Shekhawat for population check to remove poverty

New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) Citing the views of Subhash Chandra Bose, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat today called for control on population as one of the important means to arrest poverty, which he said was a must for making poor families spare their children for attending school.

Sharing a forum with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Mr Shekhawat agreed with her concern over the high drop out rate among the poor sections and low standard of education in government primary schools, and called for addressing the problem as a prerequisite for empowerment of the weaker sections.

He underlined that removal of poverty was a must to enable the poor take the benfit of expansion of education facilities.

Mr Shekhawat and Ms Gandhi were addressing the valedictory session of the two-day international conference on 'Empowerment of SCs, STs and Minorities through Elementary Education' convened by Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The Vice President said there was nothing wrong with government schemes for removal of poverty, but the problem was in their implementation.

He said his experience of fifty years in public life has told him that unless poor families were sure of monthly income, they would always be reluctant to send their children to schools once they were grown up enough to earn.

Referring to Subhash Chandra Bose's views on the issue, he said even the 33 crore population which the country had in the pre-independence period was considered too high by Mr Bose for the prosperity of the country.

The Vice President also stressed the urgency of improving the quality of teaching in schools and providing adequate infrastructure.

''But still I would insist that even if all the facilities were there in villages, but people still remained poor, they would not send their children to schools,'' he added.

Ms Gandhi said economic growth of the country would be meaningless unless the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities were brought into the mainstream, and for that an inclusive education system was a must.

She also expressed her concern over the poor infrastructure in schools and absenteeism among teachers and suggested that panchayat institutions and NGOs must be involved in ensuring better functioning of schools and motivating parents to continue the education of their children.

Referring to late Rajiv Gandhi, she said he saw education as a prerequisite for the country's development, and that's why brought in the National Education Policy and the National Technolgy Mission on Literacy.

Ms Gandhi said it was a fact that due to historical reasons, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and minorities remained at a disadvantage, so special attention to their education was necessary.

She said the government was ready with the blue print for implementation of the Sachar Committee recomendations on removing backwardness of Muslims.

''Appropriate action on the Sachar Committee recommendation is in hand. And some of these findings have already been addressed in the Prime Minister's 15-point programme for minorities,'' Ms Gandhi said.

The Confernce was also addressed by Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha K Rehman Khan, Union Minister and Lok Jan Shakti party chief Ram Vilas Paswan.

Besides, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar and Union Minister for Labour Oscar Fernandes were also present.

UNI