When the need of the hour is to make enhanced provisions for basic and primary education, it is ironic that the Centre is keen on subsidising higher education.

THE first round in the IIM fee episode has gone the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, way, with the Supreme Court questioning the locus standi of the petitioners and asking for a break up of the fee structure.

But does it vindicate his proposal to slash the fees for courses at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM)to Rs 30,000 a year that has kicked up a huge, nation-wide row?

The premise for pruning the fee structure is that the cost to society on an IIM student is Rs 3 lakh and that of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) student Rs 1.5 lakh and that the benefit from such students to society is disproportionate to the cost.

If the Minister has in mind the droves of engineers and management graduates emigrating to greener pastures after making full use of the services provided by the Government and the institutions here, he may be mistaken because in a globalising and liberalising world markets are opening up everywhere and India’s centres of educational excellence can be in demand only if they maintain quality; opportunities are sure to knock at their doors soon enough.

The economic reforms have unleashed the entrepreneurial spirit and a swathe of industries has become competitive in price, quality and delivery of goods, especially abroad.

The centres of management and technology learning are partly instrumental in this process of promoting a Brand India image for a variety of products, in the process giving their alumnus also an international recognition.

Little wonder that even as liberalisation of trade in services is still under way, countries such as Singapore, Sri Lanka and other countries are sending out feelers for replicating the IIM/IITs.

The Manipal Academy of Higher Education, the pioneer private medical college with the fee structure even for Indian students “marked to market”, leave aside the higher fees for non-resident Indians and students of foreign origin, has already replicated its experiment, and runs medical colleges in Oman, Nepal and some South-East Asian countries.

The IIMs, the IITs and MAHE may be exceptions rather than the rule because these institutions blossomed after years of development. In the case of the IIMs and the IITs the role of the Government and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is considerable.

IIM students have done the country proud, and there is ever-great demand for them. The entry into the prestigious course is entirely merit based, and the kind of talent the IIMs attract is the obvious envy of other centres of learning because professors do not dissipate their energies on reluctant students.

That is why legions of middle-class people hanker after admission to these institutions to ensure a sound career for their children. With loans for pursuit of education available at reasonable rates, many a parent makes it a point to see that his ward gets into the best course and the best institute, which offer such a course. Ergo the rush for IITs and IIMs.