16 Jan : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said modern technology and professional management practices should be introduced to preserve the country’s vast historical and archaeological treasures and cultural heritage.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that the state governments should properly utilise the central funds which the Centre had invested for the education sector.
“Our government has raised public investment in education very steeply RPT steeply and never before has so much money been invested in education,” Singh said, while urging the state governments to ensure that the funds were well spent.
Addressing the valedictory function of the 150th anniversary of St Xavier’s college in Kolkata, Singh touched upon
his government’s efforts to spread education and said the Centre has made universal access to education one of the cornerstones “of our strategy of inclusive growth”.
“I am delighted to learn that the rate of literacy has been going up significantly in the past few years. I am also happy to learn that enrollment ratios are rising and drop-out rates falling,” he said.
The Prime Minister said he would to like to see every child becoming literate over the next decade. “I wish to see every child in our country becoming literate over the next decade… We must aim for 100 per cent literacy all over India.”
Singh said he was also keen to see every child had access to school education within reasonable distance from home.
Recalling his childhood days, he said “when I was a young boy, I had to walk miles to go to school. This should not be the lot of our children in future.”
“I want to see sharp increase in enrollment of the girl child in schools. Every girl child should have the opportunity to fulfill her potential and become an equal citizen of our great republic.”
He also urged those associated with school education to pay special attention to modernisation of the syllabi and overall development of children, their intellectual, physical,moral and social development.
“We must pay attention to children’s health, to physical education and community and national service. School education must focus on the all-round development of a child’s personality,” the Prime Minister said.
Christian missionaries, who came to this country, used education to reach out to the hearts and minds of the people, he said.
The Prime Minister said that India did not need blind faith. “We need rational thinking and a scientific temper to counter outdated dogmas and ideology.”