Speech entitled “Education and Development – An Indian Perspective for South Africa” by Mr. R. K. Bhatia, High Commissioner of Inida, at University of Western Cape (November 14, 2008) Dr. Makhenkesi Arnold Stofile, Minister of Sports and Recretation, Govt. of South Africa - Prof. Brian O’ Connell, Vice Chancellor of University of Western Cape, It is a privilege to address this distinguished audience comprising faculty members, students and guests of a prestigious institution, the University of Western Cape. Your initiative to host the ‘India Evening’ and to install a bust of Mahatma Gandhi on your premises, is indeed laudable. You have now joined a short list of four universities in South Africa which have hosted major India-related events in the past three months. 2. The subject chosen by the Vice Chancellor is both appropriate and thought-provoking. I propose to present to you an overview pertaining to India and also take this opportunity to delineate the contours of development of education-related bilateral cooperation in recent years. 3. The quest for knowledge has been an essential component of Indian ethos from the time immemorial. Saraswati, the goddess of learning, figures high in the Hindu pantheon. Our ancestors in ancient India grappled successfully with basic questions of metaphysics, philosophy, logic, religion, astronomy, grammar, mathematics, medicine and many other branches of human knowledge. The results of their research are available in our rich literature of that age starting from the Rig Veda. Throughout the subsequent centuries, India adopted an outward-looking approach. This enabled its people to absorb the influences that came from outside the country. At the same time, they took their ideas, concepts and contribution to knowledge to places beyond the frontiers of India. 4. Colonialism acted as a serious obstacle to the spread of education. The British Raj needed not scholars but an army of babus or clerks in order to perpetuate itself. Socio-economic reformers and educationists, therefore, played a sterling role, especially in the last quarter of the 19th century, in creating a renaissance in India. They sowed the seeds of our freedom struggle which then was carried forward by our great political and intellectual leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindra Nath Tagore. It was their conviction that expansion of basic education was central to social progress. In particular, viewing the early 20th century India, Tagore observed: “In my view the imposing tower of misery which today rests on the heart of India has its sole foundation in the absence of education. Caste divisions, religious conflicts, aversion to work, precarious economic conditions – all centre on this single factor.” 5. Is it a surprise then that, since Independence, India has consistently accorded a high degree of importance to the expansion of education? Education has been seen as an effective tool for social change, for empowerment of the people, and for sustained economic development. Jawahar Lal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, provided strong inspiration and support for establishing an institutional infrastructure for scientific, technical and managerial education in the country. The establishment of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) was his gift to the nation. He taught us that a university stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. “If the universities discharge their duty adequately”, he said, “then it is well with the nation and the people. But if the temple of learning itself becomes a home of narrow bigotry and petty objectives, how then will the nation prosper or people grow in stature?” 6. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India’s first education minister, observed that “at least the basic education” was “the birth right” of every individual, without which he could not fully discharge his duty as a citizen. In establishing an institution such as the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, the two leaders - Nehru and Azad - found it necessary for India to develop an internationalist approach. This required that, even as educational opportunities were expanding in India, the country felt it desirable to share some of them with a large number of students from other developing countries, particularly Africa. 7. The journey of India’s educational system in the past six decades has been phenomenal. At the time of Independence, the country had only 20 universities; now there are about 400 universities and university-level institutions. There were only 500 colleges then; the number now is over 18, 000. The student enrolment at universities now stands at 14 million. The size of university faculty stands at about half a million members. The country produces 2.5 million graduates and 9000 Ph.Ds annually and has become an important research hub. In short, India has the second largest pool of trained scientists and engineers, integrated into the global intellectual system to a degree that is without parallel outside the developed West. Expansion apart, recent trends also include the growth of vocational education and of institutions imparting engineering, management and IT education as well as education for new professions; the steady growth in the private sector’s role in the field of education; and a continuing endeavour and insistence on enhancing the level of quality and excellence at our academic institutions. 8. A key subject for debate has been how to ensure enhancement of excellence and to make quality education available to all. Clearly, democratization of education and pursuit of excellence are complementary objectives. As Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh stated recently: “Innovative India must combine both inclusion and excellence and it is wrong to see them as separate and contradictory goals.” 9. In our view, the relationship between education and development is strong. It is a two-way traffic: education is a key instrument of socio-economic development; development, in turn, creates resources for the growth of education. Noble Laureate Amartya Sen has reminded us that the elimination of ignorance, illiteracy, and needless inequalities in opportunities are valued objectives by themselves. “They expand”, as he put it aptly, “our freedom to lead the lives we have reason to value.” India is presently working to secure the goal of universal primary education by 2010 and for setting aside 6% of its GDP on education in future. That our educational infrastructure has played a formidable role in our economic development is all too obvious. The emergence of India as a successful democracy and, more importantly, as the fastest growing economy among all democratic nations of the world has been made possible due to our achievements in the education sector. 