Madness over salaries is the worst thing we have done in India: Ajit Rangnekar

Interview with Dean, Indian School of Business

Ajit Rangnekar, dean of Indian School of Business (ISB), admits feeling guilty for having created a system that goes into frenzy over starting salaries and says teachers are treated with disrespect, forcing many to stay away from tutoring. In an interview with Manu Balachandran at the institute’s Mohali campus, he discusses steps needed for India’s education sector. Edited excerpts:

India’s education sector is often criticised for its poor show. What is your take?

All of us get into this habit of complaining and criticising the government and I don’t think politics should come in the way of essential things like education. But it is not just the role of the government that we should question. Private sector and philanthropy must take this burden from the government.

Quality of teachers is a major concern today. How can we address this issue?

The most critical element in education is teachers and we pay them extremely poorly and treat them with utter disrespect. Why can’t a lot of the money generated from the mandatory two per cent of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) go into the education sector to strengthen the roots? There are lakhs of people with crores of money in India. Instead of giving it to temples, can’t we give it to strengthen educational institutions?

Are we seeing more investment from the private sector now?

ISB has certainly benefited. Both the campuses are built with philanthropic money. But again, if I ask Tatas to give money to Mumbai University, does it have the capability to use that money effectively? The university cannot have an old law and a bureaucracy that does not permit excellence. If you look at the great institutions in the world, 30 to 50 per cent of the cost is met by philanthropic investments. In India’s case, it is close to zero.

There is a new breed of investors investing in liberal arts today. What is your view?

Liberal arts education is the best thing to happen in the country today. We have been creating single-dimensional students, making them think that engineering is the only profession. At ISB, we take a lot of effort to get students who are from non-engineering background but that supply is small. If we can increase the number of liberal arts institutions and students who can think wider, it will be a boost for society and business.

Global rankings have often said Indian institutes do not pay attention to research. How do we address this?

It’s bit of a challenge. In the past, top IIMs (Indian Institutes of Mamangement) had 200 students. Then the government decided to ramp up capacity following the introduction of OBC (other backward classes) quota by 40 to 50 per cent. But the number of teachers did not increase and we had to ask the research faculty to step in.  To some extent, I also sympathise with the government because they have to reach out to all the sections of the society.

There is a frenzy over the fancy salaries in the country today.  Will this continue?

This madness over salaries is the worst thing we have done in India and I must admit to part of the guilt. We were as much a party, when one of the students got a large salary. But that is the worst thing I certainly did and so after 2008, we have stopped talking about salaries. Through announcements like those, we send out a signal that the whole purpose of education is the salary. Now, many more institutions have stopped announcing the numbers.