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Bangalore: The
government will not allow education to be privatised as institutions
have to serve a societal purpose, but it was not against "private
participation" in the education sector, union Human Resource
Development Minister Kapil Sibal said Thursday.
"I think privatisation is a very dirty word. We do not believe in
privatising education. Educational institutions have to serve a
societal purpose," Sibal told reporters here.
Clarifying that the government was not against private participation
in the education sector, Sibal said private participation was
different from privatisation, which serves private goal.
"I do not mean there should be no private participation in
education. It is different from privatization. Private participation
must serve public goal," Sibal said on the margins of the 36th
annual convocation of the state-run Indian Institute of
Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) here.
In this context, Sibal referred to the government's efforts to set
right the education system to make sure stakeholders served a
societal purpose.
"The ownership of educational institutions should vest in
stakeholders, which includes government, private sector, faculty,
youth, civil society, leaders who have achieved excellence in their
fields and the student community. That is how we view education,"
Sibal said.
To facilitate a greater participation of the private sector in
higher education, especially in professional courses, the minister
said the government was changing the regulations of the All India
Council of Technical Education (AICTE).
"We have made the whole system far more transparent and accountable.
We want the institutions to go through a self-disclosure process
instead of an inspector raj," Sibal asserted.
Referring to the latest national census, which has shown the
population at 1.21 billion, an increase of 181 million people in the
last decade, Sibal said the government was looking forward to
management institutions such as IIM-B and IIM-A (Ahmedabad) to
provide solutions to achieve full literacy in this decade.
"I firmly believe we are at the cusp in the next 10 years to achieve
full literacy in the country. There will be lot of pressure on
educational institutions, more so as transformation of society is
taking place. We will need management solutions to very complex
problems," Sibal said in the presence of IIM-B chairman Mukesh
Ambani of Reliance Industries Ltd.
According to the latest census, literacy in the country has gone up
to 74 percent from 64.8 percent during the past decade, with female
literacy to 65 percent from 53 percent and male literacy to 82
percent from 75 percent.
Noting that education was becoming multi-disciplinary and therefore
management institutions could not function as standalone, Sibal said
they have to interact with the government and diverse sectors such
as health, education, agriculture and small and medium enterprise
(SME).
"You need management solutions at every level. I don't think society
has recognised the importance of management and in creating those
solutions. We cannot move forward unless you manage things in a
holistic and progressive way," Sibal pointed out.
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