'Need to invest more on education'

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IANS | 10 Dec, 2022
There is a need for more investment on education, said Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, on Saturday.

The official said that the NEP 2020 (New Education Policy) envisages that "we should be spending at least 6 per cent of our GDP on education". "Currently we are spending only 4.6 per cent of our GDP on education. It is imperative that while the economy is growing, we need to invest more on education," he emphasised.

Speaking on the backdrop of an event, the official while highlighting the role of technology in the education system said that we are at a new cusp today.

"We are moving away from the book-based education system and technology is playing a key role in it," he added.

He further stated that liberal arts need to regain its ground and the industry, academia must work towards it.

"Let us re-imagine our system before we reboot," said Kumar.

The Secretary mentioned that there are around 260 million students from class 1 to 12 in India who are going to 1.48 million schools including 1.05 million government schools.

There are around 9.6 million teachers who are part of these schools, so their training and infrastructure should also be addressed. The government, he said, is committed to providing necessary support to the sector.

"This is the time when we must start looking and capitalising on the NEP," asserted Kumar.

Highlighting the importance of the New Education Policy 2020, Kumar said that the NEP 2020 encapsulates the DNA of the society and how a society has to develop and build itself around education is envisaged in it.

The NEP also put its focus on foundational literacy and numeracy and the policy looks at children till the age of 8.

Subhrakant Panda, President-Elect, FICCI & Managing Director, Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd said that it is important to have the ability to learn, unlearn and re-learn at every stage of life.

"FICCI will be happy to collaborate with the government in working towards developing an effective implementation framework of the National Education Policy," he added.