The WIP Contributors: India Sets Its Sights on Higher Education

The WIP Contributors: India Sets Its Sights on Higher Education
India Sets Its Sights on Higher Education

by Priyanka Bhardwaj
- India -

• India's new education reforms could keep more bright minds from leaving home to pursue higher education. Photograph by flickr user Universidad de Navarra used under Creative Commons licenses. •

Education remains an emotional subject in a poor and developing country like India, where it is seen as the primary means for social and economic mobility. Indian families are known to sell land and spend their life’s savings to educate their children, especially males. Such desperation means that any change in the sector is a highly debated subject.

Meena, a resident of Gurgaon, has been making the rounds at banks, in the hopes of getting an educational loan for her son Rahul.

“We have decided to send our son abroad for higher education, preferably an MBA,” she explains, “as this will make him more globally competitive and it will stay with him for a lifetime. After all, he is our only son among three children and as responsible parents we feel obliged to think of the best for his welfare.”