Sibal calls for quality in education system

NEW DELHI - Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said that quality should be at the forefront of the education system, and access to quality education must be available for all.

Sibal said that the nation cannot move forward with good education being limited to an elite class of people.

Inaugurating a conference of state Education Secretaries, to discuss Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and school education in the national capital, the Minister also complimented the efforts of the SSA in reaching out to 99 per cent habitations in the country.

However, he cautioned that as certain recently published reports on the state of education in the country had indicated, the quality of education and high drop out rates continue to be a cause of concern.

The HRD Minister suggested that at the level of the nation, there is need for a core curriculum in Science, Commerce and Maths.

During the conference, Sibal inaugurated the ‘NCTE Portal’ and released an user-manual of the portal to be used by the officers of National Council for Teacher Educational (NCTE) and other stake holders.

The portal would provide various services, including on-line application for recognition of teacher education institutions, on-line submission of appeals, on-line registration of teacher education institutions, teacher educators and teacher trainees, and electronic processing of applications submitted on-line through MIS-integration.

He also welcomed this endeavour as a major step forward in e-Governance and transparency in the education sector. (ANI)