Sunday, May 14, 2006
Centre to create more IIT-like institutes -- Deecan Herald
Centre to create more IIT-like institutes
DH News Service New Delhi:
This was indicated by Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday at a function here to celebrate Technology Day, which commemorates the 1998 Pokhran tests.
To meet the burgeoning demands for human resources in the global market, the Centre plans to create more world-class institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology, in the 11th plan that will begin in 2007.
This was indicated by Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday at a function here to celebrate Technology Day, which commemorates the 1998 Pokhran tests.
“Many more IITs should be created to expand our capacity for creating skilled people. We are paying a lot of attention to have new IITs, in the 11th plan,” Dr Ahluwalia said, adding that the Centre would prefer to create new institutes rather than rename or upgrade the existing institutes.
He said that as many as 98 per cent of the country’s children enroll in primary schools, but typically, half of them drop out before completing the primary school programme. The same cycle of enrollments and dropouts continues in the school and at the higher secondary level.
As a result, only eight per cent out of the original 98 per cent emerges for higher education, Dr Ahluwalia said, adding that the Centre was striving to get at least 20 per cent of the country’s school-going children to pursue higher education.
Chairman of the Prime Minister’s National Knowledge Commission Sam Pitroda said the commission too supports the idea of increasing the numbers of schools and colleges in the country. He added that the involvement of the private sector in education should also be increased, but this should be done without compromising on quality, as in the Chhattisgarh experience, where private educational institutes had mushroomed without caring much for quality.
Mr Pitroda expressed concern over the quality of education in most schools and colleges. Highlighting the knowledge industry’s complaint that a large number of graduates are unemployable, he said that out of 90,000 MBAs who graduate every year, only 5,000 to 10,000 are immediately employable. Investment
“The chairman of Larsen and Toubro has complained that he could not get quality electricians,” Mr Pitroda said, emphasising that more investment was required in the field of education, research and manufacturing, as in the case of China.
The Planning Commission has set up an expert group under commission member Nitin Desai, to find out if venture capital funds could be encouraged for investments in research.
The Technology Development Board, which currently gives loans to technological companies, could also play the role of a venture capitalist to carry out risk financing, Dr Ahluwalia added.
The Technology Day award was given to the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, as well as to Delhi’s Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) for developing a recombinant human growth factor. Two small-scale units in Hyderabad and Chennai also received awards.
Four new technologies, including a herbal drug on allergic rhinitis, developed by the Bangalore-based Natural Remedies, were released by Union Science Minister Kapil Sibal.
DH News Service New Delhi:
This was indicated by Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday at a function here to celebrate Technology Day, which commemorates the 1998 Pokhran tests.
To meet the burgeoning demands for human resources in the global market, the Centre plans to create more world-class institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology, in the 11th plan that will begin in 2007.
This was indicated by Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday at a function here to celebrate Technology Day, which commemorates the 1998 Pokhran tests.
“Many more IITs should be created to expand our capacity for creating skilled people. We are paying a lot of attention to have new IITs, in the 11th plan,” Dr Ahluwalia said, adding that the Centre would prefer to create new institutes rather than rename or upgrade the existing institutes.
He said that as many as 98 per cent of the country’s children enroll in primary schools, but typically, half of them drop out before completing the primary school programme. The same cycle of enrollments and dropouts continues in the school and at the higher secondary level.
As a result, only eight per cent out of the original 98 per cent emerges for higher education, Dr Ahluwalia said, adding that the Centre was striving to get at least 20 per cent of the country’s school-going children to pursue higher education.
Chairman of the Prime Minister’s National Knowledge Commission Sam Pitroda said the commission too supports the idea of increasing the numbers of schools and colleges in the country. He added that the involvement of the private sector in education should also be increased, but this should be done without compromising on quality, as in the Chhattisgarh experience, where private educational institutes had mushroomed without caring much for quality.
Mr Pitroda expressed concern over the quality of education in most schools and colleges. Highlighting the knowledge industry’s complaint that a large number of graduates are unemployable, he said that out of 90,000 MBAs who graduate every year, only 5,000 to 10,000 are immediately employable. Investment
“The chairman of Larsen and Toubro has complained that he could not get quality electricians,” Mr Pitroda said, emphasising that more investment was required in the field of education, research and manufacturing, as in the case of China.
The Planning Commission has set up an expert group under commission member Nitin Desai, to find out if venture capital funds could be encouraged for investments in research.
The Technology Development Board, which currently gives loans to technological companies, could also play the role of a venture capitalist to carry out risk financing, Dr Ahluwalia added.
The Technology Day award was given to the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, as well as to Delhi’s Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) for developing a recombinant human growth factor. Two small-scale units in Hyderabad and Chennai also received awards.
Four new technologies, including a herbal drug on allergic rhinitis, developed by the Bangalore-based Natural Remedies, were released by Union Science Minister Kapil Sibal.
