Sunday 21 August 2011

For an industry-ready India

The need of the hour is to bring academics and industry closer through a wellbalanced education system. With this in mind the Institute of Management Technology organised a seminar to mark the 13anniversary of Education Times in the Capital that reflected on the need to diversify. The event brought together industry leaders, academics and policy-makers . 

"We, as a country, have huge resources in the form of people. However, we need to link employmentwith skilled education in the tertiary education sectorto be able to solve the problem of dropouts. The gross enrolment ratio of students in India, in the age-group of 16-23 years, is a mere 13-14 %, which is very low when compared to the world average. The enrolment ratio needs to be enhanced in the next few years if we have to compete with world economies," said VN Rajasekharan Pillai, vice-chancellor , Ignou. 

India is the third country in the world that produces the most number of graduates but hardly one percent of them have access to quality education. "The education system has to supply a skilled workforce . There is an acute shortage of industry-ready students who need to be provided the right training. Neither the education sector nor industry can work in isolation," said Arun Mohan Sherry , director, and chairman, joint admission committee, Institute of Management Technology, Centre for Distance Learning. 

One way to encourage skill education in schools is by making it a part of the regular curriculum. "The education system from class IX can be managed in a way that students learn at least one skill and are given credits for it," said Dilip Chenoy, CEO & MD, National Skill Development Council. 

The idea of proper accreditation , testing and certification was reiterated by Nalin Jena, senior education specialist, World Bank. Private partnership is also vital to growth. "Education has many stakeholders. We need approximately US$ 400 bn to set up new colleges. Private stakeholders and corporates can help the government and also provide quality education . Separate regulatory bodies need to be made, which can function without the interference of other regulatory bodies when it comes to distance learning," said NK Dhooper, professor Emeritus and advisor to joint admission committee, IMT. 

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