Centre to help states in education reforms

 The Centre is working on a scheme largely funded by it to help states take up reforms in higher education, a senior official said at a meeting here on Friday.

R P Sisodia, joint secretary, technical education with the Union  human resource development ministry was addressing a higher education summit organised by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Representatives from the states took part.

“Challenges and concerns for higher education vary from state to state. Promotional programmes should be state specific and sensitive to the local need,” said a panellist. Higher education should be cost effective, equitable and of high quality, he added.

Panellists agreed that a few states like Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh with specific programmes are working seriously to improve education.

Odisha government representative said his state needed 1,000 colleges and over 50,000 teachers to enrol six lakh students.

“This will also entail creation of 50 to 60 new universities, apart from setting aside huge resources from the plan outlay to cater to the sector,” he added. Goa government representative said the government is giving liberal loans, including interest free ones, to students to pursue higher education in India and abroad.

“For promoting science education in the state, students who score more than 75 per cent marks are given a scholarship of Rs 2,000 per year for three years, which is extendable for another 10 years on a case to case basis,” he said.

The Tamil Nadu government has set up council of higher education and has created centres of excellence for access to higher education.