Sibal for Law to Ensure All Go from Primary to Higher Secondary Education
New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI): The Government may come up with a law in the coming years to make sure that all children "must" go from elementary to higher secondary education which is vital for the future of the country, HRD minister Kapil Sibal said.
He said that while the Right To Education has now become a fundamental right, a similar move is crucial for the secondary education so that there is a critical mass at the university level who will create wealth for the country.
"Hopefully this Government in years to come will make sure that there is another law passed that all children must go from elementary to higher secondary education," he said at the Hindustan Times leadership summit here.
He said the results emerging out of this would be that by 2020 "we must have at least 30 per cent Gross Enrolment Ratio instead of 12.4 per cent... which means the 14 million who go to college now would go up to 45 million. That will create the critical mass of people moving to university," he said.
Sibal said unless that physical mass of people move into the college system, the nation will not have the kind of intangible wealth it needs to produce the kind of wealth that will than be translated into products by industry.
Laying emphasis on skill development, he also said before next year a 'national vocational qualification framework' will be put in place with provisions that in next three years children will get CBSE vocational degree in whatever vocation they aspire to study.
He said vocational education should start from class VIII onwards and if "CBSE gives academic degree, it should also give vocational degree".
Taking a dig at the private engineering colleges over the standard of teaching imparted by them, he said most of these institutes boast of "under the table quality" standard.
"When we go towards the higher education sector, the ballgame is entirely different. Ninety per cent of the engineering colleges are set up by private sector and you know what...there are some quality institutions in the private sector but by and large its under the table quality".
He also dismissed suggestion that industry should be given incentives to invest in education sector.
"I am deeply disappointed by that question that industry is asking for incentives to invest in our children's future," he said.
He also ruled out fears that cost of education will go up, saying 93 per cent of the education infrastructure in the country lies in public sector. However, he said, one of the problems afflicting the sector is non-availability of quality teachers.