Miscellany

A recent report by CRISIL Ratings paints a glowing picture of India’s education sector. Revenues are expected to grow by 11–13% over the next two years, driven by rising student enrolments and continuous fee hikes. From K–12 schooling to engineering and medical education, demand remains strong across segments. Private institutions appear financially stable, with steady cash flows and low debt.

But the real question is: Is this “growth” actually expanding access to education, or is it merely strengthening institutional balance sheets?

Fee hikes: The heaviest burden on parents

According to the report, rising inflation in urban areas is pushing schools to raise fees regularly. This income-driven growth model hits middle-class families the hardest—households already struggling to keep pace with the cost of living.

While increasing fees may be the easiest path to higher revenues for institutions, does it not make education increasingly unaffordable? The projected 9–10% annual revenue growth in the private K–12 segment highlights this very trend.

Growth is real, but so are rising costs

Alongside higher revenues, institutional expenses are also rising rapidly—staff salaries, administrative costs, and capital expenditure on new classrooms and infrastructure. This is why operating margins are expected to remain “stable” at around 27–28%.

In other words, while institutions earn more, there is little indication that students or teachers will see proportionate improvements.

Rising demand, limited opportunities

Another key takeaway from the report is that demand for engineering courses remains strong despite global economic uncertainty. Medical courses continue to see demand far exceeding supply. Even with government efforts to increase MBBS seats, thousands still compete for every available spot.

Meanwhile, demand for nursing, pharmacy, and paramedical courses remains moderate—an alarming sign, considering these fields form the backbone of India’s healthcare workforce.

Financially sound, but socially fair?

The most reassuring aspect of the CRISIL report is that institutions are expected to maintain strong cash flows without needing additional borrowing. Gearing levels and interest coverage ratios remain healthy.

But who is actually benefiting from this financial strength? Are more schools and colleges opening in rural areas? Are fees becoming more affordable? Is quality education becoming accessible to all?

The answers to these questions are far less encouraging.

The future of the fee-based growth model

Privatisation in Indian education has accelerated rapidly. But its social cost deserves equal attention. A sector boasting double-digit growth can only be considered truly successful if it invests more in quality and transformation, reduces the financial burden on the middle and lower classes, gives equal importance to public institutions, and ensures better pay and job stability for teachers and non-teaching staff.

Rising revenues alone do not strengthen education. Education becomes strong when it becomes more accessible, more equitable, and more meaningful.

CRISIL’s report offers a positive snapshot of the sector’s financial health, but it also reveals a parallel reality—education is becoming increasingly expensive, and the heaviest burden is falling on the poor and the middle class. This growth model urgently needs rebalancing.

Education should not be about profit-making—it should be about capacity-building. Until that balance is restored, the gap between economic growth and social reality in India’s education system will only widen.

Leadership is not a thing that students get as a reward after their degree. It is a way of thinking that has to be cultivated even before they enter the campus for the first time.

Most of the times, leadership gets a very small part of the attention. It is kept in the domain of workshops, seminars, or annual events, which people see as 'extracurricular'. Not as one of the main educational outcomes, however.

Yet if educating in universities means truly preparing young people for living in real world then training in leadership cannot stay as an option. It must be embedded into the academic journey itself.

Real leadership is something that takes time to develop. It is a product of one's curiosity, learning from mistakes, receiving guidance, and in the environments that support students to try, fail and try again. For this reason, a handful of forward, looking schools are now transitioning away from isolated leadership initiatives towards a more integrated model one based on early identification, structured mentorship, experiential learning, and meaningful recognition.

The first step is identifying talent early. Not all leaders make their presence known; some uncover their leadership skills only when the right opportunities are provided to them. Student councils, interest, based clubs, and community projects serve as the laboratories where students are able to learn teamwork, accountability, and decision, making. Even informal roles such as leading a sustainability campaign or organizing a cultural even that help youngsters understand that leadership is about responsibility and not about the status.

Yet initiative alone is not enough. Mentorship transforms raw enthusiasm into mature judgment. Mentorship turns initial zeal into well, considered decisions. Mentors, be it teachers, experienced students, or alumni, offer what you cannot get from books: insight, candid feedback, and firsthand experience. Discussion, focusing on failure, insecurities, and development, essentially help leaders grow in a way that no motivational speech ever could.

Most of all, leadership is something that is most effectively taught through practical experience. By placing students in unfamiliar situations of real life such as rural outreach programmes, internships, service, learning projects, etc., they are compelled to adapt, negotiate and take responsibility. Such experiences create resilience, empathy, and a clear sense of ethics.

Last but not least, leadership should definitely be understood as a process rather than a personality trait. Students' portfolios, digital badges, and co, curricular transcripts serve as a means of tracking their development, reflecting on their decisions, and expressing their values.

