There has, in fact, been considerable improvement in the higher education scenario of India in both quantitative and qualitative terms. In technical education, the IITs, and in management, the IIMs have already marked their names among the top higher educational institutes of the world. As a result, students from various parts of the world are coming today for higher education in India. Higher education is of paramount importance for social and economic development. Institutions of higher education have the main responsibility for equipping individuals with advanced knowledge and skills required for positions of responsibility. Estimated social rates of return of ten percent or more in many developing countries also indicates that investments in higher education contributed to increase in labor productivity and to higher long term economic growth essential for poverty alleviation. (World Bank, 1994, p.1). According to UNESCO, “higher education is no longer a luxury; it is essential to national, social and economic development”.

There is an enormous growth of Higher Education in India. There were 20 Universities and 500 Colleges at the time of independence. As on 31.03.2010, there were 42 Central Universities, 257 State Universities, 61 State Private Universities, 130 Deemed Universities, five Institutions established under various State legislations and 39 Institutes of National Importance established by Central legislation. In addition, there were 31,324 colleges including around 2,260 colleges for Women. The total number of students enrolled at the beginning of the academic year 2009-2010 has been reported at 146.25 lakhs [5] . The table 1.1 and 1.2 below show the growth of higher education in India.

TABLE 1.1

Growth of Higher Educational Institutions and Enrolment in India

Year

Universities*

Colleges

Total

Enrolment (Lakh)

1947-48

20

496

516

2

1950-51

28

578

606

2

1960-61

45

1819

1864

6

1970-71

93

3277

3370

20

1980-81

123

4738

4891

28

1990-91

184

5748

5932

44

2000-01

266

11146

11412

88

2005-06

348

17625

17973

105

2009-10

533

31,324

31856

146

* Include Central, State, Private and deemed universities and also institutions of national importance established both by the Central and the State legislatures.

Source: University Grants Commission and updated from University News, 49(43) October 24-30, 2011.

The enrolment rate over the period of three decades is shown in table 1.2

Table 1.2

All India Growth of Student Enrolment

(1983-84 to 2009-2010)

Year

Total Enrolment

Increase over the

preceding year

Percentage

1983-84

33,07,649

1,74,556

5.6

1984-85

34,04,096

96,447

2.9

1985-86

36,05,029

2,00,933

5.9

1986-87

37,57,158

1,52,129

4.2

1987-88

40,20,159

2,63,001

7.0

1988-89

42,85,489

2,65,330

6.6

1989-90

46,02,680

3,17,191

7.4

1990-91

49,24,868

3,22,188

7.0

1991-92

52,65,886

3,41,018

6.9

1992-93

55,34,966

2,69,080

5.1

1993-94

58,17,249

2,82,283

5.1

1994-95

61,13,929

2,96,680

5.1

1995-96

65,74,005

4,60,076

7.5

1996-97

68,42,598

2,68,593

4.1

1997-98

72,60,418

4,17,820

6.1

1998-99

77,05,520

4,45,102

6.1

1999-2000

80,50,607

3,45,087

4.5

2000-2001

83,99,443

3,48,836

4.3

2001-2002

89,64,680

5,65,237

6.7

2002-2003

95,16,773

5,52,093

6.2

2003-2004

1,00,11,645

4,94,872

5.2

2004-2005

1,05,42,262

5,30,617

5.3

2005-2006

1,11,37,627

5,95,365

5.6

2006-2007

1,18,87,095

7,49,468

6.7

2007-2008

1,27,27,082

8,39,987

7.0

2008-2009

1,36,41,808

9,14,726

7.2

2009-2010

1,46,25,000

9,83,000

7.2

Source: ‘Higher Education In India Strategies and Schemes during Eleventh Plan Period (2007-2012) for Universities and Colleges’ University Grants Commission, January, 2011 and updated from University News, 49(43) October 24-30, 2011.

India’s enrolment rate for Higher Education, which has risen from 0.7% in 1950-51, 1.4% in 1960-61, and 6% in early 2000, is still very low (about 8%) compared to the world average of 23.2%, and an average of 54.6% for developed countries, 36.3% for countries in transition, and 11.3 % for developing countries. (World Bank Country report on India’s Higher Education, 2006) [6] . There are many reasons for such poor quality of higher education institutions spanning from inadequate investment to inefficient faculty resources to deficiencies in the teaching-learning process. Thus, lack of quality and quantity of teachers has affected the enrolment of students in higher education in India.

Teachers are the central point in the higher education process. Playing a significant role in the teaching learning process they are the key to the innovation, creation and transmission of knowledge. If University is ‘knowledge industry’, the teachers can rightly be described as the producer and retailer of knowledge. They are the midwives who nurture the students and give birth to the ideas. [7] The total number of higher education teachers in India is 6, 99,464 (2009-2010) which is a large stock of human resource influencing the quality of education. The distribution of the number of teaching faculties is shown in table 1.3.

