Centre to increase enrolment ratio in education

SHILLONG - The central government proposed to increase its gross enrolment ratio (GER) in education sector from the current 12.4 percent to 30 percent by 2020, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday said here.

“Education is not only a vehicle of growth but it is also an effective and reliable tool to ensure social justice,” Mukherjee said while addressing the first convocation of the Indian Institute Management-Shillong here in Meghalaya.

The IIM-Shillong also became the first business school in the country to webcast its first convocation ceremony live. As many as 63 students were conferred degrees Saturday.

The 63 graduates have got job offers, with an annual average salary of around Rs.10 lakh with the highest pay package being Rs.34 lakh.

Top recruiters included Deloittes, E&Y, KPMG, PwC, Ogilvy & Mather, Viacom, Warner Brothers, AC Nielsen, Cadbury, Citigroup, HDFC, Standard Chartered, Axis Bank, Tata AIG, SBI Cap, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Siemens, Bosch, Ford, Honda, Lafarge, Hero Group and ONGC.

Mukherjee stressed the need to create a system in education that allows access and inclusion without diluting quality.

“This will require effective partnerships with all stakeholders and collaborative efforts,” Mukherjee said.

In order to achieve the 30 percent gross enrolment ratio, there is a need to have additional infrastructure and increased capacities in higher education system, the finance minister said.

“The government has initiated action towards structural transformation in education sector to ensure expansion, inclusion and excellence,” Mukherjee said.

On IIM-Shillong, one of the youngest B-Schools in the country, Mukherjee said the institute has marked itself out by its unconventional thinking and innovative ideas.

“The IIM has tried to develop and provide an educational framework that would have sustainable management education as the core thrust area,” he said.

He, however, said there is a need to alleviate poverty and to ensure that the benefits of growth and development percolate down to every section of society.

“The centre seeks to ensure that local communities imbibe the best management practices and become partners in India’s economic growth and success story,” Mukherjee said.

He also praised the institute for its emphasis on research and development activities.

“Research combined with extension activities can help in nation building by facilitating the benefits of sound technical education to reach more people,” he said.

A. Dutta, the director of the institute, said that the mandate of the institute was to challenge conventional wisdom, integrate traditional knowledge and create a framework for management education.

The institute took in its first batch of students in July 2008 and is looking at increasing the number of seats to “anything between 90 and 120″ this year. It started in 2008 from a makeshift campus and still functions out of an interim facility.

Surrounded by pine trees, lush green lawns and mountains in the backdrop, the institute is functioning from the Mayurbhanj Complex - the erstwhile summer palace of the kings of Mayurbhanj, Orissa.

The Meghalaya government has allotted a 120-acre plot on which work is underway for a state-of-the-art academic-cum-residential campus.

The institute will also hike its annual fees for the next academic session. The board of governors will take the decision in April.