Prime Minister calls upon nation to rededicate itself to the cause of education
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh today called upon the nation to rededicate itself to the cause of education He said, “The celebration of Maulana Azad's birth anniversary as the National Education Day is a befitting homage to one of our greatest leaders. Today is also an occasion when all of us should re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of education, and through it to building India as a modern, knowledge society.” He was speaking at the National Education Day celebrations, here today. Also present on the occasion among others were Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Koichiro Matsuura, Director General, UNESCO, Smt. D. Purandeswari, Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Smt. Anshu Vaisha, Secretary, Department of Higher Education.
The Prime Minister pointed out that, education has received the highest priority from the Central Govt. in the last 5 years or so. He said, “We had earlier taken important steps in providing quality education to all children through our flagship programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Now we have extended our initiatives to the secondary level. The objective of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) is to achieve an enrolment ratio of 75% for classes IX-X within five years and to provide universal secondary education by the year 2017. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 creates a legal entitlement for compulsory and free education for all our children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. We have recently launched a new literacy initiative, SAAKSHAR BHARAT, on the International Literacy Day on 8th September, 2009.”
“In higher education, the outlay has been increased by 10 times in the Eleventh Five Year Plan as compared to the Tenth Five Year Plan. A number of new institutions - Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes for Science Education & Research, Indian Institutes of Information Technology and others - are being established.”
The Prime Minister offered to share with UNESCO e-learning material prepared under the National Mission on Education through ICT by the Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs). He said that UNESCO plays a very important role as a global clearing house of ideas and knowledge.
The Prime Minister underlined that improving access to education is not enough, and that it should be accompanied by efforts to ensure equity and improve quality. He said,”Our Government stands committed to provide good and quality education to each and every child in our country, especially those who belong to the underprivileged sections of our society. It is with this end in view that we have started a number of scholarship schemes for those who cannot afford to study on their own - the SCs/STs/Minorities and other such disadvantaged groups. We especially recognize the importance of educating women and they are being given special attention in the SAAKSHAR BHARAT mission. Improvement in quality at all levels is also receiving increasing emphasis. In higher education this will be achieved through structural reforms on the basis of the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission and the Yashpal Committee.”
The Prime Minister said that India needs an extra 1 million teachers to implement the Right to Education Act. For this purpose, apart from the need of augmenting teacher’s training institutes and use of ICT for mass learning, it is necessary to restore the prestige and status of the teaching profession in our society, he added. Dr. Manmohan Singh stated, “The importance of good teachers cannot be over-emphasized. Good teachers not only educate- they also inspire. Good teachers make good students. Good teachers make good citizens. We must therefore find ways and means of improving the quality of our teachers. We must find ways of attracting the best talent as faculty in our premier institutions. We today face difficulty in finding top level professors and lecturers in the newly created IITs, IISERs and other such institutions. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to persist and I urge all of you to work to address these problems of deficiency in the quality of teaching in our schools, in our colleges, and in our universities. “
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister fir Human Resource Development, said to meet the requirements of Education For All (EFA) and to provide secondary and vocational training to the youth, we require millions of teachers. The social order must respect teachers who all play a pivotal role in building a peaceful and just society, he added.
Shri Sibal stated that the globalisation of higher education has also added newer challenges in terms of quality assurance system, issues of mutual recognition and equivalence of degrees and transparency in the regulatory structures of national systems of higher education. He said,” Towards this, our Government has initiated several reforms measures. An independent mandatory accreditation system is being proposed. We also plan to introduce legislation to prohibit and punish malpractices and adoption of unfair practices in higher education. Further, a legislation to facilitate the entry of foreign education providers is also under consideration.”
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh today called upon the nation to rededicate itself to the cause of education He said, “The celebration of Maulana Azad's birth anniversary as the National Education Day is a befitting homage to one of our greatest leaders. Today is also an occasion when all of us should re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of education, and through it to building India as a modern, knowledge society.” He was speaking at the National Education Day celebrations, here today. Also present on the occasion among others were Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Koichiro Matsuura, Director General, UNESCO, Smt. D. Purandeswari, Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Smt. Anshu Vaisha, Secretary, Department of Higher Education.
The Prime Minister pointed out that, education has received the highest priority from the Central Govt. in the last 5 years or so. He said, “We had earlier taken important steps in providing quality education to all children through our flagship programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Now we have extended our initiatives to the secondary level. The objective of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) is to achieve an enrolment ratio of 75% for classes IX-X within five years and to provide universal secondary education by the year 2017. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 creates a legal entitlement for compulsory and free education for all our children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. We have recently launched a new literacy initiative, SAAKSHAR BHARAT, on the International Literacy Day on 8th September, 2009.”
“In higher education, the outlay has been increased by 10 times in the Eleventh Five Year Plan as compared to the Tenth Five Year Plan. A number of new institutions - Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes for Science Education & Research, Indian Institutes of Information Technology and others - are being established.”
The Prime Minister offered to share with UNESCO e-learning material prepared under the National Mission on Education through ICT by the Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs). He said that UNESCO plays a very important role as a global clearing house of ideas and knowledge.
The Prime Minister underlined that improving access to education is not enough, and that it should be accompanied by efforts to ensure equity and improve quality. He said,”Our Government stands committed to provide good and quality education to each and every child in our country, especially those who belong to the underprivileged sections of our society. It is with this end in view that we have started a number of scholarship schemes for those who cannot afford to study on their own - the SCs/STs/Minorities and other such disadvantaged groups. We especially recognize the importance of educating women and they are being given special attention in the SAAKSHAR BHARAT mission. Improvement in quality at all levels is also receiving increasing emphasis. In higher education this will be achieved through structural reforms on the basis of the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission and the Yashpal Committee.”
The Prime Minister said that India needs an extra 1 million teachers to implement the Right to Education Act. For this purpose, apart from the need of augmenting teacher’s training institutes and use of ICT for mass learning, it is necessary to restore the prestige and status of the teaching profession in our society, he added. Dr. Manmohan Singh stated, “The importance of good teachers cannot be over-emphasized. Good teachers not only educate- they also inspire. Good teachers make good students. Good teachers make good citizens. We must therefore find ways and means of improving the quality of our teachers. We must find ways of attracting the best talent as faculty in our premier institutions. We today face difficulty in finding top level professors and lecturers in the newly created IITs, IISERs and other such institutions. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to persist and I urge all of you to work to address these problems of deficiency in the quality of teaching in our schools, in our colleges, and in our universities. “
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister fir Human Resource Development, said to meet the requirements of Education For All (EFA) and to provide secondary and vocational training to the youth, we require millions of teachers. The social order must respect teachers who all play a pivotal role in building a peaceful and just society, he added.
Shri Sibal stated that the globalisation of higher education has also added newer challenges in terms of quality assurance system, issues of mutual recognition and equivalence of degrees and transparency in the regulatory structures of national systems of higher education. He said,” Towards this, our Government has initiated several reforms measures. An independent mandatory accreditation system is being proposed. We also plan to introduce legislation to prohibit and punish malpractices and adoption of unfair practices in higher education. Further, a legislation to facilitate the entry of foreign education providers is also under consideration.”
No comments:
Post a Comment