IIT Alumni welcome general budget
New Delhi, Feb 28 (UNI) Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Alumni welcomed the increase in education cess from 2 to 3 per cent in the Union Budget today and hoped that the money would be spent in improving primary education in the country.
''The national means cum merit scholarship of Rs 6000 per child proposed in the Union Budget will help in bringing down the school drop out rate in the country,'' Kharagpur IIT Alumni Association Secretary Y P S Suri said.
He said, apart from primary education, the biggest challenge faced by the various IIT is retaining faculty and finding new teachers ''Major steps need to be taken to retain the present faculty in IIT's including financial incentives, more innovation and infrastructure facilities and to attract new blood, host of packages will have to be announced,'' he added.
Mr Suri said it is becoming difficult to attract teaching faculty with the present pay packages and infrastructural facilities.
''With universities in research-active nations, including China, switching over to the star system- where for leading academics salaries and research funding are allowed to rise to match productivity - there is no choice for India,'' he pointed out.
Mr
Krishan
Khanna
another
IIT
Alumni,
said,
''despite
a
provision
of
Rs
10,393
crore
in
the
union
budget
for
primary
education,
it
is
still
difficult
to
check
drop
out
rate.
More
than
80
per
cent
children
still
drop
out
before
primary
education
is
completed
in
the
country.''
UNI