Table 1.3

Distribution of the Teaching Staff by Designation (2009-10)

Category

Professors*

Readers

Senior Lecturers

Lecturers

Tutor/

Demonstrators

Total

University Departments and University Colleges**

21,006

(20.85)

25,308 (25.13)

10,293

(10.22)

38,983

(38.69)

5,151

(5.11)

1,00,741

(100.00)

In Affiliated Colleges

40,538 (6.77)

1,35,532

(22.64)

84,707 (14.15)

3,22,820

(53.91)

15,126

(2.53)

5,98,723

(100.00)

* Includes Principals and Senior Teachers who are equivalent to Professors; Figures in parentheses

indicate the percentage of the cadres to the total staff; Part-time teachers/Physical Training

Instructors are in the category of Lecturers

** Provisional

Source: UGC Annual Report, 2009-10.

The whole process of education is shaped and molded by the teacher who plays a pivotal role in any system of education. Kothari Commission (1964-66) rightly remarked that ‘of all the different factors, which influenced the quality of education, the quality, the competence, and the character of teachers are the most significant factors. No other factors are more important than a sufficient supply of high quality teachers to the higher education and, providing them with the best possible professional preparation and creating satisfactory conditions of work in which they could be fully effective’ [8] .

In determining the quality of education, premises and equipments are needed but persons are vital to them and a teacher is the supreme factor. It is no exaggeration to state that a spacious building, costly equipment and sound syllabus will serve some useful purpose only when there are teachers who can make proper use of the buildings and equipment, who can give life and meaning to the curriculum, who can make the books interesting or dull who can make teaching methods inspiring or soul-killing.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former President of India, viewed education as an instrument of capacity building. Through it he hopes to realize the millennium mission-2020, to transform India into a developed country. He says; “The capacity required to buildup among the students in their formative years is in educational institutions.” [9] The role and responsibility of a teacher in the modern age has been stressed: “If you are a teacher, in whatever capacity, you have a very special role to play. Because, more than anybody else, you are shaping generations”. (Kalam and Rajan 1998) [10] .

A high quality teaching staff is the cornerstone of a successful educational system. Teachers are both the largest cost and the largest human capital resource of an education system. Attracting and retaining high quality teachers is thus a primary necessity for educational institutions. [11] 

Teaching is one of the noblest jobs on the earth. According to Bishay [12] (1996), the teaching profession ranks high on the success list of a society. Nobel laureate Hans Krebs in his inaugural address at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Newcastle-upon- Tyne in 1967 emphasized that ‘it is only a great teacher who can produce a great student.’ [13] 

Though many steps are taken by UGC, the Indian Higher Education system suffers due to poor quality. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) have accredited 148 out of 416 universities and 3934 out of 20,677 colleges by March 2009. The results of the accreditation show that 68% of colleges are rated as ‘B’ while another 23% colleges are rated as ‘C’ grade; and only the remaining 9% are A grade. The same is the situation for universities also which is, 46% Universities are rated as ‘B’ grade while another 23% are ‘C’ grade; and the remaining 31% are ‘A’ grade. The rank list prepared by Higher Education World University Ranking also reveals that there are no ranks for Indian Universities or Institutes even in top 200. [14] 

The Prime Minister of India, Sri. Manmohan Singh, has expressed his concern over the fact that two thirds (68%) of the country’s universities and 90 percent of its colleges are of “middling or poor quality”, over half of the faculty in India’s colleges do not have the appropriate degree qualifications [15] and only 7 percent of India’s 18 to 24 year olds enter higher education [16] (compared to 21 percent in Germany, and 34 percent in the US [17] ).

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2009 released by India’s Minister for Human Resource Development revealed that although enrollment in schools have increased, learning levels have declined over the years. It is poor to see that only 38% of the students from Class V can do arithmetic. The poor quality at school level finally leads poor quality in higher education because the base of the student is not strong enough. According to a McKinsey study, only 25 per cent of our engineering graduates, 15 per cent of our finance and accounting professionals and 10 per cent of professionals with any kind of degrees, in India, are suitable for working in multinational companies. This is the indicator of the poor quality of education in India [18] .

There is a large gap between educational standard and suitability for employment in India. It is very clear from the observation of The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) [19] which runs as follows:

‘There is ‘talent gap’ of five million by 2012 and a shortfall of 750,000 skilled workers in the next five years. India’s 520 universities, 25,000 colleges and 6000 Industrial Training Institutes turn out 2.3 million non-technical and 500,000 technical graduates. But National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) says that only 10 percent of the former and 25 percent of the latter are employable’.

