Step-motherly treatment being given to higher edu: MDI

Gurgaon, Mar 6 (UNI) One of the leading management institutes in the country today complained that the government was giving step-motherly treatment to higher education as against primary or secondary education.

Chairman of the Board of Governors of Management Development Institute (MDI) N K Singh said here that ''even though there is a 20 per cent increase in the allocation for the Human Resource Development sector in the Union Budget, it is common knowledge that most of it is earmarked for the primary or secondary sector.'' The budget did not even mention the much needed model for public-private partnership in the higher education sector and also the financial allocation is inadequate, he said.

Mr Singh added that the need for an independent regulator for higher education, as proposed by the National Knowledge Commission, has also not been addressed in the budget.

He said, ''As only 12 per cent of those who finish 10+2 go for higher education, there is a tremendous loss of human resource skills.'' Director of the institute Sujit K Basu said, ''There is a need for a partnership between the academia, the policy makers and the industry to make India a true knowledge hub and economic powerhouse in the 21st century.'' Addressing the Annual Convocation of the B-school, Mr Anand G Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra&Mahindra Ltd, urged the students to be at the forefront of the revolution taking place in the Indian economy.

''I cannot think of a better time to be young, Indian and facing the future,'' Mr Mahindra concluded.

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