The state government has been urged by Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI) to increase the age limit for free and compulsory education from 14 years to 18 years so that Standard XII would also be covered.
Also, those who send their children to private schools should be given financial help, according to EPSI president and VIT Chancellor G Viswanathan.
Delivering the presidential address at the University Day and Annual Sports Day function held at VIT, Vellore on Saturday, he said that EPSI had also made a request to all political parties to provide enough importance to education.
As many as 2,142 students received scholarships worth Rs 90 lakhs at the function. Viswanathan said that 40 countries in the world offer higher education free to students, of which countries like Norway, Sweden, Germany, and France provide free education to foreign students too.
“It may not be possible for us to provide free education to foreign students, but we must be able to give free education to our own children. We have suggested that if it is not possible immediately let us begin with free education to girls now, later on, we can expand with others also,” Viswanathan said.
Pointing out that any welfare State should spend enough money on social infrastructure, mainly on education and health as education improves not the only family, but also society and the country, the Chancellor said the Central Government should spend at least six percent of the GDP on education. Only four percent of GDP is now spent on education.
Comparing India and United States of America on expenditure spent per student in the education sector, he said per student expenditure on schools in the US was $ 12,000 whereas it was $ 1,100 in India. “In the higher education sector, in India, we spend $ 2,600 and the US spends $ 30,000, now we know how much we spend on education,” he said. Viswanathan said he wanted VIT to be a model to the private sector of this country.
Courtesy: The New Indian Express
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