Union minister for Human Resource Development Dr. M. M. Pallam Raju, on Monday said promoting quality education would be the area of focus in the 12th five year plan. The allocation for innovation and research will take a priority in the plan, said the Union minister.
“At present, in a state like Andhra Pradesh the number of engineers outnumber the students in polytechnic. It should be the reverse, as not every student aims to be academically excellent. There is a need to create an industryready workforce,” said Pallam Raju.
He was in the city to lay the foundation stone for H.K Sherwani Centre for Deccan Studies at Maulana Azad National Urdu University.
“There is a serious shortage of teachers in our country at school education-level as well as in the field of higher education. This has to be overcome. Also, the net spending on research and development will go up by 2 per cent of the GDP,” said the minister. He added that the university system should create bilingual teachers and suggested that the MANUU start a centre for Telugu language apart from Urdu, Arabic and Persian, in order to bring in a better understanding of Deccani culture.
Chairman of UGC Dr. Ved Prakash spoke of a necessary system of inclusive education, at the occasion. “Though we have 681 universities and 35,000 colleges in the country, education does not reach to all as we live in a stratified society.
The realization of aspirations is possible only through access to education and the big challenge is inclusive education as well as innovation and collaboration,” said the chairman. The vice chancellor of MANUU, Professor Mohammad Miyan presented a report on future plans of expansion for the university, including initiation of B.Sc and BA courses by academic year 2014-15.
“University should offer full-time courses as well for the subjects offered under the scheme of distance education,” said the VC.