Declining Trend in Science Education and Research in Indian Universities

Universities are knowledge based organizations whose functions are largely confined to teaching and research. They are designed to operate to discover and disseminate knowledge by possessing significant and relevant expertise in all disciplines. India has a very vast structure of education and its higher education sector is now highly advanced, compared to its neighboring countries. The vast network of state funded Indian universities appears to be sinking into a state, where academic performance both in teaching and research become partially marginalized. Erudition and scholarship are no longer pre-requisites for advancement through academic ranks. Research both in science and the humanities, gets back the backseat and mediocrity has become glorified. A regressive trend has been observed in the past few years in science education in universities. Science seems to be losing out to other disciplines, particularly the professional courses in attracting students. The recent trend observed in secondary and tertiary education sectors is toward non science courses. Inadequacies in the policies of the government, negligence of its importance by political parties and social organizations, etc., have accelerated the decline. The widespread impression among students is that unlike professional courses, a career in basic science is not lucrative.