Mumbai
edition, 24th July 2008
New Delhi: A higher allocation for higher education
may be good news, but can India achieve a 15% gross enrolment
ratio in higher education as envisaged under the 11th Five-Year
Plan?
The two-day higher and technical education ministers’
meet that began in the capital on Wednesday discussed several
such issues. The University Grants Commission (UGC) pointed
out that India required hundreds of new universities to
increase the gross enrolment ratio by 5% from the current
10%.
UGC chairman Sukhdeo Thorat said, “Assuming that one
university is set up for a population of two lakh in the
age group of 18 to 24, we will need 302 universities in
deficit states. Uttar Pradesh will need 63 varsities, Bihar
will require 32, West Bengal will need 30 and Maharashtra
will have to build 20.’’
The target appears difficult to achieve when one considers
that if 10 colleges need to be set up per one lakh population
with 1,000 students per college, at least 2,162 colleges
will be required in the country.
Higher education ministers from across the country came
to the capital with a list of demands. While some wanted
a world-class university, others requested for an IIT or
an IIM or central university. Maharashtra’s higher
and technical education minister Dilip Walse-Patil made
a fresh request for an IIM. He also wanted the Centre to
provide a one-time grant for the state’s prominent
institutions such as the Government Law College, the Institute
of Science and the Deccan College.
However, all representatives were asked to go back to their
state and demand a higher allocation for higher education
by Union HRD minister Arjun Singh.
Budget allocation for the department of higher education
has been upped from Rs 9,500 crore in the 10th Plan to Rs
84,943 crore for the 12th Five-Year Plan. The Centre’s
contention is that a recent analysis by the HRD ministry
shows that the states’ contribution in most cases
has dropped. The situation is worse in some states such
as Maharashtra where the actual allocation has also dipped.
“The PM has allotted funds and education has become
the biggest beneficiary. The plan can be fruitful only when
it is carried out by close co-operation from all the states,’’
said HRD minister Arjun Singh.
The meet also discussed issues of faculty crunch, fake universities,
ragging, autonomy as also as the problem of giving too much
freedom to deemed universities.
SCHOLARSHIPS
ON MERIT
Among the new reforms, the ministry has decided to provide
merit scholarships to 2% of students clearing Std X across
the country (that is, approximately, 41,000 girls and 41,000
boys). They will be granted Rs 1,000 per month for the first
two years and Rs 2,000 monthly for the next two years. This
is being done to better the gross enrolment ratio
The HRD ministry is finalising a central scheme for providing
interest subsidies on educational loans taken by students
belonging to the economically weaker sections for pursuing
professional education in India
