Kolkata: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram
on Sunday said that private participation in higher education was
important for the spread of education but not at the cost of
using the sector for profiteering.
"I believe that private participation in higher education
is important for the spreading of education but I am strictly
against private business with education," Chidambaram said at
the closing ceremony, marking 150 years of St Xavier's College
here.
"In fact, today's education has either become a money
spinning machine or a moth-eaten system but we need to change
that and make higher education available to all," the Home
Minister said in the Convocation and Valedictory Programme,
2010.
"Education should be left away from business and there
should be no profit from education," he said.
The Central government had laid down the Higher Education
policy and higher education was a domain where there was no
place for profiteers, the Home Minister said.
In fact, according to the Home Minister, it was not only
school education but higher education which was essential for
the development of the nation and in this sphere the country
lags far behind the international standards.
"When all over the globe, 40 percent of the school-
going students make it to colleges or universities, in India
only 11 to 12 percent of the students make it to the higher
education section. This should be changed," he said.
Chidambaram conferred Nihil Ultra Award of Honour to Rev
Father P C Mathew SJ, principal of the St Xavier's College.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 17, 2010, 14:06