Redefining Scope of Education for Human Development in India:

A Reflective Commentary
- Arvind Agrawal, arvindcares@gmail.com, Research Scholar, JJT University

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ABSTRACT:

This paper is a conceptual commentary. The idea generated on reading the UNDP Report on Human
Development Index (March 2013) which placed India on 136th position among 186 nations, HDI is a composite
figure that indicates three elements: education, prosperity and life-expectancy. The Inequality Index analysis
shows that India lost maximum on account of education 42.4% compared to life-expectancy (27.1%) and Income
15.8%) Hence this paper is based on exploring the perception and scenario prevailing on name of ‘education’ in
India. Researcher explored and reflected on fundamental questions: like unequal distribution of wealth, is there
also unequal distribution of wisdom, what are the tiers of ‘education’ and is there a ‘portion’ of hierarchy in
education missing in India, and alike. The paper is based on efforts to collate the mutual relationships between
and among indicators, secondary data and information.

KEY WORDS

HDI, Education, People Development, Life-long Learning, Training, Onus Learning, Social HR

INTRODUCTION:

Nation’s state of ‘development depends on sum-total of development of people, infrastructure and governance.
This statement is easier said than done. It takes will and vision, plan and patience to reach milestones not only at
level of national leadership, but also at people level. This paper is small effort to provoke original thinking, and
was developed in the wake of UNDP’s HDI report March 2013

THE HDI

The Human Development Index (HDI) introduced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in
1990 has helped facilitate widespread debate amongst development researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
The HDI is an aggregate index, calculated on an annual basis by the UNDP and published in its Human
Development Reports, comprising measures of three components deemed by them to be central to development:
(i) income (the gross domestic product per capita), (ii) education (adult literacy rate) and (iii) health (life
expectancy at birth). [1] It was created by economist Mahbub ul Haq, followed by economist Amartya Sen in
1990 and published by the United Nations Development Programme. It is used to distinguish whether the
country is a developed, a developing or an underdeveloped country, and also to measure the impact of economic
policies on quality of life.

THE 2013 HDI REPORT:

Countries fall into four broad human development categories, each of which comprises 47 countries: Very High
Human Development, High Human Development, Medium Human Development and Low Human Development
(46 countries in this category). [2 and 7]

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With its index standing at 0.554 for the last year, India has miles to go to meet countries like Norway (ranked
number 1) which boasts of an HDI of 0.955.

The 2013 report focuses on the "rise of the south", mapping the shift in global dynamics from the traditional
power base in the west to newer emerging countries. Besides the emerging economies of Brazil, China, India and
South Africa, the report also acknowledges developing nations such as Turkey, Mexico, Thailand and Indonesia
as playing a larger role on the global stage. It estimates that by 2020, the combined economic output of the three
leading developing countries - India, Brazil and China - will surpass the aggregate production of Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Further, The UNDP website gives details on the Inequality Indicators as below [11]:

Table 1: Inequality Indicator for India (HDI Report, 2013)

Loss due to inequality in life expectancy 27.1%
Loss due to inequality in education 42.4%
Loss due to inequality in income 15.8%

HDI A CRITICAL REVIEW OF HDI: FROM PUBLISHED LITERATURE

Morse S. (2003) [3] questions the non-inclusions of other critical elements like environment and resource-
consumption dimensions in the HDI with an argument, ‘partly because of the relative simplicity of the index, the
HDI has managed to achieve a level of acceptance and use amongst politicians and policy makers that has yet to
emerge with any indicator of sustainability. Indeed, despite its existence for 11 years, including nine years after
the Rio Earth Summit, the HDI has not even been modified to take on board wider issues of sustainability.

McGillivray, M. and White, H. (1993 [4] present a paper that concludes that its treatment of income (in HDI
statistics) is inappropriate; the lack of year-to-year comparability is undesirable; it is robust with respect to
measurement error; and that its contribution to the assessment of development levels differs markedly among
country groups.

Bilbao-Ubillos, J. (2011) [5] views the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development
Index (HDI) positively as a starting point for determining the relative degree of development of a country in the
framework of the most stringent modern concept of human development. However, a noticeable observation
made here is that it is a synthetic indicator and as such suffers from limitations in terms of reflecting how the
people of a country effectively participate in the average progress achieved and in terms of the prospects for
future development. Empirical evidence confirms that the HDI needs to be supplemented by other indicators
associated with economic and social cohesion, sound development strategies, and sustainability in growth
models.

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS:

The HDI indicator indices for education primarily include data on primary education only (Table 2 below). [12]
While primary education is essential; can only primary education ensure the prosperity, (which is yet another

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index in HDI)? Should the definition of literacy suffice for gaining the kind of prosperity India always had /
deserves with the human and natural resources we have?

