By IANS
New Delhi : The student intake in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) should be increased three-fold given the vast land they occupy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday.
“The Planning Commission, in consultation with the Ministry of Human Development Resources, should set up a group for the purpose,” the prime minister told a meeting on education at the Planning Commission, of which he is chairman.
“Some of the existing IITs and IIMs are well endowed with land and have the capacity to expand the size of the student population by three fold,” the prime minister said.
“The IITs and IIMs have acquired star status globally and we have ambitious plans of expanding the number of such institutions. However, there are large potential capacities within existing institutions, which can be easily captured.”
He said this proposal will also go a long way in ensuring 27 percent reservation planned for other backward castes (OBCs) in higher education, without affecting the intake of regular students.
“We should set up a committee to go into the optimum capacity of the existing IITs and IIMs.”
The prime minister also reiterated his plan for eight more Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and five Indian Institutes of Science, Education and Research (IISERs).
He said the action plan for opening 6,000 schools in every village block, 30 central universities and a network of vocational training institutes across the country would be ready in two months.
Last year, the central government approved a proposal for 27 percent quota for OBC students at institutes of higher education, including the IIMs, IITs and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Science, Education and Research (IISERs).
After protests from academicians, students and even industry leaders, it decided to increase student intake in all central government-funded institutes by 54 percent so that the general category students do not suffer.
But the IITs and IIMs opposed implementing this move in one go, as they said they did not have adequate infrastructure, and instead suggested a time frame of three years.
Currently, the reservation proposal is sub-judice with the Supreme Court.