More ‘Idiots’ wanted: Kapil Sibal

It may sound like the much celebrated song of the film '3 idiots' Give me some sunshine... Kapil Sibal, union minister for human resources development gave the message of freeing education from the 'inspector raj' and preparing an environment for the
nation's future generations.

Sibal was in the city on Saturday to deliver the fifth Justice PD Desai memorial lecture. He also talked to professors and research scholars at Gujarat University in the afternoon.

Speaking on the subject, "Commercialisation of education in the context of right to autonomy," at the memorial lecture, Sibal talked about the three pillars required in the field of education. He said, "It is not possible for any central government to garner resources to give education to a population of 546 million people. Therefore, the private sector needs to be invited. Business houses should start non-profit educational institutes. The education system needs to expand. Out of every 100 school going children, only 12 reach college, as compared to the ratio in developed countries which is 50%. If we target to college education to 30 students out of 100 by the year 2020, we need 1000 universities and around 40,000 colleges. This can only be done in collaboration with the private sector. They have to realise that they have to join this."

He further said, "The next pillar is excellence. The new challenges facing us necessitate education of excellence. Knowledge can only be created by the university system and therefore this has to be strengthened. Therefore, with expansion, the quality of teaching should be maintained."

"The third pillar is inclusion. All members of the society should be covered and given an opportunity. Therefore, special emphasis has to be given to those who have been deprived of education for centuries." He asked why our nation should not do this for the millions who are unable to get proper education."