HYDERABAD, Dec 27:
President Pranab Mukherjee today stressed on imparting of quality education and promotion of skill development as he called for drawing inspiration from the ancient era when India was home to renowned higher- learning institutes that attracted foreign scholars.
He rued that despite having a vast higher education system, only a couple of Indian institutes figured in the global top 200 and that too recently.
“When we talk of quality education, skill development is an inherent part of it. Given our population structure, its diversity and vastness, a degree catering to a ‘one size fits all’ prescription no longer works.
“Skill development is directly related to the employment prospects of our youth and, therefore, the focus has to be on providing quality education with skill development,” he said.
Addressing the 98th annual conference of Indian Economic Association here, the President said, “When one talks about education and skill development, we feel a sense of pride when we look back at India’s history.”
India, in the ancient past, had been the front-runner in education and universities like Takshila (now in Pakistan) and Nalanda had been centres of higher learning for students from India and neighbouring countries, Mukherjee said.
With over 700 universities, including 44 central ones, and around 36,000 colleges, India has one of the largest higher education systems anywhere in the world, he said. “It is equally a matter of concern that till very recently we did not have a single university figuring in the global top 200.”
He said it is only now, after concerted efforts and policy interventions, that two of our institutions — IISC Bangalore and IIT-Delhi — broke into the top 200 globally.
The need of the hour, therefore, is to focus not only on education per se, but more importantly on quality, he said. The debate becomes even more pertinent when one talks of it in terms of accessibility on the one hand and privatisation and globalisation of higher education, on the other, he noted. (PTI)
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