Educational Institutions Must Earmark Seats For The Poor, Says Vice-President

On the occasion of the ninth convocation of the outgoing batch at Lovely Professional University, Vice-President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu, emphasised that institutes of higher learning should set aside a certain number of seats for those hailing from poor economic backgrounds.

He also stressed the need to subsidise the education of such candidates. Private education for marginalised sections of society is becoming harder to obtain by the day, he added.

The VP said that the burden of providing quality education cannot be borne just by the public sector, hence, it is vital for private players to assist those from lower economic backgrounds.

NDTV quoted him as saying, “Our challenge is to ensure the spread of knowledge to every section and every corner of our country. We need a complete overhaul of our education system. Majority of our colleges have become mere breeding centres for producing students with degree certificates rather than individuals with critical analytical skills.”

He also said that institutes of higher learning in India need to improve their standards by a big margin, in order to be able to compete globally. An entrepreneurial spirit is essential among students to achieve innovations in different fields, especially in agriculture, where Punjab has been making remarkable progress in production. Hence, such sectors need to be supplemented with innovative ideas from students.