When academic programmes are penetrated with the notion of leadership, educational facilities do nothing less than prepare graduates for employment. They are essentially raising citizens who are capable of critical thinking, ethical behaviour, and purposeful leadership, traits the world of today is in dire need of.

The climate change issue has passed beyond a problem to be debated by scientists, it has become the challenge of how our current generation and the next generation are going to survive. In India, where extreme heat is now severe, flooding and droughts are increasing at rates that cannot be ignored, and air and water quality are severely compromised, climate change education is no longer an ‘option.’ It has become a critical life skill. 

However, the major concern is are our schools ready to accept and act on this?

What about the children who will be adults and be capable of making decisions about climate change? Are they being taught climate change as a duty or simply another subject to study and memorize?

Why Is Environmental Education Still Limited to a Few Chapters?

In most Indian schools, environmental studies are confined to a few pages in textbooks. Students learn about pollution, global warming, biodiversity, and conservation—but only for exams.

What’s missing is lived experience. Children are rarely taught how their everyday choices—using plastic, wasting water, or excessive electricity consumption—directly impact the planet.

As a result, climate education becomes theoretical rather than transformative.

How the Climate Crisis Is Already Affecting Children

Children today are growing up amid extreme heat, polluted air, water shortages, and unpredictable weather. These are not future problems—they are today’s realities.

Education must go beyond facts and figures. It must empower students to become problem-solvers, not just passive learners.

NEP 2020 Showed the Way—But Is It Being Implemented?

India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recognizes sustainability and environmental awareness as essential learning components. However, lack of resources, insufficient teacher training, and exam-centric systems often prevent this vision from becoming reality.

How Can We Make Children “Climate-Smart”?

Environmental education should not just be about reading—it should be about living responsibly.

Students must learn:

• How to save water and energy
• Why plastic harms ecosystems
• How waste can be reduced
• Why trees matter
• What carbon footprint means
• And most importantly—what they can do

This can only happen if schools adopt project-based learning, field visits, gardening, recycling drives, and hands-on activities.

Is Our Education System Ready?

The truth is, India is still in the process of treating environmental education seriously. As long as schools remain obsessed with marks and rankings, climate change will stay confined to textbooks.

It is time we make environmental awareness not just part of the syllabus—but part of our mindset.

Because the children who understand the planet today

will be the ones who protect it tomorrow.

Raish Ahmed Laali

India’s criminal justice system has long struggled with a fundamental challenge—delays in investigations and weak evidentiary foundations. In this context, the Union government’s announcement to establish a forensic university or a Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in every state by 2029 is not merely an administrative decision, but a significant structural intervention in the justice delivery system. With a proposed investment of ₹30,000 crore, the initiative signals a clear shift toward placing “evidence-based justice” at the centre of policymaking.

At a time when the nature of crime is rapidly evolving—ranging from cybercrime and digital fraud to organised crime and terrorism—traditional policing methods alone are no longer sufficient for effective investigations. Forensic science is no longer just a supporting tool; it has become the backbone of modern criminal investigation. In this light, the plan to expand the number of Central Forensic Science Laboratories from seven to 15, and to strengthen regional labs across states, is not just desirable but necessary.

One of the most crucial aspects of this initiative is its focus on forensic education and human resource development. The way the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) is being developed as a globally competitive institution reflects India’s ambition to emerge as a “knowledge power.” With targets of educating 35,000 students by 2029, achieving 100% placement, signing hundreds of international MoUs, and generating dozens of patents, these figures indicate that forensic science is no longer a niche specialisation—it is rapidly becoming a mainstream career pathway.

However, the real test of this ambitious plan will lie in its implementation on the ground. Constructing buildings and laboratories alone will not suffice. What India needs are independent, professional, and politically insulated forensic institutions whose reports can be trusted by courts without hesitation. Equally important is the need to train police forces and prosecution agencies across states to properly understand and use forensic evidence.

The Home Minister’s promise of “justice within three years” can only become a reality if forensic reports are timely, reliable, and standardised. Otherwise, the dream of faster investigations will remain confined to policy documents. Expanding forensic infrastructure can indeed accelerate justice—but only if quality, transparency, and accountability are treated as top priorities.

In sum, this investment in forensic infrastructure has the potential not only to strengthen India’s justice system but also to position the country as a global forensic hub. The question is no longer whether this move was necessary—it is whether we can seize this opportunity with integrity and purpose.

The death of Priyanshu Raj, a 19-year-old computer science student, is only the most recent in a spate of alleged suicides by students caught cheating in exams, as in the case of Priyanshu in Jaipur, and is surely only a harbinger of a serious problem: that India's students increasingly lack the resources to deal with academic pressure, fear of failure, and punishment 

As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the incidence of suicides among students has continuously increased during the past ten years. The statistics on the total number of suicides among students during the past few years is that more than 13,000 suicides among students have occurred annually because of studies and the fear of embarrassment. The NCRB statistics for the year 2025 are not available. But the initial news reports from different states and claims from education centers indicate that the situation has continued in the same manner in the year 2025, predominantly among the age group of 15-24 years.

