Maya's views on upper cast quota find supporters in PM, Advani

New Delhi, May 17 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's advocacy for reservation to the poor among upper caste today found support from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Leader of Opposition L K Advani.

Dr Singh and Mr Advani also took note of the educational backwardness of Muslims and agreed that special measures were required to bring them at par with others.

They were speaking at the two-day international conference on 'Empowerment of SCs, STs and Minorities' here.

The Prime Minister said, ''I assure you of our firm commitment to implementing the most effective policies for the empowerment of Dalits, Tribals, Minorities, other backward classes and women and if there are ideas about the problems faced by poor children from other sections of the community, they should also be taken on board.'' Mr Advani in his remarks said the Indian society sufferred great inequalities due to historical reasons, but any view of the picture of inequality would be incomplete if one failed to see the deprivation suffered by the poor belonging to the'' so-called upper castes''.

''In this conetxt, I welcome the comments of the newly-elected Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati, that even poor among the forward castes and communities deserve the benefit of affirmative action,'' he said.

The educational status of Muslims, especially in the north and eastern states, was very grave and should be taken care of, Mr Advani said.

The Prime Minister said the Sachar Committee had clearly brought out that they also lagged behind in the field of education like Dalits and other backward classes. But, he added that educational deprivation among minorities differed from state to state, and some states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had a much better track record, so state-specific strategies and interventions were needed.

Pointing out that the standard of education in public school system left much to be desired as compared to private schools, Dr Singh called for bridging this quality gap to make efforts for the spread of education meaningful.

''A high quality public schooling system is, in the final analysis, the only guaranter of equality of opportunity to all groups, irrespective of their social and economic conditions,'' he said.

Bridging the quality gap between the private and public school system was a must to ensure that education does not turn out to be the preserve of the privileged classes only, he added.

Dr Singh said the first requisite for improving the standard of public schools was to pay greater attention to teacher training and attending to ''unique problems of first generation learners.'' He also underlined the importance of improving the teaching of science and mathematics in schools ''as numeracy and scietific knowledge are key to success in the knowledge economy.'' More UNI NAZ YA DB2054