'Govt target to increase Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher edu'

Updated on: Thursday, January 07, 2010

New Delhi: Students of Columbia University Business School today met HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and asked him about government's plan on expansion of education in the country.

Sibal told them that government's top priority was to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education from the present 12.4 per cent to 30 per cent by 2020. This would enable to develop wealth in a manner the country wants, he told the visiting students.

The second priority is to get quality faculty for all types of institutions in the country and the third priority was to include the disadvantaged, such as STs/SCs and minorities within the education field, he said.

The minister said the public sector is the primary vehicle for school education in the country with 93 per cent of children attending government schools. He added that the private sector would also have to be roped in to supplement government efforts, considering its financial constraints.

Sibal said the government is working out a model on the private sector's participation in education and, with regard to vocational training, the private sector would have to play very big role.

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