8 - Academic Freedom from a Human Rights’ Perspective: The Indian Case and its Relevance to Africa
Journal of Higher Education in Africa,
Vol. 6 No. 2-3 (2008): Journal of Higher Education in Africa
Abstract
Academic freedom is the chant of the time, particularly in the context of globalisation and the gendered and restructured academia. But many scholars have not addressed what this freedom is all about in developing countries which are still very backward in education. This paper argues that academic freedom cannot be seen as part of the larger social freedom when it is concerned only with the freedom of a fortunate few who are in institutions of higher education and related learning centres and that seen from a human rights’ perspective academic freedom entails first universal access to education at all levels viewing develop- ment as freedom and then understanding the freedom of the stake holders at dif- ferent levels of the academia. The paper first looks at the education systems in developed countries to see to what extent the education system in India varies from them. It then looks at various issues concerning Indian education. Its main conclusions are that Indian education is in disarray, only a fraction of the eligible population has any access to higher education, most of those getting enrolled for primary, middle, and secondary levels drop out, and such a dismal scenario leaves hardly any scope for a meaningful debate on academic freedom. By way of conclu- sion the paper argues that as Indian education has been mired in problems and many of these problems have been identified, African countries can learn a lot from India’s failures in reshaping its education systems.
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- Brooks, Ann and Mackinnon, Alison, ed., 2001, Gender and the Restructured University: Changing Management and Culture in Higher Education, The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.
- Gill, S.S., 2005, ‘Profit and Education Do Go’, The Indian Express, 8 November. Popper, R Karl, 1963, ‘Science as Falsification’, originally published in Conjectures and Refutations, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
- Radhakrishnan P., 2006a, ‘The Reservation Rigmarole’, The New Sunday Ex- press (magazine section), 7 May.
- Radhakrishnan P., 2006b, ‘Dalits Have not Benefited from Quotas’, Rediff.com., 13 June.
- Radhakrishnan P., 2006c, ‘OBC Reservation and TN Model’, The New Indian Express (leader page), 8 July.
- Ra hakrishnan P., 2006, ‘OBC Reservation and Tamil Nadu’, South Asian Journal, No. 13, July-September.
- Radhakrishnan P., 2002, ‘Globalisation and the Gendered Academia’, The Hindu (Sunday Magazine), 1 September.
- Saberwal, Satish, 1968, ‘The Problem’, Seminar issue 112 on ‘Academic coloni- alism’, December, pp. 10-13.
- Sen, Amartya, 1999, Development as Freedom, Oxford University Press.
- Singh, Yogendra, 1968, ‘Sociological issues’, Seminar 112, December, pp. 25-29.
- Uberoi, Patricia, 2000, ‘Déjà vu’ Seminar No. 495, November.
References
Brooks, Ann and Mackinnon, Alison, ed., 2001, Gender and the Restructured University: Changing Management and Culture in Higher Education, The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.
Gill, S.S., 2005, ‘Profit and Education Do Go’, The Indian Express, 8 November. Popper, R Karl, 1963, ‘Science as Falsification’, originally published in Conjectures and Refutations, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Radhakrishnan P., 2006a, ‘The Reservation Rigmarole’, The New Sunday Ex- press (magazine section), 7 May.
Radhakrishnan P., 2006b, ‘Dalits Have not Benefited from Quotas’, Rediff.com., 13 June.
Radhakrishnan P., 2006c, ‘OBC Reservation and TN Model’, The New Indian Express (leader page), 8 July.
Ra hakrishnan P., 2006, ‘OBC Reservation and Tamil Nadu’, South Asian Journal, No. 13, July-September.
Radhakrishnan P., 2002, ‘Globalisation and the Gendered Academia’, The Hindu (Sunday Magazine), 1 September.
Saberwal, Satish, 1968, ‘The Problem’, Seminar issue 112 on ‘Academic coloni- alism’, December, pp. 10-13.
Sen, Amartya, 1999, Development as Freedom, Oxford University Press.
Singh, Yogendra, 1968, ‘Sociological issues’, Seminar 112, December, pp. 25-29.
Uberoi, Patricia, 2000, ‘Déjà vu’ Seminar No. 495, November.