Govt is trying to provide quantity and quality education to create global citizens, says Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the Narendra Modi government is trying to provide quality education to the poorest of the poor, and also, at the same time, to those who can afford to pay from their pocket. Speaking at Business Today’s event India@100 Economy Summit, Pradhan told Rahul Kanwal, Executive Director, Business Today, that his mission is to deliver quantity and quality education at the same time in order to cater to the masses.   

He added that the government aims to upgrade the whole system, and skill the workers so that the country can have global companies, and global citizens.  

“That is why we are asking all foreign universities to come to our country with Indian regulations and curriculum. We are open to the new system and want to de-bottleneck our education system,” he said.  

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This year, however, 41 Indian universities were ranked in the QS World University Rankings 2023, but none could make it to the top 150. Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore was at 155, which is the highest rank by any Indian institute, surpassing even the IITs.  

Other universities mentioned in the list were IIT-Bombay and IIT-Delhi, which were at 172nd and 174th positions, respectively. 

Talking about skilling workers and creating jobs within the country, Pradhan said that the government is looking at ways to create opportunities and train the workers as 130 million students in the current marketplace are without any formal education or skilling. 

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“When a skilled employee will come to the industry, employers will think, I have to commit (high) payment. If you hire skilled people, productivity will also increase, (thus) we have to hire skilled people," he said.

 

It is to be noted that the National Skill Corporation of India was set up in 2015 to skill the youth, mobilise the workforce and strengthen the national economic growth. 

Pradhan added that the technology can be a great game-changer and students and the education community will be the biggest beneficiary of the high-speed 5G rollout.