SCOLARISATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY:

The Role of Higher Education in Inclusive and Sustainable Development

Khushi Nigam (2017156), Akshit Dedha (2017170) & Sarthak Bajpai (2017185)
(BA Political Science Hons)
Note:
As part of our assignment, we surveyed the opinion of various stakeholders related to
Sustainable education in India. We have cited some inferences from our research.

Section 1: Khushi Nigam (BA Political Science Hons, 2017156)

Section 2: Akshit Dedha (BA Political Science Hons, 2017170)
Section 3: Sarthak Bajpai (BA Political Science Hons, 2017185)
Introduction:
In 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a shocking report: declaring
‘the code red for humanity’, they showcased the irreversible damage effectuated by the homo sapien on
our only habitat.1
In a separate instance, in the aftermath of COVID 19, India slipped to 101st position in the Global
Hunger Index (GHI) of 116 countries, from its 2020 position of 94th, and was behind Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Nepal.
Hunger, Climate Change, Universal Healthcare and gender parity, amongst other basic parameters
which indicate the quality of life for the current and future generations, are intertwined concepts
which have been enshrined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The SDGs
serve as blueprints of development and promote a model of growth which is not only environmentally
sustainable, morally ethical and diversely inclusive, but one which also serves as a solution to remedy
the maladies engendered by unhampered exploitation of human beings and developmental projects at
the expense of our natural resources.
Amongst the 17 SDGs prescribed by the United Nations Development Program, there is one which
serves as a common denominator for all: SDG 4, or Quality Education. Parity, justice and equality in
terms of development can only be achieved by citizens who are sustainably literate and can work within
the system to remedy it.
In this assignment, we explore the theme of education and how higher education in particular can be
utilized as a means to achieve inclusive development. We also highlight the discrepancies which exist
between the Global South and the Global North in the terms of education, and we finish the
assignment by putting forth reforms which can be initiated to make higher education even more
diverse, inclusive and sustainable.
1.1 Sustainable Resource Development and Inclusiveness
1.1.1 Brundtland Commission and Sustainable Resource Development
In 1983, the United Nations tapped former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland to run
the new World Commission on Environment and Development . After decades of effort to raise living
standards through industrialization, many countries were still dealing with extreme poverty. It seemed
that economic development at the cost of ecological health and social equity did not lead to
long-lasting prosperity. It was clear that the world needed to find a way to harmonize ecology with
prosperity. After four years, the “Brundtland Commission” released its final report, Our Common
Future. It famously defines sustainable development as:
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.
The Commission successfully unified environmentalism with social and economic concerns on the
world’s development agenda. Sustainability is a holistic approach that considers ecological, social and
economic dimensions, recognizing that all must be considered together to find lasting prosperity.

1.1.2 Inclusive Development

Inclusive development is a “development that includes. marginalized people, sectors and countries in
social, political and economic processes for increased human well-being, social and environmental
sustainability, and empowerment”

1.2 Education in Sustainable Planning: MDG 2 & SDG 4

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year
2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000,
following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These were based on the
OECD DAC International Development Goals agreed by Development Ministers in the "Shaping the
21st Century Strategy". The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) succeeded the MDGs in 2016.

All 191 United Nations member states, and at least 22 international organizations, committed to help
achieve the MDGs by 2015. MDG 2 was particularly focused on the democratization of primary
education. It aimed to ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be
able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

It had some initial success: Enrolment in primary education in developing regions reached 91 per cent
in 2015, up from 83 per cent in 2000. Among youth aged 15 to 24, the literacy rate improved globally
from 83 per cent to 91 per cent between 1990 and 2015, and the gap between women and men
narrowed.

However, in 2015, 57 million children of primary school age were out of school. In the developing
regions, children in the poorest households were four times as likely to be out of school as those in the
richest households. In countries affected by conflict, the proportion of out-of-school children increased
from 30 per cent in 1999 to 36 per cent in 2012.

