Calling for an increased role of the private sector in higher-education, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that the Government has to increase the number of seats at “all levels of technical education, from ITIs to IITs,” and upgrade their quality of education.

While he made no reference to the ongoing controversy over OBC quotas in Central institutions, he echoed what has been a demand from various sections to find a way out of the quota impasse.

Addressing a function to mark the inauguration of the Goa campus of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Singh said the “manpower gap” is emerging at various levels of the economy.

At the very top, this gap has been exacerbated by the migration of talent from India. “Graduates from some of our best institutions are increasingly being sought by employers worldwide. This accentuates the supply-demand gap at home. What is worrying is that we have this gap even at the bottom of the pyramid,” he said.

“In this context, our Government has taken up a project to upgrade 500 of our Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). I am pleased that the Confederation of Indian Industries has come forward to help with one hundred of these. However, if required, we should be ready to set up more of such institutions. We should make our educational system more vocationally-oriented to increase employment opportunities by raising technical skills,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that both expansion and improvement are needed when it comes to higher education. “I have repeatedly said that our Government is committed to addressing issues pertaining to increasing access to education, at all levels of the knowledge pyramid. Equally, we are also committed to promoting excellence and ensuring that our students and teachers compare with the best in the world. There is no contradiction in pursuing these twin objectives. Some countries like China have done this quite successfully. I dream of seeing an India that is fully literate...I also want to see an India where the best and brightest can realise their full potential and have the opportunity to do so.”

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