A few months before he died, in an interview published in Herald, architect Charles Correa asserted that Goa deserved a better future than having to remain dependent on tourism and suggested that the State should look at a medical centre or an educational hub as alternatives to tourism. That suggestion, coming from one of India’s most acclaimed architects, and one that Goa has always respected, needs to be seriously considered.
In the last season, Goa experienced the fickleness of the tourism industry as charter tourist arrival numbers dropped. But Correa, when he made this suggestion was perhaps seeing this for a different angle. He, who travelled the world had perhaps seen how tourism has damaged regions that had concentrated solely on tourism. Keeping in mind future needs, the State has to shift its focus to other areas, and given Goa’s geography and culture, an educational hub is one of those areas that should be on top of any short list of alternatives to tourism.
An educational hub in Goa is not a new idea that has been just proffered. It has been spoken about often in the past and continues to emerge as an alternative to tourism in discussions at various points of time, but it has never moved beyond the discussion table to the planning board. The closed mind to anything other than tourism and mining in Goa has not allowed the political class to look beyond these industries. Had the government done so, perhaps we would have had Correa designing some of the institutions that would have been set up here.
To put it in very simple terms, an educational hub is nothing more than an area or region that is designated to attract foreign and local investment in education that will have a number of institutes of repute at which foreign and domestic students can enroll and continue their studies. The role of the government is practically limited to making available the land for the institutions and then facilitating their setting up and providing the necessary infrastructure and facilities. The investment would come from the institutions themselves. Other State governments in India are considering setting up educational hubs. On Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced an educational hub for Kurseong in the Darjeeling hills. Pune in Maharashtra has emerged as a major educational hub in India and little of the investment has come from the government that acts merely as a facilitator.
Today, more than at any other time, students opting for higher education should have access to the best of education and to foreign institutions, so as to broaden their vistas and make them competitive in the global village. A large number of Indian students, including some from Goa, travel abroad for higher education. While a few are fortunate enough to be awarded scholarships, there are a large number who study abroad with the tuition fees and living expenses paid for by their parents. There would perhaps be many more, but not all parents can afford the costs of paying for their children’s education abroad. The next best option for such parents and students would be affiliates or branches of some of these institutions in their own hometown.
That should be what Goa, should it consider an education hub, aim for. The Ivy League and Oxford and Cambridge colleges may be out of Goa’s league, but surely it would be within the State’s potential to tap other foreign and national institutes to set up a branch or franchisee here.
For that the government needs to be more proactive, a lot more proactive. As of today, there is little visible. It is unfortunate and sad that the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) that was to open in Goa this year is not opening its doors. It is still more unfortunate and sad that after four years the National Institute of Technology (NIT) that is running from the Goa Engineering College (GEC) campus is still to find land to set up its own premises. The government’s contribution to these institutes was in the form of land, and that is something that the government is unable to offer them. That would have to change.
An educational hub would be one last salute to Correa who, though he didn’t live in Goa, always carried the place in his heart.
