MEMORABLE OCCASION: Bernard Moras, Archbishop of Bangalore, being greeted by Sukhadev Thorat, chairman, University Grants Commission, at the 125th year celebrations of St. Joseph's College in Bangalore on Sunday. Peter Hans Kolvenbach S. J., superior general of the Society of Jesus, and principal of the college Ambrose Pinto S. J. (right) look on. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Bangalore: "We have to make special efforts and frame policies and programmes to see that the most historically neglected and socially marginalised people in the country have access to education. The 11th Five Year Plan should include all this," Sukhdev Thorat, chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said.

Speaking at the 125th year celebrations of St. Joseph's College here on Sunday, Mr. Thorat said the approach paper to the 11th Five Year Plan should also look at increasing the expenditure on education.

"The education committee has recommended that six per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should be spent on education and at least one per cent of the GDP should be earmarked for higher education. Presently, the expenditure on higher education in India is just 0.37 per cent," he said.

He said that there were major inter-religious disparities, caste, social and gender disparities that did not allow the poor and marginalised sections to have equal opportunities when it came to access to quality education. Moreover, education should promote scientific temper, secular attitude, moral values and multiculturalism.

The 11th Five Year Plan had to address all these issues, he said.

Lauding St. Joseph's College for providing quality education to all strata of society and upholding high moral values, Mr. Thorat said, "we at the UGC have recognised your college as one with potential for excellence. Higher education in the country has come a long way since the time of Independence when only one per cent of the youth had access to education.

Today, 13 per cent of the young people are going to colleges and universities, which makes up to about 1.40 crore."

But higher education here had still a long way to go if it had to reach the world average of 23 per cent and 56 per cent in developed countries. A concerted effort had to be made so that at least 20 per cent of the youth had access to education, he said.

M.S. Thimmappa, former Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University, said the work of Christian missionaries in the area of education in India was laudable, and they had to be commended as they opened educational institutions purely with the spirit of service.

Kodandaramaiah, Director of Collegiate Education, said St. Joseph's College should be given a deemed university status.

Peter Hans Kolvenbach S.J., superior general of the Society of Jesus, Bernand Moras, Archbishop of Bangalore, Kaushik Mukherjee, Secretary, Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, and T.S. Krishnamurthy, former Election Commissioner, were present.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu