Quality of education in pvt colleges a bit superior: Gadkari

The quality of education provided at private colleges is "a bit superior" to that imparted at ones run by the state, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said Monday, adding the government's job was to make policies and not run institutes.

Speaking at an event to felicitate former Bihar Governor and educationist D Y Patil on his 83rd birthday here, Gadkari also said governments have limitations in effectively taking education to the people.

He suggested governments to encourage more individuals with "managerial skills, vision, entrepreneurship and social responsibilities" to enter the field of education.

Gadkari recalled that when the Vasantdada Patil dispensation in Maharashtra (in the 1980s) encouraged opening of private engineering colleges in the state, the move was criticised by some who argued that the quality of education may decline as non-government institutes would mushroom.

"But we have observed that the quality (of education imparted) at private colleges is a bit superior when compared to government universities, colleges or engineering colleges," Gadkari said.

"One thing stands proved that the success rate has been more wherever the government's interference has been less. Hence, the government should do (the) policy-making job. It should be understood that it is not the government's job to do business or run an institute," he said.

Gadkari also pitched for encouraging farmers to produce fuel from crops to check their financial backwardness.

Former President Pratibha Patil, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde, former chief ministers Manohar Joshi and Prithviraj Chavan, Union minister Ramdas Athawale, Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde and former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay also attended the event.

Former President Patil praised D Y Patil for leaving a "special impact" on the education field, while Gowda said the presence of all-party leaders at the event showed "how much D Y Patil is loved by them".

Pawar praised D Y Patil for helping students from weaker sections to undertake education at his institutes.