<div><em>Ashish Dhawan, founder and CEO, Central Square Foundation, feels the centre can play a pivotal role in solving India's primary education problems. <strong>Arshad Khan</strong> reports</em><br><br>The Indian education system has not changed much since the time of Independence. However, since the Union Government wants to bring about reformations in the sector by launching flagship schemes like Skill India, entrepreneurs in the education sector feel that time is ripe to promote privatisation in the sector and that government should assume a more monitoring role.</div><div> </div><div>Ashish Dhawan, founder and CEO, Central Square Foundation says, “The need of the hour is to re-asses the role of the government. The primary role of the government should be more about setting standards and not implementing policies. The central government should assess whether states are following the blueprint and it has to incentivise states to follow the best practices.”</div><div> </div><div>Dhawan also believes that the centre can play a pivotal role in solving India's primary education problems, even though it is a state subject. He adds that states should be encouraged and that particular states should be identified; those that lag in adhering to the set pattern.</div><div> </div><div>Dhawan is currently working on creating a country-wide database for India on 'Know My School' portal which will be aimed at providing information on all primary schools in the country. This will be based on 200 parameters including board examination results which he feels will help regulatory bodies implement policies decisively. </div><div> </div><div>Opining on a regulatory body for private institutes, he said, “The reason why private schools flourished in India is mainly because governments could not deliver. Currently, around 43 per cent children are enrolled in private schools and it is estimated to breach the 60 per cent mark by 2025. As the private sector has grown manifold, there is an urgent need for a regulatory body which will monitor both the private and public educational institutions.”</div><div> </div><div>Although private colleges extract an exorbitant amount as the tuition fees, the return on investment (ROI) is actually not very promising. Dhawan observed, “Colleges need to publish ROI on the expenditure made by the customers (parents) which will be made on the basis of their placement data.”</div><div> </div>
_20240904170929_original_image_33.webp)
