New Delhi: HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on saturday
lamented that private sector is not showing much eagerness to
be involved in the expansion of elementary education in the
country, especially in the rural areas.
Holding that investment on human capital is the key to
development of the country, he said the government wants the
private sector to be involved in a big way as it wants to
expand the education system.
"Very little private capital wishes to go to building
schools in rural areas," he said at the Annual General Meeting
function of industry association FICCI here.
About 93 per cent of primary schools in the country are
in private sector. There are not enough people in rural areas
having the capacity to pay, he said.
Sibal said the government will never allow private sector
to make profit from education and share it among shareholders.
But they can make profit and plough it back for the
development of the institute, he said.
"No country in the world allows profiteering in
education. If education has reached excellence without
shareholders getting into the act, why cannot it happen in
India," the minister said in reply to a question.
Sibal said the country will need another 800 universities
and nearly 20,000 colleges in the next ten years to increase
the enrolment rate in higher education from 12.4 per cent at
present to 30 per cent.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, February 27, 2010, 20:11