EDUCATION IN THE FIFTH PLAN 43 enrolment in automous colleges, is the additional man-power requirements for the economy during the Fifth Plan. What else may be the special reason for proportionately increasing the post-graduate enrolement or for laying special emphasis on higher quality of post-graduate education only ? In the process, many of our universities and advanced study centres are gradually becoming elite institutions by cutting off the undergraduate i.e, collegiate wing of the universities. Essential ground is being prepared for converting all the universities into elite islands inhabited by teachers, students and scholars, cut off from the mainstream of the society. Colleges have been divided into two types, ordinary colleges and autonomous colleges. Autonomous colleges will be the 'good' colleges defining their own courses and conferring their own degrees. Per student Plan expenditure on ordinary colleges, autonomous colleges and university indicates the same allocation policy as in primary and secondary education. Obviously, the value of the degree will vary from an ordinary college to an autonomous college, another variant of the public school. Thus, the model primary school will feed the model secondary school which will feed the autonomous college and the university. This will be the channel of 'good9 education meant primarily for the rich, both rural and urban. On the other hand, the ordinary primary school, the ordinary secondary school and the ordinary college will be linked in the same chain. This is the result of reconciliation efforts between qualitative improvement and claims of expansion. And this is another name for 'growth with social justice5. At least, at one place, there is a confession : ^since resources are limited and good education cannot be immediately provided to all, it is essential that admission to our good schools are regulated on the basis of merit and social justice... This will delink f quality^ from 'privilege9 and will be a progressive step, especially from the point of view of socialism.'510 It is in the name of 'socialism* that greater dependence on private resources is being advocated. And it is also in the name of 'socialism' that the question of the state taking over the full responsibility for education has been conveniently forgotten. V But the tall talk of meaningful education continues. Education can be meaningful to those who reap the benefits of this brand of 'socialism'. Reform of the examination system, improvement of teaching methods and better courses will be relevant only to those who will need this. Teachers and students of ordinary colleges will continue to share the irrelevance of present education. They expect university would become 'stable9 and 'peaceful', but in fact, the alienation of the students and teachers, and particularly student unrest will further intensify. This has been the overall process of our education system during the last several years. This new scheme will further organise and crystallise the mechanism of identifying a select group with the system. This