India needs a higher education commission: Sam Pitroda

New Delhi, June 17 (ANI): Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda on Wednesday stressed on the importance of a single regulatory body to decide matters pertaining to higher education.

"I think in higher education what we really need is now some kind of a higher education commission, council, regulatory authority to create level playing field. To have one body deciding everything about education and not have this fragmented silos," noted Pitroda.

Pitroda said the nation's education system needed to be upgraded to incorporate new technology into the system.

"I would say all our new initiatives in education should keep in mind new technology, new material to teach. We have been teaching same thing over and again for hundred of years. Our content has changed. We need to make our content more relevant, more useful. We need to put more soft skills. We need more general knowledge because today everything is more multi disciplinary," said Pitroda.

Underlining the importance of vocational education, Pitroda observed that technical training was vital in generating employment.

"Vocational education is the key. We really need to create jobs for our young people. We need to train them properly. We need to use education in an effective way for them to carve out a better future for our young people," said Pitroda.

Though the enrolment figures have been rising over the years in higher education sector, these vary widely across different states of the nation.

The differences are not only linked to variation in government expenditure on higher education, but also to the per capita income, percentage of people below poverty line and the extent of urbanization in different states.

Generally, states with higher enrolment in universities and colleges are those with higher ratio of urban population and a lower percentage of population below the poverty line. (ANI)