Minorities need greater access to education: Sonia

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi said the Government would open 370 colleges in educationally backward districts.

Noting that minorities need much greater access to professional education, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said the Government would open 370 colleges in educationally backward districts, a large number of which have a substantial concentration of minority population.

“The Government has recognised that minorities in particular need much greater access to professional education and modern skill training,” Gandhi said addressing the Eighth Convocation of the Jamia Hamdard University in New Delhi.

She said the UPA Government has recognised the need to put special focus on the traditionally disadvantaged sections of society, which is why it has vastly expanded scholarships for minorities, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, OBCs and girls.

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Gandhi said 370 new colleges will be opened in districts which are educationally backward, adding these include most of the 90 districts that have a substantial concentration of minority population.

In her speech at the function, where HRD Minister Arjun Singh was also present, Gandhi stressed on the need to improve the quality of education institutions.

“I believe it is the fundamental responsibility of the Government to provide education and with increasing enrolment, we must also improve the quality of all educational institutions,” she said.

“This encompasses much more than just buildings and faculty. We need to harness Information Technology and adopt state-of-the-art teaching methods,” Gandhi said.

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Making a special mention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she said he has put his personal imprint on the initiatives to expand the infrastructure for higher education.

Gandhi said while in the Tenth Five Year Plan, education accounted for just about eight per cent of the total allocation, in the 11th Five Year Plan, it has increased to 20 per cent largely because of the impetus being given to technical and higher education.

Ruing that only ten per cent of the country’s youth get access to higher education, she called upon the private sector to play an important role in this regard.

Commending the Jamia Hamdard University for its role in providing higher education, Gandhi noted her family’s long association with its founder Hakeem Abdul Hameed.

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“Hakim Sahab’s memory is particularly dear to us not only because he symbolised the ideal of communal harmony, but also because he was ever-conscious of his larger social responsibilities,” she said.

The HRD Minister said the university has emerged as an outstanding institution for higher education and commended the role played by it in providing integrated studies in medicine.

Haryana Governor A R Kidwai and Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar were awarded honorary Doctorate in Science by the university at the convocation. Utilising the occasion, university Vice Chancellor S Ahmad asked the Government to increase funding for it, saying the amount of support fixed at Rs four crore was not enough.

He demanded that the University Grants Commission (UGC) should do the total funding of the university. Ahmad noted that the university is setting up Hamdard Institute of Medical Science, which has been included in the institution’s proposals for the 11th Five Year Plan.