By IANS
New Delhi : Increasing educational budget by 20 percent is a “forward looking measure” and the earmarked fund should be spent on setting up high schools, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Devi Singh, director of IIM-Lucknow, said Friday.
“Hiking the education outlay by 20 percent is a very forward looking measure and now we need to ensure that the funds earmarked are used judiciously for the purpose they are meant for,” Singh told IANS though email.
“Setting up higher schools and colleges of learning like IITs, IIMs as well as opening up of new central universities will ensure that quality education is provided to all.”
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Friday announced budget allocation of Rs.344 billion for education that is 20 percent more than allocations made in 2007-08.
He said three new IITs will come up in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and the government has earmarked Rs.1 billion for upgrading the national knowledge network in 410 higher institutions.
Expressing concern over the lack of quality teachers, Devi Singh said: “The only concern area is where will the teachers come from?”
The focus on teachers training programmes is a real must and the allocation of merit-based scholarships like that to M.Phil students is a step in the right direction, he explained.
“We need to really look at faculty training programmes in real earnest and focus on starting many more training oriented courses.”