The MDGs were unique in the sense that they were only concerned with the developing nations of
Latin America, Africa and Asia. However, the SDGs were conceived to realize the dream of
sustainability everywhere.

Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims at ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and
promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all. This goal ensures that all girls and boys complete free
primary and secondary schooling by 2030. It also aims to provide equal access to affordable vocational
training, to eliminate gender and wealth disparities and achieve universal access to a quality higher
education.
Estimates show that, out of 59 million children, 1/5th had dropped out and recent trends suggest that
2 in 5 of out-of-school children will never set foot in a classroom. The Sustainable Development Goals
clearly recognise that this gap must be closed, even as the international community more explicitly
addresses the challenges of quality and equity in education.
1.3 Education and Sustainability: The correlation

Good quality education is an essential tool for achieving a more sustainable world. This was
emphasized at the UN World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002 where the reorientation of current
education systems was outlined as key to sustainable development. Education for sustainable
development (ESD) promotes the development of the knowledge, skills, understanding, values and
actions required to create a sustainable world, which ensures environmental protection and
conservation, promotes social equity and encourages economic sustainability. The concept of ESD
developed largely from environmental education, which has sought to develop the knowledge, skills,
values, attitudes and behaviors in people to care for their environment. The aim of ESD is to enable
people to make decisions and carry out actions to improve our quality of life without compromising
the planet. It also aims to integrate the values inherent in sustainable development into all aspects and
levels of learning.

There are a number of key themes in ESD and while the dominant focus is on environmental
concerns, it also addresses themes such as poverty alleviation, citizenship, peace, ethics, responsibility in
local and global contexts, democracy and governance, justice, human rights, gender equality, corporate
responsibility, natural resource management and biological diversity. It is generally accepted that
certain characteristics are important for the successful implementation of ESD, reflecting the equal
importance of both the learning process and the outcomes of the education process (adapted from
‘UN Decade of Sustainable Development’ UNESCO Nairobi Cluster, 2006). ESD should:

● Be embedded in the curriculum in an interdisciplinary and holistic manner, allowing for

a whole-institution approach to policy making.
● Share the values and principles that underpin sustainable development.
● Promote critical thinking, problem solving and action, all of which develop confidence
in addressing the challenges to sustainable development.
● Employ a variety of educational methods, such as literature, art, drama and debate to
illustrate the processes.
● Allow learners to participate in decision-making on the design and content of
educational programmes.
● Address local as well as global issues, and avoid jargon-ridden language and terms.
● Look to the future, ensuring that the content has a long-term perspective and uses
medium and long-term planning.

The goal of the decade, as outlined by UNESCO, is to integrate the principles, values and practices of
sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. This aims to encourage changes in
behaviour that will create a more sustainable future. One of the most important aspects of the DESD is
the recognition that ESD must engage a wide range of stakeholders from government, private sector,
civil society, non-governmental organizations and the general public.

Education plays a crucial role in Sustainable Development because intelligent and technical development
and behavioral changes through education are recognized as necessary means and ways for Sustainable
Development. Education forms an important ingredient of Sustainable Development, and Higher
Education an important instrument of achieving Sustainable Development. Sustainable Development is
becoming high on the political agenda due to global warming and climate change concerns. The most
effective way for promoting Sustainable Development is by developing the capacity of all stakeholders
through education.

Further references:
https://en.unesco.org/themes/education2030-sdg4

1.3.2 Case study: Education and Development in Scandinavia and Sub Saharan Africa

Of the world population older than 15 years 86% are literate. In Scandinavian countries, 100% have
basic literacy skills. Globally however, large inequalities remain, notably between sub-Saharan
Africa and the rest of the world. In Burkina Faso, Niger and South Sudan – the African countries at
the bottom of the rank – literacy rates are still below 30%.

