General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) was included as an integral
part of World Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1,
1995, as an effort to integrate services into the legal structure
of international trade. It has given rise to a never-ending debate on whether
to include sensitive sectors like education, health, etc., where government in
most of the countries plays a major
role, as a regulator, provider and distributor,
to attain its various social goals. The debate is more relevant in today's complex
world, because the importance of education is not only confined to the preparation
of one's life as a citizen and the transmission of values and culture, but also in
the preparation of nation's human resources to use modern technology. So,
many governments adopted initiatives which aim at the promotion of human
capital development.
Till date, very few countries have made commitments
to the education sector under GATS, with most of them
committed only to the higher education sector and some to the adult education sector.
Table 1 shows the list of OECD
countries committed to education services under GATS. However, recognizing the need
of a complete overhaul of higher education system to face the upcoming
competition, the government of India has also
taken some initiatives to restructure the Indian higher education system. |