India does a poor job of educating its masses. Only about 10% of those in the age group 18-23 years get into collegiate education. There are countries which manage 80-90%! The Knowledge Commission projects that to raise the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) from 10 to 15%, we will need about 1500 universities, instead of the 450 or so that we have now. [20] 

Mr. Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission said that “of the 90,000 odd MBAs produced each year, only a miniscule percentage is found to be worth employing.” A report on global skills for graduates in financial services also says that “58 per cent of financial service organizations are facing difficulties in recruiting people with the right set of skills.” In the job fairs conducted at the University of Madras in 2007, though there was no dearth of job opportunities, the number of graduates who had the required conceptual, analytical, communication and interpersonal skills was only 4 per cent and the remaining 96 per cent were substandard and unfit [21] .

Naik [22] (1982) summarizes the nature of this situation as follows:

‘Over-production of ‘educated’ persons; increasing educated unemployment; weakening of student motivation; increasing unrest and indiscipline on the campuses; frequent collapse of administration; deterioration of standards; and above all, the demoralizing effect irrelevance and purposelessness of most of what is being done’. Thus, in terms of its efficiency, productivity, and utilization of resources the system has completely broken down (A.Singh, 1988, p.5) [23] .

The National Policy on Education (NPE – 1986, 1992) emphasized on the improvement of quality of education. One of the factors contributing to the improvement of quality of education is competent and dedicated teacher. [24] 

Majority of the problems in higher education can be resolved if the teachers involve themselves into the system. The significant problems like poor quality education, low employability and quality of Human resources are within the control of the teaching community. So, it is on the hands of the teachers of higher educational institutions to change the critical scenario prevailing in India and the entire system may be revamped through their efficient and effective performance. This involvement is created by so many factors in and around the teachers.

Though, the teacher is highly qualified, experienced, satisfied with the career and talented in teaching and other academic work, unless he/she is actually involved and committed to his/her job, all the said qualification, experience and talents is a mere useless. This commitment is voluntary and automatic one. It means, one cannot compel a teacher to be committed to his/her job. It should be automatically created by both internal and external motivators. This commitment, interest towards job, aim to deliver the best, positive attitude towards job and institution is nothing but ‘morale’. If he/she does not have high morale he/she may not be able to put in all his/her efforts in attaining the objective of any educational system. It is the duty of the people around the teachers to provide them the environment which will boost up their morale. The people around them are their family members, peer group, administrators, students and the society like media, parents of the students and the general public.

The teachers with high morale will be committed to their duties. They will not only teach but create the students as good citizens. They will work more than the allotted workload. In the sense, they will work both physically, mentally and wholeheartedly. Destiny of future India is being shaped in its educational institutions. And in these efforts teachers were and are the critical input. Sergiovanni [25] (1991) confirmed that the essential requirements for effective schools are highly motivated teachers who are committed to work.

NCTE (1998) [26] states, “A teacher in the technological age must have commitment to the learner, commitment to the society, commitment to the profession, commitment to achieve excellence and commitment to basic human values. Thus a teacher should be equipped with modern competence to work effectively to cater to the needs of information-seeking society, to prove himself or herself as a knowledge worker’.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Teacher morale depends mainly on the attitude and interest of the teachers towards teaching profession. Many of them do not have favourable attitude towards their job. They take up teaching profession as a last resort. The personal morale of a teacher is low, when there is no positive attitude towards his job. On the other hand, he is comfortable or his morale is high when there is a favourable attitude towards the teaching profession.

“A teacher with strong positive attitudes about teaching has students whose self esteem is high. Students seem to recognize the effectiveness of teachers who are satisfied with their teaching performance.”(Peck, Fox and Morston 1977) [27] . Educational progress depends upon the quality of teachers. Unfortunately most of the persons who enter teaching profession do not like their jobs at all. They are here because they could not be selected for any other profession, Hence, quite a number of rejected and dejected university degree holders seek admission in training colleges and become teachers.

Many teachers take no pleasure in the teaching and simply pass their time. They do not care to set worthwhile goals before their pupils. They never care for what the students say about them. They are easy-going and do not take pains in discharging their duties. Teachers are the important group of professionals who play a vital role in the nation’s future. Therefore it is disturbing to find many of them are dissatisfied with their jobs. (Bishay, 1996) [28] 

The teaching profession does not attract bright young people anymore at least at the school leaving stage. [29] Most of the teachers do not think of teaching as their career of life from the early school stage and hence do not purposely plan and prepare for it. They enter it by chance, without any previous thought about it.

Steyn and van Wyk [30] (1999), contend there is a perception that teachers are lazy, unprofessional, uncommitted who only come to school to receive their salaries at the end of the month.

