Self disclosure needed in higher education institutes: Sibal

CHANDIGARH - Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Saturday emphasized the need for “self disclosure of facilities” by higher education institutes and called for providing equal opportunities to students from all sections.

Sibal said an Education Finance Corporation will be established to facilitate education for those children who cannot afford hefty fees of engineering and medical courses.

“Easy loans will be provided to those who do not have finances and provisions will be made so that they start returning the loan amount once they get jobs,” said Sibal while addressing a seminar here.

He added: “Many colleges and universities are coming up in various states but we do not know about their quality and standards. Therefore, we need to have a national accreditation authority and every institute of higher education and university has to go through this process of evaluation.”

“Everything will judged by the experts of that field. The cabinet has given its approval and we will take up this issue in the parliament session,” Sibal said.

Sibal was in Chandigarh to attend a seminar on “Education Reforms: Opportunities and Road Map Ahead”.

He also talked about introducing an education malpractice bill to eliminate sub-standard and unscrupulous colleges and institutes.

“There are many loopholes in the process of inspection. At the time of inspection, institutes hires faculty and makes all the requisite arrangements, but once it is over then all the facilities vanish from there,” said Sibal.

“So we are introducing a concept of self disclosure under which an institute has to disclose its faculty, provisions and number of students on its website. Then, anytime, there could be a surprise check and if we find any information to be false, the institute will be penalized,” Sibal said.