We have to ensure that the abundant talent available in the form of human resource is efficiently honed and tapped – Arjun Singh
‘National Conference On Development Of Technical Education In India’ Inaugurated
Shri Arjun Singh, Minister of Human Resource Development has said if India has to assume leadership and realise its dream of becoming a super power in the near future, we have to ensure that the abundant talent available in the form of human resource is efficiently honed and tapped. The Minister’s speech was read out by Prof. B. Mungekar, Member, Planning Commission, as he could not make it to be present in the Conference. The Minister, further, said that in the 11th Five Year Plan, it is aimed to achieve a figure of 15 per cent enrolment rate. In this direction some policy initiatives have already been announced.
In his speech, the Minister has further elaborated that there is a wide discrepancy in the capacity between the States with over 70 per cent of the capacity in degree level engineering education being available in the four States of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. This regional imbalance has to be minimized so that people from all parts of the country have a fairly equal access to quality education. ‘Public-Private Partnership, in this regard, may also be desirable. While we do so, we must ensure that opportunities of quality technical education is provided to all, equitably’ he added.
‘Government is making all efforts possible to take the quality of the technical education to the next higher level and on par with the highest international standards. This is evident from the fact that India has been admitted as a provisional member of the Washington Accord, which would enable our technical programmes to be recognized as accredited as per the global standards’, the Minister added.
Prof. B. Mungekar delivered the keynote address. He said that the knowledge economy is one of the several ingredients for achieving 11th Five Year Plan target of 9 percent growth of GDP. This can be done by making education affordable to larger population of India and not by bypassing the poor or ignoring the backward regions of the country, not even backward regions of the developed States in India. Shri Mungekar reiterated Government’s commitment to the education sector to the tune of 19.8 per cent of the total plan allocation but he said that education should be thoroughly restructured to the last decimal point.
Pro. Mungekar narrated that our educational system is suffering from many impediments like lack of employability of the graduates, subject imbalance, lack of expansion, lack of faculty development, lack of networking of institutions, lack of regular upgradation of curriculum and lack of faculty exchange programme. But, he said, in order to make a breakthrough, educational institutions should be allowed to generate surpluses and the apex institutions should reinvent themselves by galvanizing reforms from within. ‘we are still suffering from monopolistic mindset. This should be thoroughly discarded, he added.
Shri R.P. Agrawal, Secretary, Higher Education stressed four pillers of technical education i.e. access, quality, relevance and equity. Commenting on quality, Shri Agrawal said that we are still facing research deficit in our country and we need research funds for topping the salary for net qualified candidates. We have proposed a programme for training of 20,000 teachers in summer schools for upgrading their knowledge. Regarding faculty development we have taken the bouquet of measures including enhancement of age of faculty, setting up of the pay commission and implementation of Ramarao Committee Report. He said 20 Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), 300 polytechnics are being set up in PPP mode but we should be very careful while amending All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Act as it may create a situation like inspector raj. He also added that Planning Commission should also give some funds to the State Govts. for creation of AICTE type institutions of higher learning.
Prof. R.A. Yadav, Chairman, AICTE in his welcome address underlined seven key issues viz: Accres, Equity and Inclusion; Quality Assurance and Washington Accord; Assessment of Manpower and Skills Requirement including need for expansion and upgradation of polytechnics; Academic Reforms: Curriculum Framework, Credit System & Evaluation; Faculty Development; Industry Institute Interface including Public-Private Parnership; and Role of AICTE in the Changing Environment and Global Competitiveness.
The inaugural function of this conference was attended by Directors of IITs, IIMs, the participants of apex educational institutions and dignitaries from industry and other fields.
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(Release ID :34078)