10. Expansion, inclusion and rapid improvement in quality throughout the higher and technical education system by enhancing public spending, encouraging private initiatives, and initiating major institutional and policy reforms form the core of our endeavors in future. Our long term goal is to craft India as a nation in which all those who aspire good quality higher education can access it, irrespective of their paying capacity. 11. In this backdrop, let me now turn to some thoughts I wish to share with you on cooperation in the field of education - or in human resource development - which has developed between India and South Africa. This is evidently an area where the two countries’ strengths and needs can be harmonized with a special synergy created for mutual benefit. The two countries are linked by a bilateral Agreement, signed in 2006, on cooperation in the field of education. The Agreement states that this cooperation “constitutes an important sphere of bilateral relations” and it refers to their desire “for development of cooperation” by taking into account “the significance of such cooperation for mutual understanding.” We have studied closely and followed with interest the development in South Africa of Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) and Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA). Keeping their objectives and essential thrusts in mind, we have been working closely with the Government of South Africa to manage and deepen our bilateral cooperation in the field of human resource development. 12. This cooperation is based on the following five pillars: Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, the flagship of India’s cooperation with developing countries, has proved to be increasingly effective and popular, particularly its scheme to impart training facilities to South African students in a vast range of prestigious institutions in India. Since 2005, a total of 495 seats were allocated to South African nationals for participation in India’s training programmes. Incidentally, the training programmes are entirely financed by the Government of India. In a welcome development, Indian private sector companies have now come forward to impart training to South African nationals. A national level organization, the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII), and companies such as Tata, Ranbaxy, Sahara, NIIT etc have begun making significant contribution. The recent commercial agreement between NIIT and the province of KwaZulu Natal envisages imparting of training in IT skills to 10,000 South African nationals in course of the next five years. In the field of basic education, dialogue at the official and political level is now leading to concrete results. Minister of Education, Ms. Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, visited India earlier this year. As a result, proposals to strengthen cooperation in such diverse fields as structuring of school curricula, rural education, distance education, production of text books etc. is being pushed forward. In the field of higher education, possibilities of cooperation are assessed to be immense. Since early 2007, we have striven to identify, encourage and support certain South African universities that are capable and committed to forging cooperative links with suitable institutions in India. By December 2008, India would have hosted high-ranking delegations from eight leading universities in South Africa, with varying outcome of a tangible nature. In August this year the President of the African National Congress and India’s Minister of State for External Affairs jointly inaugurated Mahatma Gandhi-Luthuli Chair of Peace Studies at the University of KwaZulu Natal. Two days earlier in August, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and his Indian counterpart jointly inaugurated the Centre for Indian Studies at the University of Witswatersrand in Johannesburg. Separately. Stellenbosch University hosted a special ‘India Day’ at its campus in the same month. Under a special scheme of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, a handful of scholarships are provided for study at the Masters and PhD level to South African students in Indian institutions. Since 2005, a sizeable number of South African students have availed themselves of this prized facility. 13. India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum has now added a new dimension to cooperation in the field of education and human resource development. Through its two vehicles i.e the Working Group comprising of officials and the Academic Forum comprising of representatives of universities and other academics, a number of innovative proposals have been moving forward. Their outcome is expected to be highly beneficial to the academic institutes of IBSA countries. 14. It is worth noting that the Academic Forum, meeting just prior to the third IBSA Summit in Delhi in October 2008, noted that substantial opportunities existed for scientific and technological cooperation in IBSA, bringing together industry-academic linkages. This cooperation may be realized through exchange of researchers in various fields and promotion of mobility of students as well as collaborations involving research institutions and business enterprises. Participants also viewed the Academic Forum as a valuable opportunity for them to pool their heads together to reflect on issues of contemporary relevance in the emerging global order and establishing their professional linkages. They felt that collaboration of academic and policy research communities in the three countries could evolve into a ‘think-tank to contribute fruitfully to IBSA process. 15. In conclusion, one may assert that India is proud of its achievements in the educational sector, but at the same time we are also conscious that we should work much harder in order to continue producing a world-class work force. Happily, the demographics are in our favour as about 70% of the population consists of people below the age of 35 years. They could justifiably feel that the future belongs to them, especially if the country is able to educate and train them, enabling them to face the challenges of the work place in the 21st century. 16. While striving for its own growth and excellence, India is committed to sharing its skills, expertise and experience with other friendly nations such as South Africa. We see considerable potential in this field, which remains untapped so far. We look forward to working with the University of Western Cape and the Western Cape province so that they work as our valued partners for deepening mutually beneficial cooperation in future. Thank you for your attention.