Sir — This refers to the editorial, “JNU spectacle” (March 26). The difference between the people’s access to quality education is one of the reasons of Nordic countries becoming the happiest countries of the world and India remaining one of the most unhappy ones. According to global happiness ranking 2017, Norway gets the top position, Denmark is at the second position, followed by Iceland at number three, Finland at number five and Sweden at number 10 whereas India ranks 122nd out of 155 countries.
Indeed, Nordic countries have given top priority to education and other human development indices. Norway has been holding the number one rank in Human Development Index for a long time. Other Nordic countries are also enjoying high position in human development indices whereas India is at 131st position.
Education, including higher education, is totally free in all Nordic countries. Moreover, an unemployed person gets handsome allowance from the state. It is a pity that instead of ensuring affordable quality education, we are now trying to limit it only for the rich by letting corporate houses extract more and more profit from nursery to higher education business and that too almost without any effective state control.
Thus, in the name of education, we are giving good business to market players. In-turn, we give our children lathis when they protest against fee hike which is nothing but shutting the door of education in poor students’ face.
In this way, we are actually wasting huge human capital that should have been utilised and developed. Students of our country need to be provided with affordable, value-based and job-oriented quality education to make our country strong and happy.