A classroom in Niger (literacy rate 19%) and Finland (literacy rate 100%).
Is the quality of education directly responsible for Niger’s low and Finland’s high rank in the
parameters of the Human Development Index? Is education the fuel behind Scandinavia’s success in
terms of economy, GDP, environmental consciousness, low carbon emissions, high wages and nearly
complete gender parity, while much of Africa, owing to the illiteracy amongst masses, struggles with
climate catastrophes, corrupt institutions, hunger, poverty and unemployment?

Coincidentally, countries with lowest education rates (especially in Sub-Saharan Africa) are also the
ones with the highest unemployment, the highest environmental degradation and institutional
injustice. This has created a culture of unsustainable growth, where industrialization and development
take place at the expense of the environment and other human beings. These nations are infested with
tumultuous institutions, crimes, unethical environmental practices such as poaching.

Improvements in educational attainments are accompanied by improvement in health and longevity of

the population and the country’s economic growth. Education reinforces the socioeconomic dynamics
of society towards equality and promotes a social order conducive to an egalitarian ethos.

In short, education is the best social investment. This is the significance of quality higher education.

Our research:
We conducted a survey of a pool of 30 respondents including students, professors, parents
and professionals on the quality of education in India, and how it can be rendered inclusive.
Below are the results:
Section 2 : Sustainable Literacy

"Sustainability Literacy" is the knowledge, skills and mindsets that allow individuals to become deeply
committed to building a sustainable future and assisting in making informed and effective decisions to
this end.
"Sustainability Literacy is demonstrating one’s awareness of issues that destabilize local and global
relationships between economy, environment, and society, and having the information and knowledge
necessary to make positive contributions within a transdisciplinary, collaborative, community-based
forum of research focused on developing innovative solutions that work toward equity, responsibility,
accountability, and resolution."

Forum for the Future's consultation workshop, a sustainability development charity in London stated
that-

"Expressed at the highest level, a sustainability literate person might legitimately be expected to:

● Understand the need for change to a sustainable way of doing things, individually and
collectively.
● Have sufficient knowledge and skills to decide and act in a way that favours
sustainable development.
● Be able to recognise and reward other people's decisions and actions that favour
sustainable development."

The role of higher education in developing a sustainable world

Higher education institutions have an essential role in sustainability. They are key agents in the
education of future leaders that will contribute to the successful United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) implementation. The geography of SDGs this implementation is very
heterogeneous, but it is clear that higher education institutions contribute decisively to creating a
mindset that facilitates the dissemination of SDGs principle. This perspective paper analyses the
impacts of higher education on sustainability and the challenges and barriers associated with this
process. Higher education contributes decisively to the SDGs implementation, but especially to Goal 1
(end poverty in all its forms everywhere), Goal 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at
all ages), Goal 5 (gender equality), Goal 8 (decent work and economic growth), Goal 12 (responsible
consumption and production), Goal 13 (climate change) and Goal 16 (peace, justice and strong
institutions).
Higher education institutions have a key role in the implementation of education for sustainability: 1)
teaching and research centres can improve sustainability by project development and incorporation of
sustainability principles across the disciplines; 2) the practice carried out by different educators can
influence broader opinions through outreach activities; 3) an institutional culture of sustainability
increases the awareness of university staff, local and broader communities; 4) high education
institutions are responsible for the formation of next-generation professionals, which will have a
decisive impact on their different professional contexts and social engagements; and 5) by
implementing sustainable campus practices (e.g., reducing greenhouse emissions, promote biodiversity,
efficient use of energy and reduce the ecological footprint). Higher education institutions can lead by
example and influence university members.

Higher Education in 3rd World Countries

In developing countries, higher education, and particularly university education is recognized as a key
force for modernisation and development. This has caused an increase in the demand for its access,
accompanied by a number of challenges.
The quality of higher education in developing countries is influenced by complex factors that have
their roots in commercialization, general funding, and human population growth. Appropriate
policies and home-bred professionals (both academic and administrative), are necessary for improving
the quality of higher education in developing countries.
There has been a rising trend of education in 3rd world countries and the global south and the section 3
of this assignment focuses on how higher education can be provided to the third world.

