Sam Pitroda advocates regulatory authority for higher education

Bangalore, Jan 18 (UNI) Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda today advocated setting up of a regulatory authority for higher education and justified the enhancement of fee structure proposed by the commission.

Talking to newsmen here on the sidelines of the 13th CII Partnership Summit here, Mr Pitroda, the man behind India's Telecom revolution, said the country now needed a knowledge revolution to ensure the burgeoning youth power was effectively tapped to contribute to the world, and not just India.

To meet this end there was need for proliferation of quality educational institutions across the country, he noted adding that the fees could be enhanced considerably as thousands of Indian students go abroad for higher studies spending 200 times the amount they would spend in India.

Lamenting the IT boom that was weaning away manpower from educational field, he felt a day would come that India would have acute shortage of teachers and stressed the need for adequate financial incentives to encourage youth to take up the profession.

The number of students taking up PHD courses had dwindled and there were not many who pursue Science and Technology and maths, he added.

Referring to the national knowledge network proposed by the commission in its report, submitted recently to the Prime Minister, Mr Pitroda said tht work on the network would start in about six months and the planning process was already on. It was proposed to have a network covering 5000 locations across the country covering, Universities, libraries, agricultural and Science and Technology labs.

He said that the report of the commission would also be discussed with Chief Ministers of various states so that they could also implement some of the points mentioned in it covering aspects such as health, which was a state subject.

Replying to a question, he said telephone manufacturing in the country was a cause of concern. With the growing demand for telephones across the country, appropriate strateies should be taken up for setting up manufacturing facilities in view of the huge demand forcast over the next few years.

UNI