India must recover lost ground in education: President

Pranab Mukherjee

Lamenting that India’s institutions of higher learning are not counted among the best, President Pranab Mukherjee said time has come for India to recover lost ground and become a world leader in education. Speaking at the diamond jubilee celebration of KC College in Mumbai Saturday, he called for increased investment in higher education and stressed the need to make it  accessible.

“When the international rating agencies release the list of 200 top institutions, I do not find the name of a single Indian university. I feel sad. It is not that there is a lack of talent among Indians. India must develop capacities to retain its best minds,” he said. He said despite massive investment in building universities and colleges, India’s higher education enrollment ratio at seven per cent is lower than other developed countries.