Education and Sustainability in India

India's higher education system is the world's third-largest in terms of students, next to China and the
United States.
India's Higher Education sector has witnessed a tremendous increase in the number of
Universities/University level Institutions & Colleges since independence.
In the prestigious Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2020, only three Indian
Universities- IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi and IISc (Bangalore)- have been included in the top 200
institutes.

Major Achievements of the Education Sector in India

Under the Five-Year Plans, educational facilities in India have been expanded at all levels. At present,
there exist abundant facilities for elementary, higher and technical education. The ratio of literacy
persons to total population of age seven or more is known as literacy ratio (children below the age of
seven are excluded because they may not receive an education before that age).

An increase in literacy is generally accepted as an indicator of the spread of education. Spread of

education in India at all levels has contributed in raising the literacy ratio in the country. The number
of literates in the country has increased from 5.7 crores in 1951 to 57 crores in 2001, increasing by ten
times over this period of 50 years. The literacy rate has increased from 18 per in 1951 to 67.5 Per cent
in 2007.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) related to Education

Goal 4 of SDG: Education for all – ensures equitable, inclusive and quality education along with the
promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.

Higher Education in India

· According to the All India Survey on Higher Education, the Gross Enrolment Ratio
(GER) in higher education in India has increased from 20.8% in 2011-12 to 25.8% in
2017-18. Lack of access is a major reason behind the low intake of higher education.
The policy aims to increase GER to 50% by 2035.

· Regulatory structure and accreditation:

· Multiple regulators with overlapping mandates reduce the autonomy of higher

educational institutions and create an environment of dependency and
centralized decision making.

· National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA) should replace

the existing individual regulators in higher education. Thus the role of all
professional councils such as AICTE would be limited to setting standards for
professional practice. The role of the UGC will be limited to providing grants.

· Separate National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) from the

UGC into an independent and autonomous body. It will function as the
top-level accreditor and will issue licenses to different accreditation institutions.
All existing higher education institutions should be accredited by 2030.

· Establishment of new higher educational institutions:

· Replacing the current system of establishing higher educational institutions by

Parliament or state legislatures. Instead, institutions can be set up through a
Higher Education Institution Charter from NHERA.
· Restructuring of higher education institutions:

· Phasing out the current complex system of naming Higher education

institutions(HEI) as ‘deemed to be university’, ‘affiliating university’, ‘unitary
university’ etc. HEI will be restructured into three types:

· Research universities focus equally on research and teaching.

· Universities focus primarily on teaching.

· Colleges focus only on teaching at undergraduate levels.

· All such institutions will gradually move towards full autonomy.

· Establishing a National Research Foundation (NRF):

· Total investment in research and innovation in India has declined from 0.84%
of GDP in 2008 to 0.69% in 2014. India also lags behind many nations in the
number of researchers, patents and publications.

· NRF will act as an autonomous body for funding, mentoring and building the
capacity for quality research.

· Moving towards a liberal approach:

· Undergraduate programs should be made interdisciplinary by redesigning

their curriculum to include: a common core curriculum; one/two area(s) of
specialization.

· Introduce four-year undergraduate programs in Liberal Arts.

· By the next five years, five Indian Institutes of Liberal Arts must be set up as
model multidisciplinary liberal arts institutions.

·
 · Professional development of faculty:

· Poor service conditions and heavy teaching loads, augmented by lack of

autonomy and no clear career progression system, have resulted in low faculty
motivation.

· Introduction of a Continuous Professional Development program and

permanent employment track system for faculty in all higher education
institutions by 2030.

· The student-teacher ratio of not more than 30:1 must be ensured.

· Optimal learning environment:

· All higher education institutions must have complete autonomy on curricular,

pedagogical and resource-related matters.

SECTION 3:

WHAT IS GLOBAL SOUTH?

The phrase “Global South” refers broadly to the regions of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
It is one of a family of terms, including “Third World” and “Periphery,” that denote regions outside
Europe and North America, mostly (though not all) low-income and often politically or culturally
marginalized. The use of the phrase Global South marks a shift from a central focus on development or
cultural difference toward an emphasis on geopolitical relations of power.

