Vice President Calls For Reservation Of Seats For The Poor In Private Institutions

The Vice President pointed out that public sector alone cannot provide quality higher education for all and the private sector must pitch in.

The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu exhorted universities and higher educational institutions in the private sector to earmark certain percentage of seats for the poorer sections and subsidize their education. Delivering the 9th Convocational Address of the Lovely Professional University at Phagwara, Punjab, he said, “Unfortunately, quality private sector education has become out of bounds for the poor and marginalized sections”. “Why should not private universities earmark certain percentage of seats for students belonging to poorer sections and subsidize their education”, he asked.

Press Release: Educational Institutions must earmark certain percentage of seats for poorer sections and subsidize their education: Vice President https://t.co/b0FwYyd3oD

— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) October 22, 2018

The Vice President pointed out that public sector alone cannot provide quality higher education for all and the private sector must pitch in. He said that industries and the private sector in general should supplement the efforts of the government in making quality education available to all. “Our challenge is to ensure the spread of knowledge to every section and every corner of our country”, he added. Calling for a complete overhaul of our education system, the Vice President said that majority of our colleges have become mere breading centers for producing students with degree certificates rather than individuals with critical analytical skills.

There is a need to completely overhaul our education system. We cannot allow the status quo to continue. We need to change the system and the change has to be for good. @lpuuniversity #LPUConvocation2018 #ThinkBIG pic.twitter.com/UONsH6ou2E

— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) October 22, 2018

He expressed concern that students passing out of colleges were lacking the employable skills. Quoting poor performance of Indian higher educational institutes, the Vice President stressed the need to improve the standards by leaps and bounds to make them globally competitive.

It is a matter of concern that we are turning out lakhs of students each year from the portals of our colleges with emphasis only on theoretical knowledge. We are merely adding numbers and not individuals with critical minds. @lpuuniversity #LPUConvocation2018 #ThinkBIG pic.twitter.com/PDJMkuOgC6

— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) October 22, 2018

He called for increasing the number of institutions and universities to meet the growing demand of students seeking higher education and to realize India’s target of a gross enrollment ratio of 30% by 2020. The Vice President said that educational institutions must kindle the entrepreneurial spirit among the students.

Education means the process by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, and intellect is sharpened, as a result of which one can stand on one’s own feet. True education equips the youth to contribute to the material progress of the country. @lpuuniversity pic.twitter.com/HQ2L8QGjlo

— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) October 22, 2018

Lauding the farmers of Punjab for turning the state into rice bowl of India, the Vice President called for making agriculture sustainable through innovative methods. He suggested students studying agriculture must spend time with farmers to have a firsthand understanding of the problems faced by farmers. ( SOURCE NDTV )