Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lighting the lamp to inaugurate the National Education Day Celebrations in New Delhi on November 11, 2009. Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and Minister of State D Purandeswari are also seen.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that a system of education built on the premises of quality and equity was central to India's rapid progress as a modern and dynamic society.
He said his Government was committed to the cause of education. "But in the mammoth task that lies ahead, we will need the contribution of all our citizens and all actors in the civil society," he said at the National Education Day celebrations here to mark the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's first Union Education Minister.
Dr Singh said improving access to education was not enough and it had to be accompanied by efforts to ensure equity and improve quality.
"Our Government stands committed to provide good and quality education to each and every child in our country, especially those who belong to the underprivileged sections of our society," he said.
He said that it was with this end in view that the Government had launched several scholarship schemes for those who could not afford to study on their own, including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities and other disadvantaged groups.
He said the Government especially recognised the importance of educating women and they were being special attention in the "Saakshar Bharat" mission.
The Prime Minister said improvement in the quality of education at all levels was also receiving increasing emphasis. He said this would be achieved in higher education through structural reforms on the basis of the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission and the Yashpal Committee.
He said the realisation of the the Right to Education did not depend merely on expansion of educational infrastructure but, equally importantly, on availability of trained and qualified teachers with commitment to their profession.
Dr Singh said that UNESCO, in its Oslo Declaration 2008 relating to Education for All, had projected a requirement of 18 million new primary school teachers throughout the world in the next seven years to achieve universal primary education at the global level.
In India too, an extra one million teachers would be needed to implement the Right to Education Act. For this purpose, apart from the need of augmenting teacher’s training institutes and use of information and communications technology (ICT) for mass learning, it is necessary to restore the prestige and status of the teaching profession, he said.
"The importance of good teachers cannot be over-emphasized. Good teachers not only educate- they also inspire. Good teachers make good students. Good teachers make good citizens. We must therefore find ways and means of improving the quality of our teachers. We must find ways of attracting the best talent as faculty in our premier institutions," he said.
He said the country today faced difficulties in finding top level professors and lecturers in the newly created Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and other such institutions.
"This state of affairs cannot be allowed to persist and I urge all of you to work to address these problems of deficiency in the quality of teaching in our schools, in our colleges, and in our universities," he said.
The Prime Minister described Maulana Azad as a great visionary, freedom fighter, scholar and educationist.
"Throughout his life, Maulana Azad served the twin causes of freedom and justice. He was a champion of liberal and secular values. He worked for the unity and integrity of India both during the freedom movement and after independence. It was he who laid the foundation of India's educational policy and planning," he said.
Dr Singh said Maulana Azad was also a great institution builder. He created the University Grants Commission (UGC), the National Academies-the Sangeet Natak Akademy, Sahitya Akademy, Lalit Kala Akademy, and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He strengthened the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and oversaw the establishment of a chain of top class technical institutions that now represent the best in the Indian Education System. Under his distinguished leadership, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur was established in 1951, which was followed by a chain of IITs at Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur and Delhi, he recalled.
He pointed out that education had received the highest priority from the Central Govt. in the last five years or so, during which the education system at all levels--primary, secondary, higher, professional and technical education--had been strengthened and expanded.
He spoke about the Government's flagship programme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for primary education and said the initiatives had now been extended the the secondary level. The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) is aimed at achieving an enrolment ratio of 75 per cent for classes IX-X within five years and to provide universal secondary education by the year 2017.
He said the recently-passed Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 created a legal entitlement for compulsory and free education for all children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. He also mentioned Saakshar Bharat, a new literacy initiative, with special focus on female literacy.
The Prime Minister said that the outlay for higher education had been increased by 10 times in the Eleventh Five Year Plan as compared to the Tenth Five Year Plan. A number of new institutions - Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes for Science Education & Research, Indian Institutes of Information Technology and others - are being established.
He said a National Mission on Education through ICT had been launched in February 2009 with an outlay of about Rs. 5000 crore to provide internet connectivity to about 20,000 colleges and educational institutions.
He said the proejct would be a major harbinger of use of modern technology in the field of education.
