PM seeks quantum jump in science education

"We cannot afford to miss the bus nor can we afford to delay matters further. The time has come for action... Let us make the year 2008 the year of revitalising science education in India," he said inaugurating the 95th Indian Science Congress here.

Observing that science must be made a preferred discipline of study for students, he said the country must attract the best and the brightest to science.

"Tried and tested methods will not suffice. We need creative thinking, out-of-the-box solutions. The academic community too must be willing to think creatively," he told a galaxy of eminent scientists.

Noting that the country needed policy, institutional and organisational reforms besides investment in science education, the Prime Minister said the Centre was ready to work with state governments and universities to launch a "new revolution" in modern education, especially in the field of science.

"We are living in an age where human knowledge, particularly scientific and technological, is increasing at an unprecedented pace. India has to harness the full potential of modern science and technology to realise our development ambitions," he said.

Singh said he had expressed concern at last year's Science Congress about the state of science teaching and research in the country. Efforts should be made to increase the enrolment of students in basic sciences in schools and colleges.

The government was committed to investing more, much more, in education, especially science education, he said adding the 11th Five Year Plan was, in fact, a "National Education Plan".

Observing that there was a five-fold increase in spending on education, which was unprecedented, he said the government was funding 30 new Central Universities, five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, eight new IITs, seven IIMs and 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technologies.

The Prime Minister said the government was launching a Mission on Vocational Education and Skill Development to create 1,600 new Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Polytechnics, 10,000 new vocational schools and 50,000 new Skill Development Centres.

This initiative would ensure over 100 lakh students get vocational training annually, which is a four-fold increase from today's level, he said adding detailed plan for implementing these proposals would be spelt out in the next six months.

To enlarge the pool of scientific manpower and foster research in the sciences, the government was also launching a programme entitled "Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE), he said.

Under this programme, over the next five years, one million school students would be given science innovation scholarships of Rs 5,000 each. The Plan would also support Scholarships for Higher Education (SHE), providing 10,000 scholarships per year of Rs one lakh to attract talented students to enroll in B.Sc and M.Sc, courses, Singh said.

He said discipline-specific programmes in strategic sectors like nuclear sciences and space sciences would be launched during the 11th plan to capture talent at the plus-two stage.