TABLE 2: UNDP Statistics on Education India, 2013)

1. Public expenditure on education (% of GDP) (%) 3.1
2. Primary school dropout rates (% of primary school cohort) 34.2
3. Expected Years of Schooling (of children) (years) 10.7
4. Adult literacy rate, both sexes (% aged 15 and above) (Definition: age 15 and 62.8
over can read and write )
5. Mean years of schooling (of adults) (years) 4.4
6. Education index 0.459
7. Combined gross enrolment in education (both sexes) (%) 65.0

In the following section, let us capture the entire landscape of education.

LANDSCAPE OF EDUCATION

Education is not limited to schooling, we find these (or most of these) levels of education in every nation.

a) Schooling (early years) that prepares child for basic skills with language, numbers and social
values.

b) Academic/higher education (conceptual): provides theoretical framework for scientific and

philosophical thinking, progression and experimentation.

c) Professional/vocational education (employment oriented): the education that provides the body
skill and knowledge necessary to launch a career.

d) Formal/semi-formal corporate and workplace trainings (role suitability): these are need based
training provided as and when needed using an appropriate method.

e) Spiritual education (self-search) there is neither standard format nor a rule for evaluation for
spiritual education however we find large followership in every country and every context.

Here is a quick comparison of these educational practices.

Table 3: The Landscape of Education

Sr. #. Education Focus Outcome Non- Remarks
level group forma/Formal
1. Schooling Children Skills with numbers Formal It is relevant to review the
(3-15) and language Pratham report 2013 also.
2 Academic Adults (18- Search of concepts Formal We may also refer to national
higher 28) and theories statistics on % of population
education each cover
3. Professional Adults (15- Career and economic Formal These are essential segments
and 30) activities for transition of a child to
Vocational youth, to a economically
productive unit.

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4. Corporate Employees Efficiency and Non-formal Caters to level 2, 3, 4 and 5on
training in formal productivity at Maslow’s Need Hierarchy
sector workplace
5. Spiritual Varied Search of identity of Non-formal Caters primarily to level 4
education self and purpose of and 5 on Maslow’s Need
life Hierarchy

These educational interventions are certainly vital segments of people development. The level 1, 2 and 3 in
‘formal’ segment are quite essential and preparatory in nature. However we also know by studying history of
schooling system in India that most of it is created to produce large number of clerical ability, job-minded
workforce. Let us examine what is missing in this picture:

People development must culminate in non-formal, self initiated and self-directed education. A Memorandum on
Lifelong Learning [14] defines Non-formal learning as the one that takes place alongside the mainstream
systems of education and training and does not typically lead to formalised certificates. Non-formal learning
may be provided in the workplace and through the activities of civil society organisations and groups (such as in
youth organisations, trades unions and political parties). It can also be provided through organisations or
services that have been set up to complement formal systems (such as arts, music and sports classes or private
tutoring to prepare for examinations).The key features of non-formal education are

1. It is need-based, it is situation based.

2. It is taken up by mature, adult individual who appreciate the need and utility of such education

3. It is semi-formal to non-formal in nature.

4. It may be directed by Organization, mentor or even the learner himself / herself

5. It consolidates by reflective learning, that is, applying what is learned in real-life.

6. Training, rather than teaching is right methodology.

7. Scope of topics covered vary widely: from leadership skills, to decision skills, people skills,
sales skills, behavioral topics, family management, critical thinking, time management, team
skills, creative visualization, attitude training, language skills, public speaking, financial skills,
management of emotions, self-realization, building human virtues and character: all these are
just a few examples.

8. Engagement and participation is essential: experiential sessions, entrepreneurship, peer hand-

holding, social projects and volunteering are some ways of engagement.

The opportunities to engage in non-formal education (usually in form of employee training and development)
prevail only in community which is in category of formal employment in formal sector

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It is alarming to note because we have informal employment to 99.6 % in informal sector and 46.2 % in formal
sector [10] and a country where only 54% are in employment [International Labour Organization, Key Indicators
of the Labour Market database, 2011]

Fig. 1: Distribution (%) of formal and Informal workforce in Formal / informal sector in India

This is quite alarming. The reason for this is that only 14.63 % of the population falls in category of formal
sector-formal employment combination, who will be ‘likely’ to receive trainings sponsored by organizations.
Further because no reliable data is available for hours spent for training and development, even if we assume a
2% time is allocated for this purpose, then this figure translates to a situation that 0.29 % of Indians have
exposure to possibility of continuing education through organization sponsored trainings. We also have cases
where it is questions if Corporate Training is considered a compulsion by employees.

