Why in News?

• In the recently released “Worldwide Educating for the Future Index (WEFFI) 2019” published by The Economist Intelligence Unit, India has been ranked 35^th.

About Worldwide Educating for the Future Index:

• The index and report are commissioned by the Yidan Prize Foundation.
• It was developed to assess the effectiveness of education systems in preparing students for the demands of work and life in a rapidly changing landscape.
• It is the first comprehensive global index to evaluate inputs to education systems rather than outputs such as test scores and concentrates on the 15-24 age band in 35 economies. The index and report are commissioned by the Yidan Prize Foundation.

Key Highlights of the Report:

• Finland topped the index followed by Sweden.
• This year, India scored 53 and has jumped five ranks from the 40th rank with an overall score of 41.2 across categories in 2018.
• WEFFI ranks countries based on their abilities to equip students with skill-based education.
• The rankings are based on Three Categories:

1.Policy environment.

2.Teaching environment.

3.Overall socio-economic environment.

• The report analyses the education system from the perspective of skill-based education in areas such as critical thinking, problem-solving, leadership, collaboration, creativity and entrepreneurship as well as digital and technical skills.

Reasons behind the rise in rank of India:

• The report attributes India’s growth to the new national education policy introduced and published in 2019.
• The new policy also mentions about future-oriented skills such as critical thinking, communication and entrepreneurship.
• The education policy was highlighted in the Union Budget 2020 and it will come under ‘Aspirational India’ which will focus on skill-based education, a greater inflow of finance to attract talented teachers and innovate and build better labs.

Challenges encountered as per the Report:

• Lack of decentralised education system in India.
• The inability of the Indian education system to utilise the opportunity of internationalising the higher education system.
• Well-intentioned policy goals relating to future skills development often do not get filtered downward which is a problem in economies like the US and India.

Way Ahead:

• India should develop its education system so that it becomes a preferred destination for higher education.
• Study in India Programme, Ind-SAT exams held for Asian and African students for scholarships can boost the Government’s Efforts.