: The pressing need for lessening the yawning gap between education of the present day and requirements of the industry was expressed unequivocally at the Excellence in Education conclave organised here on Tuesday by The Hindu and Blue Star Limited.
Explaining the Telangana government’s plans to equip all public schools in the State with basic infrastructure facilities by the next academic year, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari said the State’s plans for education were markedly different from that of the past.
“After the formation of Telangana, we have been instructed by the Chief Minister to not only make education available to all, but ensure that our graduates are able to compete with others from across the world,” said Mr. Srihari, who is also the Education Minister.
Pointing to problems and challenges faced in imparting quality education and improving literacy in the State, Mr. Srihari said lack of building space, trained staff, basic infrastructure and equipment were some issues, but by June 2017, all of these would be in place, courtesy an action plan being executed in a mission mode by the government. He also added that regularisation of contract teaching staff was on the anvil.
“We are working to set up digital classrooms and by June 2017, digital schools and computer labs will become functional in all schools. We are also planning to roll out certificate programmes in higher education institutions for soft skill development,” he said.
The Minister also urged corporate institutions in the gathering to dedicate significant portion of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) budgets for education.
IT and Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao remarked that research in India was not being commercialised for the benefit of society at large. More specifically, he wondered aloud why education and research in agriculture was on the back-burner.
“More than 50 per cent of the country is in farming. Why are we not seeing innovations in agriculture? We hear about innovations from international brands, but our own universities are not the bedrock of innovations in agriculture,” he said.
Earlier during his address, Mr. Rao also said that the government was keen on working with the private sector to improve education.
He said the Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH) was a new initiative of the Telangana government to exploit research commercially and this would encourage serious research.
The conclave was inaugurated by The Hindu Editor Mukund Padmanabhan and Joint Managing Director of Blue Star B. Thiagarajan along with the Ministers. Mr. Padmanabhan said, given its contributions to education and technological development, Hyderabad was an apt fit for the conclave.
While delivering the patron address, Mr. Thiagarajan said events like the Excellence in Education conclaves help take education to the next level by facilitating discussions.
He also introduced a Blue Star publication on air-conditioning in educational institutions.