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS:

Formal employment gives opportunity to get trained. Where do unemployed / employed in unorganized sector
go? This is a critical question because the size of population under question is not small.

CONTINUING NON-FORMAL EDUCATION: THE MISSING LINK IN INDIA

We saw earlier that unorganised or informal sector jobs are like the iceberg below the water surface. They are
the bulk of our employment - these include ‘petty’ jobs like Shop salesmen, Drivers, Hotel staff, small factory
employees etc. Many of these are temporary jobs or flexi jobs or contractual jobs. To add to this, we have self-
employed population, the ones who cannot think of / afford to engage in continuing non-formal education.

The major challenges of the unorganized / informal sector that does not let them think of own development as
human capital, are [8]:

 Cycles of excessive seasonality and instability of employment / income

 The workplace is scattered and fragmented.

 No formal employer – employee or association relationship

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  Highly stratified on caste and community in rural areas

 Migration linked issues in Urban areas

 Exploitation significantly by the rest of the society / competition with big brands.

 Poor working conditions and social rejection

On the setting of non-formal education, we need to consider two facts: First, spiritual education has its own
place in Indian culture. The search of self and abstract wisdom attracts many and confuses and distresses others.
Not everyone relates with it, especially young working class who are extremely busy with their job and business,
since they are silently looking for answers for managing life and personal socio-economic growth, rather than
liberation and moksha. Second, the loss of joint family system, where there was some kind of perpetual learning
from elders and grandparents; has drastically got clipped due to culture of migration and nuclear family system
for last three generations now.

So the question remains; how do we develop people? We need a system of non-formal education that we can call
social learning, self-help, shared learning, collective learning, people development or whatever like this; one that
is (A) Not a basic as formal education, (B) Not as rare in availability as Corporate (organization sponsored)
training and (C) Not as abstract as spiritual education. After all, we need to understand the philosophical
significance and meaning of education in a much broader sense - education should prepare the learner socially,
professionally and emotionally to be an asset for society.

The table below explains the void:

Table 4: The void on non-formal education sector

Sr. Feature Corporate/Workplace Spiritual education The void
No education
1 Available by Employment relations Followership Choice
2 Key inputs Skills for performance Abstract and general wisdom Applicable techniques for day-
to-day life
3 Nature Limited in access and Subject to acceptance of Guru-dom Neutral, enabler, broad-based
scope and abstractness and useful today
4 Remarks Companies want to save ‘spirituality’, ‘religion’, ‘faith’ and Onus taken by individual /
training cost ‘community’ are mostly group for self-development
intermingled, confused,
misunderstood and even sensitive at
times
Let us place these ideas in a diagrammatic format now:

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 Fig. 2: Wide gap (and need) prevails between formal education/HRD and Spiritual learning

IN SUPPORT ON INFORMAL ADULT EDUCATION:

Some of the assuring ideas about informal learning are here:

Allen Tough, [9] a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, focused his research on the adult's successful
efforts to learn and change; and in particular the 70% that are self-guided without relying much on professionals
or institutions (informal learning). During his research, he discovered that people spend an average of 15 hours
per week learning on their own.

Americans have so far put up with inequality because they felt they could change their status. They didn't mind
others being rich, as long as they had a path to move up as well. The American Dream is all about social
mobility in a sense - the idea that anyone can make it. - Fareed Zakaria, the India born American journalist said
once

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar key note address – W.H.O (2009) spoke like this: “(Earlier speakers mentioned) that
2500 years ago we (India) have had education about a state of ‘total well being’ in common masses, I would
take it even further back 5110 years it was in Bhagvat Gita concept of well being, social well being is mentioned
and even earlier Maharishi Patanjali made this whole treatise on yoga and how you can be happy physically,
mentally and socially. .. Usually, those who have lots of faith may get dull, and who are alert and active, may
suffer fear. The purpose of education should be to remove the element of dullness from faith and the element of
fear from alertness.” [12]

Perhaps this has been the reason why is west so developed: the culture of reading and writing self-help, sharing
through public seminars, a system for producing people development audio-videos has been there for decades!
For example, Amazon lists 305538 entries under category of ‘self-help’ (accessed on 29 April 2013, compared to
Indian site Flipkart which shows 402 entries Fig 3 below)

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To illustrate and in the contrast, an average Indians spend 14-20 hours in malls, TV and other non-developmental
social engagements. The author is fairly sure that if they understand the concept of URGENT-IMPORTANT
(Stephen Covey – 7 habits of Highly Effective People), they will be able to help themselves refrain from spending
time on such unproductive activities. That is just one example.