Recently, the North-South concept has acquired increased sophistication. Intellectual movements,
such as subaltern studies from India have emphasized the history of resistance to empire.The term
Global South functions as more than a metaphor for underdevelopment. It references an entire history
of colonialism, neo-imperialism, and differential economic and social change through which large
inequalities in living standards, life expectancy, and access to resources are maintained.

EDUCATION IN GLOBAL SOUTH

THE NAME OF THE DOG IS PUPPY. This seems like a simple sentence. But did you know that in
Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, three out of four third grade students do not understand it? In rural
India, nearly three-quarters of third graders cannot solve a two-digit subtraction problem such as 46
minus 17, and by grade five — half still cannot do so.

The world is facing a learning crisis. While countries have significantly increased access to education,
being in school isn’t the same thing as learning. Worldwide, hundreds of millions of children reach
young adulthood without even the most basic skills like calculating the correct change from a
transaction, reading a doctor’s instructions, or understanding a bus schedule—let alone building a
fulfilling career or educating their children.

Education is at the center of building human capital. The latest World Bank research shows that the
productivity of 56 percent of the world’s children will be less than half of what it could be if they
enjoyed complete education and full health.

Delivered well, education – along with the human capital it generates – benefits individuals and
societies. For individuals, education raises self-esteem and furthers opportunities for employment and
earnings. And for a country, it helps strengthen institutions within societies, drives long-term
economic growth, reduces poverty, and spurs innovation.

MAJOR ISSUES FACED BY GLOBAL SOUTH

 Politics is likely to matter in explaining why this is the case. As a recent review put it, education reform
is:

a highly charged and politicized process; what gets implemented—and its impact—depends as much or
more on the politics of the reform process as the technical design of the reform.(Bruns and Schneider
2016, 5)

There are good reasons to believe that variations in how countries adopt and implement reforms
necessary to promote learning relate to differences in their political economies. These differences may
play out in the design of reforms that are attempted and adopted, and in what gets
implemented—including that it is more politically popular and less taxing of often weak state
capacities to expand school provision than to improve learning outcomes. Yet, barring some notable
exceptions (e.g. Grindle 2004), there has been little political analysis of education in general
(Busemeyer and Trampusch 2011; Gift and Wibbels 2014), and still less on the political economy of
education quality in developing countries—a gap that has been noted and bemoaned in several recent
reviews.

Parents and communities, particularly in developing countries, are often less well-equipped and
informed to articulate demand for quality improvements from their political leaders or frontline
providers (Dunne et al. 2007; Mani and Mukand 2007). This means that for parents and communities,
both the ‘long route’ (via the process of political representation) and the ‘short route’ (via relationships
with frontline providers, teachers, and schools) to accountability for the delivery of high quality
education, may be obstructed or subverted (World Bank 2003). A recent review concluded that three
features of the politics of education are particularly relevant in analysing the prospects for reform:

(i) the strength of teacher unions compared with other education stakeholders or labour unions;

(ii) the ‘opacity of the classroom’—the need for reforms to shape teacher behaviour in the classroom,
over which direct control is impossible; and

(iii) the slow or lagged nature of the results of quality reforms (compared, for example, with the
abolition of fees, learning reforms will yield no instant or obvious political return)

The World Bank identifies children’s unreadiness to learn, along with teacher and school management
skills, and inadequate school inputs, as the proximate determinants of the learning crisis (World Bank
2017). It argues (p.4) that the intractability of education quality reforms is not inherently a matter of
inadequate resources, although many failing systems are also under-resourced (UNESCO 2014; World
Bank 2017). Instead, it is a problem of ‘misalignment’ between learning goals, policies, and practices, in
which the dominant role of teacher unions and other forms of ‘unhealthy politics’ plays an important
and persistent role (World Bank 2017). It concludes that ‘healthier’ forms of politics—in particular the
use of information to increase ‘the political incentives for learning’ and broad-based pro-reform
coalitions—are critical to align goals, policies, and practices around improved learning. While
highlighting the significance of the politics of teacher and school management on the frontline of the
learning crisis, the emphasis on ‘alignment’ sidelines the significance of contention in education
reform, and fails to address the questions to which it gives rise: under what conditions do broad-based,
pro-reform coalitions come about? In which political contexts does information about education
performance become embedded in functioning mechanisms of accountability? Why do some states
visibly devote more capacity to learning and more political resources to quality reforms than others?

