August 17, 2026 04:08 am (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
After SC rebuke, BCI chief apologises to NALSAR students over enrolment freeze row | Independence Day: PM Modi’s big youth pitch— AI training, free coaching amid exam row and job concerns | ‘Shakti Ki Saptadhara’: Modi reveals 7 pillars to power India’s next leap in his I-Day speech from Red Fort | West Bengal STF arrests 3 more suspected Pakistani spies in Cooch Behar | Bengal man arrested in Bengaluru over terror links, Afghanistan travel plan | Ajit Doval breaks silence on Operation Sindoor in Discovery’s explosive new docuseries | Rahul Gandhi's 'mock hug' taunt sparks row; Centre stresses 'mutual respect' with Italy | Delhi on high alert: Bomb threat to High Court, airport and multiple locations ahead of I-Day | ‘Who are they to interfere?’: CJI Surya Kant slams Bar Council of India over NALSAR students’ enrolment row | 'Shows how low Congress has sunk': BJP slams Rahul Gandhi over Modi foreign policy jibe

Deepen private sector involvement in education, says President

| | Nov 26, 2014, at 11:06 pm
New Delhi, Nov 26 (IBNS): President Pranab Mukherjee attended the 11th Convocation of Symbiosis International University on Wednesday at Pune.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said a sweeping up-gradation of India’s higher education sector calls for deepening of private sector involvement.

Leading global universities like Harvard, Yale and Stanford have evolved out of private sector initiative.

India’s private sector is engaged in several key areas like health, transport and financial services.

In education too, private institutions play an important role as they account for nearly sixty per cent of total enrolment at the tertiary level.

Yet at the same time, a disparity exists in the educational standards of the private system.

Measures are therefore necessary to ensure better service delivery, benchmarks and excellence.

The President said in the past, our seats of higher learning like Nalanda, Takshashila, Vikramashila, Valabhi, Somapura and Odantapuri were global leaders.

These universities attracted scholars from round the world.

Today, instead, bright Indian students – around two lakh every year – go abroad seeking higher education.

It is a matter of introspection as to how we can bring our centres of higher learning back into the fold of leading institutions in the world.

The President said high economic growth is central to a developing country like ours as it is a panacea for ills like poverty, deprivation and backwardness.

Creation of growth is increasingly happening through knowledge-based sectors.

Given that knowledge will spur greater progress in the future, it is critical for us to prepare a pool of skilled and capable manpower by focusing on education.

The President said that higher level institutions have a larger role to play in the society.

Their engagement with social issues has to be at a much deeper level.

Some major initiatives aimed at inclusive development have been launched recently.

The Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana envisages the adoption of villages for holistic development and their transformation into model villages for wider replication.

He called upon Symbiosis University to take active part in this programme.
 

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.