The recently passed Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act will give an estimated 160 million children, who are presently out of school, access to quality education, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said on Wednesday.

The country will need millions of teachers to meet the goal of 'Education For All' by 2015 and to provide secondary and vocational training to youths, he said at the National Education Day function organised to commemorate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first education minister of independent India.

He said the higher education sector is facing major challenges of access, ensuring excellence, increasing global interaction and the growing use of technologies.

Sibal said the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education, which is 12.4 per cent, is unacceptable. The government wants to increase the GER to 30 per cent by 2020, he said. The global average of GER is 23 per cent.

On the occasion, UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura was conferred with Degree of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) by National University for Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA).

This is the first doctorate degree to be given by NUEPA which was given university status three years ago.

The NUEPA organised a special convocation to give away the honour to the UNESCO chief for his contributions in the field of education. Matsuura has been serving as the UNESCO chief for the last ten years.

In his convocation address, Sibal, who is also the president of NUEPA, highlighted the role of planning and administration in education.

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