Chandigarh: Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal
on Saturday said he was flexible to the idea of giving more autonomy
to elite institutes provided they chalk out a roadmap for
generating funds from outside.
"They (premier institutions) have to give us a roadmap
for generating wealth to create surplus income," Sibal said
here after inaugurating an academic block at the Punjab
University here.
Citing examples of Harvard, Princeton and Oxford
Universities, he said, "these institutions don't rely on the
government. Education is a serious issue. We want to initiate
dialogue between academia and the government for which we will
have to do some ground work first".
Expressing concern over the Gross Enrolment Ratio (number
of students going to colleges from high schools), which stood
at just 12.4 per 100 in India, Sibal said, "Education is not
about autonomy alone, but taking the country forward."
"The global average is 23-27. The GER for US is 50-70, in
the sub-Saharan African countries it is 6.8," he said.
Observing that 22 crore children in India go to schools,
the Union minister said, "We need to send more and more kids
to schools.
"In India, 547 million Indians are below 35 years of age.
Now, imagine if a large percentage of them don't go to
schools, they can become internal threat to the stability of
the country's democracy," he said.
Sibal also pitched for expansion in education system and
stressed on the need to have more neighbourhood schools and
open schools under Public-Private Partnership.
"Wealth can be created by investment in intellectual
assets...we need inclusion of expansion, equity and
intelligence. By 2020, we will become a foremost country in
education and our GER then should be between 30-35," he said.
Later, in a brief interaction with reporters, he said the
the Centre had increased the budget for education, which was
19 per cent in the 11th Plan.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, September 26, 2009, 21:10