Regulate foreign entry into higher education: Survey

It also seeks reforms in regulatory framework and institutions

The survey, which was tabled in Parliament on Thursday, also described malnutrition as a major threat to social and economic development and stressed the need to modify the existing policies and programmes to tackle the problem.

“While poverty rates have declined significantly, malnutrition has remained stubbornly high,” it said.

The National Family Health Survey (2005-06) indicated that underweight children constitute 45.9 per cent of those below the age of three years.   

Apart from poverty, poor feeding practices in infancy and early childhood, are among the main reasons for high rates of malnutrition. “It may be observed that malnutrition cannot entirely be explained by poverty though it is an important determinant. Even Punjab with a poverty ratio of only 8.4 per cent has 27 per cent children below three years as underweight,” the report said.

Referring to improving the quality of education the survey pointed out that rating the quality of educational institutions and all education service providers could be helpful for the whole sector.

Regarding prestigious institutions like the IITs and the IIMs, the survey said there is a need to streamline the admission procedure for such entities.

The streamlining of the admission procedure should also ensure that the quality of student intake does not suffer.

“Intake should be based on entrance examination which tests the aptitude to grasp knowledge and not the knowledge itself,” the report noted.

It recommended that the government’s funds for higher education should be used for promoting scientific and technical education apart from encouraging R&D in all subjects.

“There is an urgent need for replacement of bureaucratic controls in education by professional regulators along with private-public partnership to ensure universal primary education,” it also added.