Fig. 3: The prevalence of self-development in developed compared with India

Going back to international opinions, let us review statement from blogpost of President of World Bank Jim Kim
that reads, Even if we meet our goal to help end extreme poverty by 2030, poverty rates could remain high in a
number of countries. Our research shows it is possible to lower the global extreme poverty rate to a very low
level and still have 17 smaller countries where more than 30 percent of the population lives on less than $1.25
per day.. . That is simply not acceptable.. .Countries need to step up investment in health and education. When
people are deprived of opportunities to go to school or get basic health services, countries miss the chance to
build the human capital that can make them more competitive in the global economy. Investment in people,
especially in health and education, is the right thing to do, both from a moral and a strategic perspective.

PROPOSED SOLUTION

The author proposes idea of including ONUS LEARNING © [*] to the landscape of education. Onus means
responsibility. This kind of learning is characterized by initiative on part of learner to a) identify what he needs
to learn, b) commit to a decision for it c) find a suitable mentor / book / seminar / workshop / resource and d)
learn and apply the new knowledge in his life situations. This will happen through a shift in culture.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY

What should this paper mean for us educators? This paper is not in disagreement with HDI approach, we
have taken HDI as a starting point for this discussion. On basis of reflective questions and discussions, we
conclude for now that on the landscape of education there is one element either missing or present only in a thin

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layer - that of non-formal life-long self-initiated education; the one that prepares people for larger roles. We need
to have a superior vision, and courage to go for making it a reality.

Few recommended topics for further study are:

 A study of how people spend their free time (evening, weekend)

 What is average of training time in India? Comparative study of formal and informal sector

 Do entrepreneurs educate themselves?

 HRD in SMEs: Towards developing a cost-effective model

 Brainstorming people development: What will get us out of rut?

 Non-institutional HR interventions: a study of contemporary approaches

REFERENCES

1. Human Development Index: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index, retrieved 29 April 2013

2. List of countries by Human Development Index retrieved 22 April 2013, From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index retrieved
22 April 2013

3. Morse, S. (2003), Greening the United Nations' Human Development Index? Sustainable Development
Vol. 11: 183–198

4. McGillivray, M. and White, H. (1993), Measuring development? The UNDP's human development
index. Journal of International development, Vol. 5: 183–192

5. Bilbao-Ubillos, J. (2011), The Limits of Human Development Index: The Complementary Role of
Economic and Social Cohesion, Development Strategies and Sustainability. Sustainable Development
doi: 10.1002/sd.525

6. Jim Kim, President WB, 25 April 2013, End Poverty, Build Shared Prosperity: Let’s Get to Work:
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130425160556-32702694-end-poverty-build-shared-
prosperity-let-s-get-to-work?trk=who_to_follow-b retrieved 29 April 2013

7. TNN - (The Times of India) Madhavi Rajadhyaksha, India ranks 136 in human development index, Mar
15, 2013, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-03-15/india/37743090_1_india-s-hdi-human-
development-index-india-ranks, retrieved 29 April 2013

8. R Satya Rai (1989) Unorganised Sector in India, Mittal Publications

9. Allen Tough: http://www.allentough.com/ retrieved 29 April 2013

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 10. Report of the Committee on Unorganised Sector, (2012) National Statistical Commission, Govt. of
India, http://mospi.nic.in/mospi_new/upload/nsc_report_un_sec_14mar12.pdf?status=1&menu_id=199,
retrieved 29 April 2013

11. Country Profile Human Development Indicators, UNDP: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/ retrieved 29

April 2013

12. H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - key note address – W.H.O. Conference, Oct 6 2009, Sri Lanka, Source:
http://www.artofliving.org/in-en/hh-sri-sri-ravi-shankar-key-note-address-verbatim-who-conference-
oct-6-th-sri-lanka retrieved 29 April 2013

13. The Corporate Learning Factbook ® 2013, http://marketing.bersin.com/rs/bersin/images/whatworks-

corporate-learning-factbook-us.pdf, retrieved 01 May 2013

14. A Memorandum on Lifelong Learning, European Commission, Unit E-

3, http://www.irlgov.ie/educ/new/LifeLongLearninghtm.htm, retrieved 02 May 2013

-------------------------------------

Arvind Agrawal, arvindcares@gmail.com, is a Research Scholar with JJT University, India and Concept
researcher with Bhasha International, www.bhasha.asia

[*]: “Onus Learning” ©, 2013, Author

©, 2013, Author

Contact: arvindcares@gmail.com

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