Koraput: The Centre plans to set up
over 2,500 model and 200 central schools on public-private-
partnership (PPP) basis in the country in two years, Union
Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said
on Saturday.
The minister also asked corporate houses to invest in a
big way in the education sector.
The proposed model schools will be set up in the backward
areas with an aim to provide primary education to all as
"higher education has no meaning unless primary education
was strengthened," Sibal said, inaugurating the much-awaited
central university in this tribal-dominated town, which often
witnesses Maoist violence.
"The schools would be set up in PPP as part of our
efforts to strengthen the human resource base," Sibal said at
the function held amidst tight security.
Corporate houses should come forward to invest in the
education sector as developing human resources is the key to
the success of any nation, he said.
Sibal said though the country has made progress in the
field of education in the last 62 years, it required much
more. "About 1.5 lakh Indian students are going abroad for
education. We will like to provide all facilities in the
country so that students need not go to foreign countries."
Only 12 out of 100 students reach the graduation level in
India, while the figure was 85 in the US, he said, adding
central universities in backward places like Koraput could
help students get into higher learning.
Sibal said tribal welfare was a major concern for former
prime ministers, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv
Gandhi and the setting up of the central university in Koraput
was a continuation of the 'pro-adivasi' approach of the
Congress-led governments.
"The central university here is part of the continuous
thinking on tribal development" and as tribals constitute
about 25 per cent of Orissa's population, the Centre would do
everything for their welfare, he said.
The newly-inaugurated Central University of Orissa (CUO),
which is one of the 14 central universities being set up
across the country during the 11th plan, would begin classes
from Monday. It will function from the premises of Council of
Analytical Tribal Studies in Koraput till its new campus is
ready.
Students have already taken admission into post
graduation courses like English, Anthropology, Sociology,
Oriya, and Journalism and Mass Communication, official sources
said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, August 29, 2009, 21:31