President freedom themes: Growth, education

Addressing the nation on the eve of the Independence Day, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam today called for an allocation of six to seven per ce...

Addressing the nation on the eve of the Independence Day, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam today called for an allocation of six to seven per cent of GDP for education to achieve total literacy. He underlined that education was a ‘‘fundamental right of every Indian child’’. Therefore, the country, had to think, especially, of the children belonging to weaker sections.

The President said: ‘‘The root cause of poverty lies in illiteracy, unemployment and lack of basic healthcare and there is a need to sharply increase public spending in these areas.’’

Besides a GDP increase of two to three per cent for education, he saw a role for the corporate sector to augment efforts to spread literacy. Kalam suggested that corporate leaders adopt different regions within an overall national mission. ‘‘The mechanism should enable persons to have freedom to innovate and deliver directly,’’ he added.

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Kalam described the system of entrance examination as a ‘‘heavy burden on children’’ and said it had ‘‘led to the proliferation of tuition and coaching institutes’’. He suggested a common all-India examination by a government institution for entry into universities and professional colleges.

The President pointed out that the nation’s ‘‘domains of security concerns have greatly expanded from what they were after Independence’’. A measure of ‘‘our nation’s strength is the effective, firm and fair handling of a series of internal low intensity conflicts and the proxy war,’’ Kalam said.