It is a great pleasure for me to participate in these National Education Day celebrations. Today we commemorate the memory of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a great visionary, a great freedom fighter, a great scholar, an eminent educationist and the first Education Minister of Independent India.

 

Throughout his life, Maulana Azad served the twin causes of freedom and justice. He was a champion of liberal and secular values. He worked for the unity and integrity of India both during the freedom movement and after independence. It was he who laid the foundation of India's educational policy and planning.

 

Maulana Azad was also a great institution builder. He created the University Grants Commission (UGC), the National Academies-the Sangeet Natak Akademy, Sahitya Akademy, Lalit Kala Akademy, and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He strengthened the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and oversaw the establishment of a chain of top class technical institutions that now represent the best in the Indian Education System. Under his distinguished leadership, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur was established in 1951, which was followed by a chain of IITs at Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur and Delhi.

 

The celebration of Maulana Azad's birth anniversary as the National Education Day is a befitting homage to one of our greatest leaders. Today is also an occasion when all of us should re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of education, and through it to building India as a modern, knowledge society.

 

As you all know, education has received the highest priority from the Central Govt. in the last 5 years or so. Our commitment to this important area of national endeavour has seen the strengthening and expansion of the education system at all levels - primary, secondary, higher, professional and technical education. We had earlier taken important steps in providing quality education to all children through our flagship programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Now we have extended our initiatives to the secondary level. The objective of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) is to achieve an enrolment ratio of 75% for classes IX-X within five years and to provide universal secondary education by the year 2017. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 creates a legal entitlement for compulsory and free education for all our children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. We have recently launched a new literacy initiative, SAAKSHAR BHARAT, on the International Literacy Day on 8th September, 2009.

 

In higher education, the outlay has been increased by 10 times in the Eleventh Five Year Plan as compared to the Tenth Five Year Plan. A number of new institutions - Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes for Science Education & Research, Indian Institutes of Information Technology and others - are being established.

 

I am also very happy to note that a National Mission on Education through ICT has been launched in February 2009 with an outlay of about Rs. 5000 crore. This will provide internet connectivity to about 20,000 colleges and educational institutions and will be a major harbinger of use of modern technology in the field of education. As UNESCO plays a very important role as a global clearing house of ideas and knowledge and creation of knowledge based societies, I would like to offer our willingness to share with them the e-learning material prepared under this technical mission by the Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs).

 

Improving access to education is not enough. It should be accompanied by efforts to ensure equity and improve quality. Our Government stands committed to provide good and quality education to each and every child in our country, especially those who belong to the underprivileged sections of our society. It is with this end in view that we have started a number of scholarship schemes for those who cannot afford to study on their own - the SCs/STs/Minorities and other such disadvantaged groups. We especially recognize the importance of educating women and they are being given special attention in the SAAKSHAR BHARAT mission.

 

Improvement in quality at all levels is also receiving increasing emphasis. In higher education this will be achieved through structural reforms on the basis of the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission and the Yashpal Committee.

 

The realization of the Right to Education does not depend merely on expansion of educational infrastructure but, equally importantly on availability of trained and qualified teachers with commitment to their profession. UNESCO in its Oslo Declaration 2008 relating to Education for All, has projected a requirement of 18 million new primary teachers throughout the world in the next seven years to achieve universal primary education at the global level. In India too, we would need an extra 1 million teachers to implement the Right to Education Act. For this purpose, apart from the need of augmenting teacher's training institutes and use of ICT for mass learning, it is necessary to restore the prestige and status of the teaching profession in our society.

 

The importance of good teachers cannot be over-emphasized. Good teachers not only educate- they also inspire. Good teachers make good students. Good teachers make good citizens. We must therefore find ways and means of improving the quality of our teachers. We must find ways of attracting the best talent as faculty in our premier institutions. We today face difficulty in finding top level professors and lecturers in the newly created IITs, IISERs and other such institutions. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to persist and I urge all of you to work to address these problems of deficiency in the quality of teaching in our schools, in our colleges, and in our universities.

 

A system of education which is built on the premises of quality and equity is central as it must be to India's rapid progress as a modern, dynamic society. Let me reaffirm today our government's commitment to the cause of education. But in the mammoth task that lies ahead, we will need the contribution of all our citizens and all actors in the civil society. I urge all of you to work for this noble cause with renewed energy and vigour that will be a befitting tribute to the memory of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

 

With these words, I wish your celebrations all success. I also wish all of you the very best in your efforts to make our educational system stronger, better and more equitable.