Quality education eludes 90% of students: minister

Quality education is beyond the reach of 90% of our school children, though school buildings and other infrastructure have been created over the years, Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD) Upendra Kushwaha said on Thursday.

Voicing concern over the future of the nation in view of the dismal state of the education sector, he asked every department and organisation functioning under the school education and literacy department of his ministry to make sincere efforts to improve the quality of school education and make its access universal.

Kushwaha, who is in charge of school education and literacy department under Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, was addressing a gathering at the Foundation Day celebration of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

“India is still a country of villages, where 90% of our school children study. Our Prime Minister’s (Narendra Modi) dream is to see India reclaiming its past glory. But, until we provide quality education to children in the villages, it is not possible for us to realise the prime minister’s dream,” the minister said.

Comparing education standards during his school days with the present, Kushwaha noted a decline not only in quality of education but also “values” among the student population.

He urged the NCERT officials to put in efforts to improve the quality of school education. He also asked the Council to find ways to reduce the weight of school bags. He termed as  “unfortunate” media reports about children starting a protest campaign against the increasing load of the school bag, he added.

NCERT director Hrushikesh Senapaty said its regional institutes were facing difficulty in running academic programmes as they were dependant on the respective universities for awarding degrees. He noted that the Council had sent a proposal to the HRD Ministry seeking status of  institute of national importance, to which the minister responded favourably.