We146;ll enhance seat capacity gradually: Moily

With the quota heat finally easing a bit today, the Veerappa Moily-headed Oversight Committee is looking at a staggered approach of infrastructure building in elite academic institutions.

With the quota heat finally easing a bit today, the Veerappa Moily-headed Oversight Committee is looking at a staggered approach of infrastructure building in elite academic institutions. The 27 pc OBC quotas, however, will be implemented from June 2007, at one go.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Moily said,8216;8216;It is possible to upgrade the infrastructure gradually, there is no need to build all of it overnight. We will upgrade the infrastructure, with each passing year.8217;8217;

What Moily, who8217;s also chief of the Administrative Reforms Commission, proposes is something like this: If there is a current batch of 100 students in IIT, then the seats will be increased by 54 next year to offset the impact of reservations. The total intake for next academic year 2007-08, then, becomes 154. 8216;8216;We will create infrastructure, keeping in view this batch of 154, instead of 100. This would neither put pressure on capacity-building, nor will it affect the quality of teaching,8217;8217; he said.

With this approach, six teachers will have to be recruited over the next year in order to maintain a 1:9 teacher:student ratio for the 54 extra students. Similarly, hostels for as many students will have to be built in one year. 8216;8216;When this batch goes to the second year, we will upgrade the facilities for the next batch over the next one year,8217;8217; said the veteran Congressman. 8216;8216;If you implement crudely, the standards will deteriorate8230; but not if you do it scientifically,8217;8217; Moily, credited with several reforms in Karnataka8217;s education sector, said.

8216;8216;The task is daunting, but we will launch a massive capacity-building programme where government approvals will become easier. The full-fledged expansion will take place in around four years,8217;8217; he said. Giving an example, he said,8216;8216;When the Chinese started infrastructure upgradation, they increased it by 400 to 500 pc of their capacity. Why can8217;t we also do that?8217;8217;

Funds were not a problem, according to Moily. 8216;8216;The government has offered Rs 7,000 crore at once, whereas the Tenth Five-Year plan8217;s spending on education sector was Rs 4,176 crore. So there is no dearth of funds,8217;8217; Moily said.

Moily said the Oversight committee was even willing to meet the protesting doctors and Youth for Equality to hear the constructive suggestions. 8216;8216;We will hold discussions with domain experts, even outside the committee. All are welcome to give their suggestions,8217;8217; Moily said. He said the committee will meet the chairpersons of the five sub-groups 8212; one each for engineering, management, medical, agriculture institutions and central universities 8212; on June 8, where he will be briefed about the existing infrastructure of these academic institutions.

Story continues below this ad

Moily said the panel8217;s mandate was to 8216;8216;implement 27 pc quotas by next June, increase seats by that time and maintain quality in these institutes8217;8217;. He said he will also look at global practices and experiences of affirmative action in US, Europe, South Africa and other countries before finalising the draft.

The former Karnataka CM also made it clear that the committee has been formed to look into quotas in 8216;8216;government institutions only, and not private institutions8217;8217;. 8216;8216;