Centre to spend Rs 5,000 cr to improve quality of higher edu.

Udupi, July 1 (UNI) The Central Government will be spending more than Rs 5,000 crore in the field of higher education over the next couple of years to improve its quality, Union Minister (Independent charge) Oscar Fernandes informed today.

Speaking after releasing a souvenir on the occasion of inauguration of the Poornaprajna Institute of Management by Udupi Admar Mutt Education Council here, he lamented that despite the Centre spending five to six per cent of Budget in the primary education sector, the student population entering colleges still remained only at five to six per cent.

He said countries like the United States, Germany and China had well understood that mathematics was the base of Indian talent and intellectual capability and that it had helped India attain world recognition. ''We should strive to maintain this edge over other countries,'' he added.

Mr Fernandes said ''Every nation, including developed nations, have now realised that trade and commerce was greater than war. Deep discussions are being held in every country on having better trade ties with other countries. India required talented human resources to encash on this greatest opportunity. In this context. we need more and more reputed business educational institutions like the one set up by the Admar Mutt Education Council,'' he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Karnataka Medical Education Minister V S Acharya said the country need to make best utilisation of its human resources to face global competition.

UNI MA RG SHR DB1859