Education a key element of UPA strategy: Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said education has been a key element in the UPA Government's strategy to "increase the productive capacity of the economy".

Addressing media here, Dr. Singh said: " Education has been a key element of our strategy to increase the productive capacity of our economy and improve access to better jobs. I have myself been a beneficiary of liberal scholarships and public investment in education. I can, therefore, well understand the critical importance of investing in education."

"I take great pride in the fact that we have transformed the education landscape of our country. Through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, through new scholarships for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities, and with a focus on the Girl Child and young women, we have widened educational opportunities," he said.

"We have set up new universities, new institutes of science and technology, new industrial training centres and enabled the flowering of individual enterprise in skill building and education," he added.

Stating that he also felt satisfied with the government's legislative efforts, Dr. Singh said: " Despite unprecedented parliamentary holdups, we have passed several important laws that seek to empower our people and our democratic institutions.