Higher education will receive massive investment in the 11th Five Year Plan, with 30 new Central Universities and 370 new colleges in educationally backward districts being planned during the period, President Pratibha Patil said on Monday.
Addressing the Joint Sitting of Parliament on the first day of the Budget Session, Patil said the 11th Plan period will see expansion in the number of technical institutions.
Eight new Indian Institutes of Technology, 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology, seven new Indian Institutes of Management and two Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research in addition to the three in Pune, Kolkata and Mohali, will be
set up, she said.
The National Skill Development Mission will ensure employability of the youths and address the skill deficit presently felt in some sectors of the economy, Patil said.
Referring to the steps being taken with regard to school education, she said the 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan' is being strengthened with expansion of the midday meal programme for children to the Upper Primary level in 3,479 educationally-backward blocks of the country.
"My Government seeks to provide universal access to secondary education by supporting 6,000 new high quality model schools, with one school in each block in the country to set standards of excellence that can be emulated," Patil said.
