A regressive move

The University Grants Commission’s latest move to make GED certificates unacceptable for private university admission is highly misguided, and will do our education system no favours. The General Education Development (GED) certificate is accepted and recognized by institutions of higher education all over the world, as they help non-traditional students carry on with their education, and level the playing field when it comes to university admissions. But the UGC has gone ahead with its faulty logic, arguing that since the GED curriculum does not exactly match with the regular HSC curriculum, it cannot be relied upon. UGC also made the argument that since public universities do not recognize GED, neither should private universities. The reasoning is absurd -- there is no rationale for private universities to adhere to the same admissions criteria as public universities. Furthermore, the UGC is wrong about the thoroughness of the GED; indeed, the GED curriculum has been updated, and government officials may not be aware of the details. But regardless of how public university authorities view the GED certificate, the UGC interfering with the decision-making process of private universities serves no one -- not students, not teachers, and certainly not the state of education in this country, which is already in crisis largely due to the dysfunction seen in public universities. Private universities have solved many of the problems that still persist in our public university system -- like inadequate infrastructure, toxic politics, and session jams. It is time the government gave private universities some credit, and let them set their own policies. Scrapping the GED would jeopardize the futures of thousands of promising students -- and at a time when the country speeds towards meeting our development goals, this move would take us backward.