| MANGALORE: Drawing attention to benchmarks in higher education, B L Bhagyalakshmi, director of collegiate education, on Sunday said quality alone is its cornerstone.
Inaugurating a two-day national seminar on 'Changing Paradigms of Higher Education-12th Plan Initiatives', organised as part of the 27{+t}{+h} statutory conference of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers' Organization (AIFUCTO), here, she said the focus should be on gender equity, rural development, as well as increasing the number of colleges in rural areas and scholarships.
On the seminar's agenda is addressing the shortage of teachers, their conditions and benefits as well as infrastructural problems.
Bhagyalakshmi said the state government has introduced several skill-based education programmes, like Vikasana, Sahyog and Angla, since 2008. She added that although the 12{+t}{+h} Plan brought about many educational reforms, implementation has suffered on various counts.
Mrinmoy Bhattacharya, former general secretary, AIFUCTO, said the teachers' rights movement may have skimmed over issues of higher education.
He pointed out that India is far behind several nations in higher education with its gross enrolment ratio of 35%. "Unless we are take higher education to all sections..., the issue will remain. The research should be viewed in terms of groups and not individuals. Through this conference, AIFUCTO has to rise to this challenge."
Ravi Srivastava, professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and Sudhanshu Bhushan, professor, department of higher and professional education, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, Delhi, also spoke.
Fr Swebert D'Silva, principal of St Aloysius College, presided. Dr A M Narahari, chairman of the conference committee, and Norbert Lobo, president, Association of Mangalore University College Teachers, were present. |