President Pranab Mukherjee emphasised the need for improving quality of education, skill development and creating adequate employment opportunities, at the inaugural session of the 98th annual conference of the Indian Economic Association (IEA) here on Sunday.
In his address, he said that the country has a critical role in >complying with the recent Paris declaration by attaining socially-just and environmentally sustainable livelihood as part of its commitment to the cause of environment.
Stating that India had been the world leader in education in the ancient past between the 6th Century BC and 12th Century AD with universities such as Takshila and Nalanda, President Mukherjee said that those days were only a thing of the past.
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“It is a matter of concern that none of the 700 universities of the country including 44 central varsities, 30 NITs, 16 IITs and several IIMs have made it to the top 200 global learning centres,” he observed.
However, he noted that after concerted efforts and policy interventions two of the institutions – Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and IIT Delhi had broken that dismal scenario and > made it to the top 200 global varsities in September this year.
He said the need of the hour was to focus not only on education but also on the quality of education in terms of accessibility on one hand and privatisation and globalisation of higher education on the other.
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“It is from the same education system we have >Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella heading top global companies," he reminded stating that today’s youth would not wait for opportunities but create them. The number of start-ups and their turnover were clear indicators in that direction, he pointed out.
On the Indian economy, he said it had shown resilience by withstanding the US financial and Euro zone crisis with minimal economic downturn. “With its intrinsic strength the country’s economy had also succeeded in creating new jobs during that global recession”, he said.
Recollecting his association with IEA when he was in the government and outside, President Mukherjee said it had been playing an important role in shaping the country’s economic administration and policy formulation.