President calls for more focus on improving quality of education in India

Calling for improvement in the quality of education being imparted, President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said the country needs will and leadership to take India to the pinnacle of the education sector.

Addressing the nation on the eve of 65th Republic Day, President Mukherjee said, "Education has been an inseparable part of the Indian experience. I am not talking only of the ancient institutions of excellence like Takshashila or Nalanda, but of an age as recent as the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, our higher educational infrastructure consists of over 650 universities and 33,000 colleges."

"The quality of education has to be the focus of our attention now. We can be world leaders in education, if only we discover the will and leadership to take us to that pinnacle. Education is no longer just the privilege of the elite, but a universal right," he added.

Describing education as a seed of a nation's destiny, Mukherjee said the country must usher in an education revolution that becomes a launching pad for the national resurgence.

He said people must be open to all knowledge or it would mean to condemn our nation to the misery of stagnant mire.

"But we should not indulge in the easy option of mindless imitation, for that can lead us to a garden of weeds. India has the intellectual prowess, the human resource and financial capital to shape a glorious future. We possess a dynamic civil society with an innovative mindset. Our people, whether in villages or cities, share a vibrant, unique consciousness and culture. Our finest assets are human," he added.