Noting that UNESCO played a very important role as a global clearing house of ideas and knowledge and creation of knowledge based societies, he offer India's willingness to share with the organisation the e-learning material prepared under this technical mission by the IITs.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that a system of education built on the premises of quality and equity was central to India's rapid progress as a modern and dynamic society.
He said his Government was committed to the cause of education. "But in the mammoth task that lies ahead, we will need the contribution of all our citizens and all actors in the civil society," he said at the National Education Day celebrations here to mark the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's first Union Education Minister.
Dr Singh said improving access to education was not enough and it had to be accompanied by efforts to ensure equity and improve quality.
"Our Government stands committed to provide good and quality education to each and every child in our country, especially those who belong to the underprivileged sections of our society," he said.
He said that it was with this end in view that the Government had launched several scholarship schemes for those who could not afford to study on their own, including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities and other disadvantaged groups.
He said the Government especially recognised the importance of educating women and they were being special attention in the "Saakshar Bharat" mission.
The Prime Minister said improvement in the quality of education at all levels was also receiving increasing emphasis. He said this would be achieved in higher education through structural reforms on the basis of the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission and the Yashpal Committee.
He said the realisation of the the Right to Education did not depend merely on expansion of educational infrastructure but, equally importantly, on availability of trained and qualified teachers with commitment to their profession.
Dr Singh said that UNESCO, in its Oslo Declaration 2008 relating to Education for All, had projected a requirement of 18 million new primary school teachers throughout the world in the next seven years to achieve universal primary education at the global level.
In India too, an extra one million teachers would be needed to implement the Right to Education Act. For this purpose, apart from the need of augmenting teacher’s training institutes and use of information and communications technology (ICT) for mass learning, it is necessary to restore the prestige and status of the teaching profession, he said.
"The importance of good teachers cannot be over-emphasized. Good teachers not only educate- they also inspire. Good teachers make good students. Good teachers make good citizens. We must therefore find ways and means of improving the quality of our teachers. We must find ways of attracting the best talent as faculty in our premier institutions," he said.
He said the country today faced difficulties in finding top level professors and lecturers in the newly created Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and other such institutions.
"This state of affairs cannot be allowed to persist and I urge all of you to work to address these problems of deficiency in the quality of teaching in our schools, in our colleges, and in our universities," he said.
The Prime Minister described Maulana Azad as a great visionary, freedom fighter, scholar and educationist.
"Throughout his life, Maulana Azad served the twin causes of freedom and justice. He was a champion of liberal and secular values. He worked for the unity and integrity of India both during the freedom movement and after independence. It was he who laid the foundation of India's educational policy and planning," he said.
Dr Singh said Maulana Azad was also a great institution builder. He created the University Grants Commission (UGC), the National Academies-the Sangeet Natak Akademy, Sahitya Akademy, Lalit Kala Akademy, and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He strengthened the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and oversaw the establishment of a chain of top class technical institutions that now represent the best in the Indian Education System. Under his distinguished leadership, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur was established in 1951, which was followed by a chain of IITs at Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur and Delhi, he recalled.
He pointed out that education had received the highest priority from the Central Govt. in the last five years or so, during which the education system at all levels--primary, secondary, higher, professional and technical education--had been strengthened and expanded.
He spoke about the Government's flagship programme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for primary education and said the initiatives had now been extended the the secondary level. The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) is aimed at achieving an enrolment ratio of 75 per cent for classes IX-X within five years and to provide universal secondary education by the year 2017.
He said the recently-passed Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 created a legal entitlement for compulsory and free education for all children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. He also mentioned Saakshar Bharat, a new literacy initiative, with special focus on female literacy.
The Prime Minister said that the outlay for higher education had been increased by 10 times in the Eleventh Five Year Plan as compared to the Tenth Five Year Plan. A number of new institutions - Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes for Science Education & Research, Indian Institutes of Information Technology and others - are being established.
He said a National Mission on Education through ICT had been launched in February 2009 with an outlay of about Rs. 5000 crore to provide internet connectivity to about 20,000 colleges and educational institutions.
He said the proejct would be a major harbinger of use of modern technology in the field of education.
Noting that UNESCO played a very important role as a global clearing house of ideas and knowledge and creation of knowledge based societies, he offer India's willingness to share with the organisation the e-learning material prepared under this technical mission by the IITs.
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