Informal East Asia Summit (East) Education Ministers Meeting
“Improving Education Quality through Regional Cooperation”
The Informal East Asia Summit (EAS) Education Ministers Meeting to improve Education Quality through Regional Cooperation in the region is being held in Bali, Indonesia. The meeting was addressed by Dr. D. Purandeswari, the Minister of state for Human Resource Development. Speaking on the occasion the Minister emphasized on generating stronger domestic demands through creation and strengthening of the social welfare net, and through skill development. She said education is a key sector, which encompasses all these factors and therefore we must focus utmost attention on the growth of educational opportunities.
Dr. Purandeswari expressed the hope that the new thrusts in cooperation between various Asian countries will not only open the doors for industry-academia interface, fresh partnerships between institutions, collaborative research projects, increased student mobility among others but more importantly, responsible interventions by stakeholders in the reform process of our education sector.
Giving details of the funds earmarked for the higher education sector for India in the current five year plan period the Minister said, an outlay of Rs 85,000 crores (US$18.8 billion) has been made for the Plan which is a 9 fold increase over the 10th Five Year Plan period. She said we want a Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) target of 30 percent by 2020 and it is estimated that the total enrolment of students will go up from the present 16 million to more than 42 million by 2020. Thus, about 700 to 800 additional universities will be required to be established in India in addition to the 579 existing universities and institutions. In addition, Government is planning to provide vocational education and skills training to about 500 million youth.
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