IMPHAL: The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of Manipur is quite high at 24 per cent, it is much less than the national average for the rest of the Northeast, said Union Minister for the Rural Development of Northeast Region (DoNER) and Parliamentary Affairs, Paban Singh Ghatowar while delivering his address at the 13th Convocation of Manipur University, Imphal on Monday.
Ghatowar said, “Education and healthcare are the two of the most important domains for improving the lot of our country. In the education sector, the Higher education (HE) is undergoing metamorphosis requiring careful attention. The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in HE in India now is around 13 per cent, while the global average is 35 per cent and that of the developed countries is 50 per cent. This speaks volume on the dismal position of HE in our country.”
“The situation is worse case on Northeast India. While it is heartening to note that the GER of Manipur is quite high at 24 per cent, it is much less than the national average for the rest of the Northeast.”
The bias is further there for the urban areas as the GER in urban areas is approximately fourfold than that of the rural areas, the Union minister said, adding there are also gender issues to be resolved in higher education. The Government of India, having taken cognizance of this, decided to reach GER of 15 per cent by 2015 and 30 per cent by 2020, the DoNER minister informed.
He added, “It is a colosal job demanding pro-active measures in the domain. This calls for setting up of a large number of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) which incidentally government alone cannot do, as this entails huge investments. This, therefore, necessitates the planners to carefully consider the private-public partnership (PPP) model with very careful protocols to be put in place.”
Manipur Education Minister M Okendro,Manipur Education Minister, Prof Dilip M Nachane, Chancellor, Manipur University (MU), apart from Ghatowar, Union DoNER Minister among others attended the convocation. (NNN)
