Date:05/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/05/stories/2009010557070600.htm

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Polytechnic education gets a boost

Shastry V. Mallady

MADURAI: A whopping Rs.6,800 crore has been allocated by the Central Government to boost polytechnic education across the country. It will be spent over a period of next five years.

Special focus will be given to 234 districts where there is no government polytechnic college.

“Each of these 234 districts will be given Rs.12.3 crore towards capital expenditure required for setting up polytechnics. The State Governments can take initiatives for establishing them,” a top official in the Department of Higher Education, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, told The Hindu on Thursday.

The official said that the Central allocation was basically towards creating polytechnic infrastructure in the Government set up and also for supporting private polytechnic institutions in select cases under public private partnership.

According to him, the objective of Ministry of Human Resource Development is to spend the allotted money for 1,000 polytechnics- either for starting new ones or upgrading the existing polytechnic institutions in States.

“The allocation of Rs.6,800 crore would be spent during the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012) and a part of that money could be spilled over to the next Five Year Plan also,” the official said.

In India, there are totally 1,650 polytechnic colleges of which 70 per cent of the institutions are in southern States and Maharashtra. The official stated that the Ministry was keen to promote polytechnic education because “of the huge requirement for diploma holders in industry and quick possibility for jobs.”

The Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of HRD has also drawn up a focused scheme for 600 districts where the admission intake in polytechnic colleges is less than the national average of 40 per lakh of population.

Women polytechnics

While there is an action plan for modernising 500 Government polytechnics by giving each of them Rs.2 crore, the Ministry is also taking steps to open women’s hostels in 500 polytechnics.

Another important step being taken by the Centre, according to the official, is to revive and revamp 1,000 community polytechnics in the country so as to impart employable technical skills to rural youth.