Knowledge Commission report on education will surprise PM:Pitroda

New Delhi, Oct 11 (UNI) The Knowledge Commission set up by the Prime Minister last year has finalised its recommendation regarding education proposing radical changes in the system.

The recommendations will come out in a month or two and they will ''surprise the Prime Minister,'' said Mr Sam Pitroda, Commission Chairman and father of the Telecom revolution in the country.

''The changes we have proposed will hurt and shake some people as the Knowledge Commission proposes to overhaul the system they are used to,'' said Mr Pitroda taking part in an Open House session organised by the Confedration of Indian Industry here.

''It will create tension I know, but that is how a system undergoes changes,'' he added.

Mr Pitroda said the Commission wants radical improvement both in the quality and quantity of educational institutions, and proposes a regulatory mechanism for monitoring it on lines of the one in the telecom sector.

He also hinted that privatisation of education and early introduction of English in schools will be one of the main recommendations.

He said the task the commission, which is mandated to tell how to reposition ourselves according to the needs of the 21st century, takes time, and that was the reason it has made only two sets of recommendations so far--on E-governance and Translation. But it is ready with turn sets of recommendations, mainly related to education.

''In these recommendations we have focussed on primary education, secondary education, university education and distance learning etc, private and foreign participation in education,'' Mr Pitroda said.

''We want to suggest some totally new institutions in the country,'' he said.

The Commission is laying great stress on access to knowledge, which automatically includes literacy, libraries, translation and portals.

He said the country has a huge potential for translation industry.

''It has so many languages which boast of rich literature which can be translated into various Indian and foreign languages and vice vers,'' he said noting that the translation industry can create half a million jobs.

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