Context: The issue of extending reservations to Private Higher Educational Institutions (PHEIs) has gained renewed political attention, particularly with the opposition party reiterating its demand in recent times.
Relevance of the Topic:Mains: Debate: Reservation in Private Educational Institutions.
Legal Framework supporting Reservation in Private Institutions
(a) Constitutional Provisions: Article 15(5) inserted via 93rd Constitutional Amendment Act (2005): Enables the State to make special provisions for the advancement of SCs, STs, and SEBCs (i.e., OBCs) for admissions to educational institutions, including private, aided and unaided, except minority institutions. This provision explicitly allows reservation in private educational institutions.
(b) Judicial Pronouncements:
- Ashok Kumar Thakur vs Union of India (2008): It upheld 27% OBC reservation in Central Educational Institutions. However, it did not rule on unaided private institutions but recognised the broader legitimacy of affirmative action.
- Indian Medical Association vs Union of India (2011): It upheld reservation in private unaided professional colleges.
- Pramati Educational & Cultural Trust vs Union of India (2014): Upheld the validity of Article 15(5) and extended the legality of reservation to unaided private institutions.
These rulings make it clear that there is no legal bar to implementing reservation in private colleges and universities, provided minority institutions are excluded.
Need for Reservation in Private Higher Education Institutions
- Quantitative Expansion:
- Rise of Private Universities: In 2024, there are over 500 private universities in India. Over 75% of the HEIs in India are privately managed.
- Share of Enrollment: Private universities account for 26% of total higher education enrolment (2021-22). Private unaided colleges account for 45% of total college enrolment.
- Quality divide: Public universities are increasingly under-funded, overcrowded, short on faculty with limited learning or job prospects. In contrast, PHEIs offer better infrastructure, classroom sizes, and faculty remuneration, attracting the best and becoming elite enclaves.Skewed representation in Private Institutions: All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2021–22 shows that the representation of various marginalised communities in private institutions:
- SCs: 6.8% (vs ~17% population share)
- STs: 3.6% (vs ~9%)
- OBCs: 24.9% (vs ~45–50%)
- Muslims: 3.8% (vs ~15%)
This indicates a clear under-representation of marginalised communities in private universities and quota-based affirmative action significantly improves social diversity in educational spaces.
Social and Economic Arguments in Favour of Reservation:
- Breaking the Cycle of ‘Effectively Maintained Inequality’: Sociologist Satish Deshpande argues that elite social groups adapt to maintain their advantage even when the access widens. Privatisation becomes a tool to escape reservation, enabling the elite to recreate exclusivity in high-end institutions.
- Correcting Structural Discrimination: Marginalised groups face intergenerational exclusion in education. Private institutions often offer sought-after courses (law, management, STEM), and lack of reservation excludes Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs from these tracks. If public jobs and public universities follow reservation policies, leaving private education outside the purview, weakens the overall impact of affirmative action.
- Recommendation of Parliament’s Standing Committee: In its 364th Report on the Demand for Grants for the Department of Higher Education, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports also recommended a new legislation to implement Article 15(5) as well.
Way Forward
- Strengthen Public Education: Increase public funding, fill faculty vacancies, and improve student-teacher ratios and campus infrastructure.
- Mandate Social Inclusion in Private Sector: Legally mandate private institutions (excluding minority-run ones) to implement quotas for SCs, STs, and OBCs.
- Incentivise private-sector universities: Link recognition, accreditation, and tax exemptions to reservation compliance. Robust monitoring mechanism for compliance.
However, mandating private institutions to implement reservations may interfere with their institutional autonomy. The utmost importance should be given to improve the quality of HEIs and capacity building.