An Insight Into Ethical Issues In Higher Education With Reference To India

1.    Introduction: India is a spiritual land of Rishi, Muni, saints and prophet where religion is the core mechanism of all the activities from ancient period till day. Earlier the system of education was inimitable, having high aim, with intellectual and character building. It included self realization, self discipline and self control. Moral education and teaching was an integral part of syllabus in the basic as well as higher education. Now a days, the gurukal tradition is missing. There is no healthy relation between a teacher and a student and as a result students have no or very less respect for their teachers. The personal touch is also missing. Education has now become satellite based.

2.    Ethical Issues from Teacher’s point of view: Teaching is a mission not merely an occupation. The goal of life should be something higher and nobler than mere earning money.
No education is complete, if it doesn’t teach values. Our students should be taught professional values and ethics. But in Institutes of higher education it is neglected completely.  Gurus should be considered to be the living GOD on earth. When they speak, students should listen. A teacher should be like Vashistha and Vishwamitra. He should be like Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. They should be considered as Spiritual parents and Supreme Divine Soul, who should have dedication towards duty, sinless ness, selflessness, honesty, self control, self discipline, and personal purity. The teachers and our examination system checks students’ retention power only and do not take into consideration their depth of knowledge. Evaluation and examination system should be revised in such a way that they can test students’ for their understanding of concepts and their application. Sometimes there is also carelessness found in paper setting and paper checking.

It has been also observed that the faculty of most of the Institutes lacks low level of credibility and refers to the guide rather than text and references. The teachers are no more the Role Model for students.
They should prove themselves to the following criteria:
•    Punctuality to arrive in the class
•    Maintenance of discipline

The ethics of teaching is based on the rich ethical inner self of a teacher. It never operates in vacuum. Teachers are not a blend of professional commitment and professional competency. The sense of pride, achievement and real joy is now not an integral part of a teachers’ personality. The teachers are not interested to update their subjects. They are with prejudice, not credible, disciplined and honest. Many of them do not follow code of conduct, have no proper coordination with colleagues and higher authorities, are not punctual to their duties.

The teachers not even plan, organize, control and evaluate the educational programs, neither they are interested to participate in seminars, workshops or conferences, nor they carry our research, consultant, extension and publication activities. They do not even have any sense of ethics and sense of duty towards their students. Teaching has become a profession by chance, not by choice.

Director (MCA), Pioneer Institute of Professional Studies, Indore
Reader, Pioneer Institute of Professional Studies, Indore
3.    Ethical Issues from Student’s point of view: Purity in thought, speech and act is extremely necessary. But it is seen that the students do not have any thirst for knowledge, no strict obedience to elders, lacking in truthfulness, honesty, temperance, character formation, and spirit of hard work, faith in teacher, self respect, purity and emotional balance. Now we don’t find students like Eklavya and Arjun.

Now a days, it is found that students in higher education indulge in mass copying, imitation having in possession books(s), notes, papers or any other material connected with the examination. Sometimes the students write the name or put signature in the answer book that may disclose the identity of a student. There is also unauthorized communication with others or anyone inside or outside the examination hall. If they are checked they use obscene or threatening language or may be violent against the staff of the examination.

There has been a shift in orientation from learning towards placement. Students are neither committed, nor disciplined. There is no such feeling of belongingness. Similarly there has been no inclination for in-depth knowledge and no respect for their faculty. They often involve into manipulations with their Institutes and with their parents.

4.    Ethical Issues from Management/Institute point of view: The foundation of learning and character laid by the Institute should be very strong so that students can have easy grasp of even more higher level of education. There is no or very less provision of research, inquiry, creativity, innovation entrepreneurship, moral leadership and high technology. E-learning, new pedagogy, quality assurance, quality standards, technical vocational education, corporate e learning, R & D initiatives is missing to a great extent in most of the Institutes.

Institutes do not motivate faculty and students to attend national and International level workshops, seminars, conferences. The faculty development programs and student development programs are also missing to upgrade the caliber and learn new technologies. The institutes need to develop curriculum that cater to the industry and serve their needs. They are charging high donations without any preparation for life for the students or career building for the teachers. There is an existing gap in the curriculum review and implementation is missing as it is a great challenge. The Universities and institutes have merely become examining and affiliating bodies. Now a days a teacher is not an embodiment of impeccable qualities. Institutes in higher educational Institutions are often bogged down by the commercial interests.

Sometimes the existing evaluation system is also not justified. There is lack of continuous evaluation method that reflects students’ hard work in true sense without any bias. The core reform areas are semester system, choice based credit system, curriculum development, admission procedures and examination reforms. A clear cut method of evaluation should be circulated among universities that can be implemented in a uniform manner.

 In order to meet the challenges of globalization, it would be necessary to prepare individuals for a workplace where responsibilities are constantly changing, where management is replaced by networking, where information is passed through multiple channels.

The aim of the Institute should be to make a perfect human being in terms of service to man kind and deliverance of ones soul. The Institute does not help the students to develop reasoning abilities, nor do they equip them with widest range of skills, especially life skills. The Institute also does not develop an attitude that is proactive and sensitive to the needs of others. The Institutes does not focus on emerging areas and innovations so as to create and disseminate knowledge in frontier areas. The centers should follow flexible pedagogies with rigour and continuously update the course curriculum. There has been privatization of colleges. The basic input the institutes are interested is earning. The faculty at the institutes are underpaid and do not strictly adhere to the basic norms. Sometimes the environment is also not congenial. Apart from this, there are no career advancement opportunities to the faculty and the staff.
 
5.    Ethical Issues from Industry point of view: There is a search of better understanding of ethics and corporate social responsibility every where now a days. A link between the provider and the user of the intellectual capital can be indication of growth as it can act as a bridge between academics and business. Supporting collaborative activities between an institution and industry can provide opportunities to the students to align their studies as per the industry’s aspirations. Many corporations worldwide have started depending on research institutions for carrying out trials, testing and calibrations of their equipments. The high quality student base of leading institutions has been undertaking projects which have immediate applicability in the Industry.

Most of the Industries are not bothered to pay a generous salary to their employees or to provide them with various benefits. It has also been observed that the working environment is also not suitable. There is no safety provided to the employees in case of risky jobs. There is a deprivation of education, training and development, poor infrastructure, lack of financial assistance, lack of resources etc.

Unethical companies suffer financial losses, disintegrating reputation, loss of trust and other legal costs. A company that is not trusted by employees, customers, suppliers, communities and other stakeholders suffers in the long run. The Industries are very demanding but are not ready to offer even the basic salary. The employees suffer from lot of health problems, stress, and depression. Their expectations from their employees are very high. Most of the times it has been observed that the employees are underemployed.

The parents, to an extent are also responsible of high fees charged by the institutes. They have no objection to give donations to the Institutes. They are also not very keen about their children. They give a heavy amount to their children in the name of pocket money. They do not have good relationship with their children.

6.    References:
1.    University News, Vol.48 No. 13 March 29-April 04, 2010 p. 13-18
2.    University News, Vol.48 No. 3 January 18-24, 2010, p.10-11
3.    University News, Vol.48 No. 23 June 07- 13, 2010 p. 1-2
4.    University News, Vol.48 No.6 February 8-14, 2010 p. 14-15
5.    University News, Vol.48 No.25June 21-27,  2010 p. 9-11
6.    University News, Vol.48 No. 30 July 26-Aug 01, 2010 p. 1-4
7.    University News, Vol.48 No. 07 February 15-21, 2010 p. 22-23
8.    The Indian Journal of Technical Education Vol. 32. No. 1 January-March 2009