The Jaipur Case: Punishment, Panic, and Finality.

According to police, “Priyanshu, a first-year student of Manipal University in Jaipur, was facing acute stress because of his act of cheating in an examination. His copies and bits of papers were seized, and he feared undergoing punishment for this. This is when he moved to an under-construction apartment, which is several kilometers away, and jumped from the 12th floor. His bag contained a bottle of poison with him, which clearly shows that it was a planned act and not an impulse-driven act,” said the police.

Professionals in the mental health industry have also asserted that humiliation in a discipline-related manner can constitute a trigger event among vulnerable individuals in an academic setting with a strong value placed on holding a prestigious academic degree.

“Academic identity matters a great deal to a lot of young people,” says a psychiatrist specializing in treating children in one of the cities of Delhi. “When that is shattered in front of their eyes," continues this psychologist, “it can feel like a catastrophe that can never be undone.”

A System That Punishes, Not Protects

India’s education system continues to treat exams as life-defining events, while offering minimal psychological support. NCRB data shows that failure in examinations and academic distress remain among the top five reasons for suicides among students, alongside family problems and mental illness.

What is particularly alarming is the age profile. Adolescents and young adults—many living away from home for the first time—are facing adult consequences without adult coping tools. Hostel life, isolation, language barriers, and fear of parental disappointment compound the risk.

Despite repeated Supreme Court observations and National Education Policy (NEP) recommendations, most universities and schools still lack full-time counsellors, crisis-response protocols, or post-disciplinary mental health follow-ups.

Several states have already reported multiple student suicide cases within weeks of board exams, competitive test results, or disciplinary actions this year—suggesting that the crisis is not receding.

There is little doubt about the underlying intentions of the government and Ministry of Education regarding higher education. There is a discernible sense of urgency about making higher educational institutions more competitively positioned, obtaining global recognition for them, and preparing our youth for the future. This is because National Education Policy 2020 is a result of these aspirations. But on the ground level, it is observed that just promoting more competition or modifying higher educational curricula will help little in addressing major challenges existing within higher education.

Today, the question that the nation is still grappling with is whether the higher education institutions have the relevant skills and personnel who will be able to meet the needs of the industries and the businesses. The truth is that many students graduate with degrees but with no employable skills. Consequently, the number of unemployed and educated is continually going up. This is happening at a time when the number of institutions offering higher education is continually rising. It is not an accomplishment when institutions are opened; the question is what is being taught and how.

The NEP 2020 talks about flexibility of curriculums, skill-based education, and multidisciplinary education. The implementation of this has been very slow. Some Central and elite institutions are showing improvement, whereas the situation in State universities and regular colleges is a cause of concern. There are hundreds of vacant teaching posts at many universities. How will the standard of education improve if there are unqualified and untrained teaching staff? This situation is not only prevalent at small colleges but also at Central universities.

This has resulted in a situation where a huge number of Indian students are registering in foreign institutions in search of better learning opportunities, and very few of them get back to the country. Though allowing foreign universities to open campuses in our country may somewhat check this brain drain, it is not a long-term remedy. What matters most in this regard is improving our own institutions. Additionally, it would be pertinent to know why our best institutions can’t reach out to other institutions in terms of academic assistance so that efficient higher education can be accessed in all states.

In doing so, NEP 2020 also underlines that education should and cannot be made relevant solely from the point of view of employment. The emphasis on promoting Indian languages, arts, and education in one’s mother-tongue forms an integral part of education. Despite it being five years that the New Education Policy 2020 came into effect, it is still restricted mainly to policy papers and changes in curriculums. Culture is usually defined in terms of “dance, music, or fine arts,” but it encompasses worldview, language, behavior, and social values.

Education becoming only a tool to provide jobs in itself would make education inefficient. The Indian philosophy has emphasized well-rounded education with the ideal of "Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram." The NEP had the chance to provide well-rounded education to our youth with the assimilation of science and technology with our cultural awareness, which has had poor advancements so far. The diversity that India has is its most coveted assets. Each state has its own language, performing arts culture, and traditions. Children and youth would be better equipped professionals and better citizens if education helps them remain rooted to their culture. It would be right to consider that education in one’s mother tongue would be an efficient path towards progress toward this aim. When the whole world is undergoing the phenomenon of globalization, along with Western systems, the education sector in India should not confine itself merely to competition. Higher education needs a positive transformation through the confluence of quality, employment, and a sense of self-respect for our culture. There will be meaning in education, not merely producing degree-holders out of young people, but sensitized, capable, and culturally conscious citizens.