By IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday 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 will be ready in two months.
“It is only then that the common man will have faith in our ability to deliver on our promises,” the prime minister told a meeting on education at the Planning Commission, of which he is the chairman.
“We need to work with a sense of urgency and work to fixed timelines if we have to see action on the ground. Otherwise, we will continue with a theoretical exercise within these four walls for some more years,” he added.
Manmohan Singh told the meeting that the outlay for education during the 11th Five Year Plan, which runs from the current fiscal to 2012-13, represents a four-fold increase over the previous plan and stands at Rs.2,500 billion.
“The share of education in the total plan will correspondingly increase from 7.7 percent to 19.4 percent,” he said, adding it represented a credible progress in enhancing public spending for education to six percent of gross domestic product.”
Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, among others, attended Thursday’s meeting.
During his remarks, 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).
At the same time, he said, these institutions that had acquired “star status globally” had large capacities within their existing premises that can be used to expand the student population by at least three-fold.
“We should set up a committee to go into the optimum capacity of existing IITs and IIMs. The Planning Commission, in consultation with the Ministry of Human Resources Development, should set up a group for that purpose.”
The prime minister also emphasised on the role of private sector in education and said this area too should be looked at seriously in supplementing funding for higher education, even if it cannot be the sole source for finances.
“I believe that there is a role for private initiative in this area,” he said, adding this avenue should be systematically explored, especially for the grand initiative of setting up 30 central universities.
Noting that India’s emergence as a knowledge economy was thanks to the investment made in this area in the 1950s and 1960s, the prime minister expressed concern over the neglect in the subsequent decades.
“We are committed to rapidly expanding this sector as well.”
Manmohan Singh, who himself started his career as a teacher, said another area where the government had slipped significantly in its commitments was in skill development and vocational training.
He recalled his promise on Aug 15 of enrolling 10 million children under the various skill development and vocational training programmes, but said: “The proposals are too sketchy.
“I want the Planning Commission, in consultation with all concerned ministries, to finalise this proposal before Oct 2 so that we see some real action on the ground this year.”