Challenges of Higher Education System in India:

• Gap between the Supply and demand: In higher education, India has a low rate of enrolment i.e.
gross enrolment ratio (GER), at only 19%. If we compared to china and brazil GER is 26% and 36%
respectively

• Lack of Quality Research work: There is no shortage of funding for the top Indian Institutions such
as IITs, IIMs and other institutes of national importance. However, budget for the Research is not
under spent due to the insufficient good quality research work. Due to the limited focus on Research
and Internationalization, very few Indian higher educational institutes are globally recognized.

• Number of Research papers published in India has increased continuously for the past few decades
but reflected in low citation impact if compared with other countries like Germany, United States,
France and China. • Indian higher education is facing with the problem of poor quality of curriculum.
In most of the higher educational institutes curriculum is out-dated and irrelevant.

• Shortage of Faculty and High Student-Faculty Ratio: In most of the state and central universities
more than 30% of faculty positions are lying vacant. While the student enrolment in higher education
is growing with faster rate in the last few years.

• Inadequate Infrastructure and Facilities: Apart from the highly recognized higher educational
institutes in India most of the colleges and universities lack in the basic and high-end research facilities.
Many institutes are running without proper infrastructure and basic facilities like library, hostels,
transport, sports facility etc. which is desirable to rank the quality institution.

• Presently there is a very less collaboration of higher educational institutes with industries.

• Low employability of graduates is one of the major problem in India. Only a small proportion of
Indian graduates are considered employable. Placement outcome also drop significantly as we move
away from the top institutes.

Suggestions for Improving the System of Higher Education:

• There is a need to implement innovative and transformational approach form primary to higher
education level to make Indian educational system globally more relevant and competitive.
• In higher educational institutes Industrial co-operation must be their for the development of
curriculum, organizing expert lectures, internships, live projects, career counseling and placements.

• Higher educational institutes need to improve quality, reputation and establish credibility through
student exchange, faculty exchange programs, and other collaborations with high- quality national and
international higher educational institutes.

• Government must promote collaboration between Indian higher education institutes and top
International institutes and also generates linkage between national research laboratories and research
centers of top institutions for better quality and collaborative research.

• There is a need to focus on the graduate students by providing them such courses in which they can
achieve excellence, gain deeper knowledge of subject so that they will get jobs after recruitment in the
companies which would reduce unnecessary rush to the higher education

Conclusion:

The link between Inclusive development and Higher Education is an intrinsic one; it must be
developed into an inseparable bond to empower the people. At the higher education level, practical
experience needs to be combined with academic inputs in order to engender equality, justice and
fairness.

References
● https://www.open.ac.uk/ikd/research/education-inclusive-development/english-medium-instr
uction-lower-and-middle-income
● https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/education.shtml
● https://www.in.undp.org/content/india/en/home/post-2015/mdgoverview.html
● https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/space4sdgs/sdg4.html#:~:text=This%20goal%20en
sures%20that%20all,to%20a%20quality%20higher%20education.
●
● https://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue/issue-6/education-and-sustainable-devel
opment#:~:text=Education%20for%20sustainable%20development%20(ESD)%20promotes%2
0the%20development%20of%20the,equity%20and%20encourages%20economic%20sustainabi
lity

●
https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780198835684.001.0001/
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● https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1179&context=ejie

● https://ourworldindata.org/global-education
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● https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/state-global-education-8-charts