Teacher’s self efficacy is one of the determining factors of teacher morale. Self efficacy refers to the teacher’s belief in his/her capabilities to successfully perform the job taken up. Teacher efficacy contributes to achievement because high efficacy teachers try harder, work for the development of low ability students also. (Ross [31] , 1998). A faculty member with a high level of self efficacy put forth more effort and takes up challenging tasks in the course of the employment. But, practically teachers lack this self efficacy due to several reasons. Many teachers do not possess the required skills of teaching. For example, they are not able to communicate with confidence in front of a crowd and hence, they are incapable of reaching the students group.

Satisfaction plays a significant role in determining teacher morale. Job satisfaction is an affective reaction to an individual’s work situation, and has been described as a positive emotional response resulting from appraisal of one’s job [32] . More the job satisfaction more the morale will be. The highly satisfied teachers exert more efforts and have psychological well being about the job and the institution. But, in reality we cannot assure job satisfaction among all the teachers. Because, there are differences in salary, working environment and so on among the different categories of teachers namely Government, Aided and Self Financed teachers.

The colleges lack required facilities and systems. For effective functioning, the teachers must be provided with basic facilities like buildings with good condition, teaching aids, washing and rest room facilities and the like. In many colleges, even the basic amenities such as toilets, drinking water and canteen facilities are not available to teachers. The space of the staff room is not adequate. Sufficient number of cup boards, bureaus and shelves are not available to keep the teaching materials and the notebooks submitted for correction. The resources needed for the teaching-learning process like teaching aids, overhead projector and other Computer Integrated Technologies are not provided. This has an adverse effect on the teacher morale. Teachers are frustrated by the difficulty of doing high quality teaching in the current climate. (Kohn, 2000) [33] . Good teachers are difficult to recruit and almost impossible to retain if the rewards of teaching do not outweigh the possible frustrations on account of poor job conditions [34] . The working environment in the college is not conducive for the teachers to do their job effectively.

Prof.V R Mehta [35] , said that ‘most of our institutions are characterized by poor teaching (or no teaching!), overcrowded class rooms, lack of competent faculty and absence of infra-structure. The expansion in the size of the faculty has not been matched by the increase in the facilities. In most cases libraries don’t have funds for books, laboratories for equipment. Most teachers don’t have even a decent space to sit. It is a matter of shame that when we appoint a lower division clerk in the Government, we ensure that he gets a table and a chair’.

Conley, Bacharach and Bauer [36] (1989, p. 59) maintain that “if teacher performance in schools is to be improved, it is necessary to pay attention to the kind of work environment that enhances teachers’ sense of professionalism and decreases their job dissatisfaction.”

The most important issue relating to teacher in higher education in recent years relates to the shortage of well-qualified permanent teachers. This has resulted in the rise of low paid temporary teachers. Another issue relates to the qualification and training of teachers. The research facilities and the travel support to the teachers to attend conferences are important dimensions to develop their capacity as a good teacher. It needs to be recognised that, the education is too important sector not to be neglected due to limitation of resources. [37] 

Management is a key factor which influences teacher morale. In the state of Texas, when the teachers were asked to point out the reasons for decline in morale, they told that the treatment received from administrators and the students’ attitude was the main reasons. (Corwin 2001) [38] . According to the NCES report public school teachers who left the profession stated that they were dissatisfied with the support from administrators. (Thomas, 1998) [39] .

The importance of achievement, recognition, and organizational climate for teacher satisfaction was documented by Johnson(1967) [40] , Lacy (1968) [41] , Sergiovanni(1966) [42] , and Wright (1985) [43] . Lipsitz (1984) [44] , Weller (1982) [45] and Wright (1985) concluded that the administrator was one of the key factors influencing teacher morale and satisfaction.

Organizational culture of an institution influences the teaching community. In many organizations, the culture is a closed culture which results in deprived performance, low morale and low level of productivity. Several studies have indicated the importance of the principal’s leadership style in determining the teacher morale. (Goodlad, 1984) [46] .

Organizations characterized by flexible, open structures and receptivity to innovative ideas, all of which heighten individual autonomy and enhance morale, are referred to as organic organizations. They generally have well-educated, professionally oriented members working in uncertain environments with non routine technologies. The entirely opposite type is the bureaucratic or mechanistic organization, in which rigid structures, a strong emphasis on rules and procedures, an elaborate hierarchy of authority, and low participation by members in decision-making tend to frustrate needs for autonomy and work discretion, thus leading to low morale and dissatisfaction. (Hage [47] , Perrow [48] ,).

The policies framed by the management affect teacher morale to a great extend. Teachers often complain that they are not a