Thiruvananthapuram: Education Minister C. Raveendranath has said that the present problems faced by the country can be addressed only if there is a change in the education policy. He was delivering the keynote address at the education convention organised by Vidyabhayasa Samithi, a collective of various Left students and teachers’ unions here on Friday. The issues in the education sector could not be changed just by reforming it as it lacked funding.
Hence, any change can happen only if the education policy is changed, he said. Former MG University Vice-Chancellor Rajan Gurukkal said that a major issue with the present education system was that it was supply-driven and not demand-driven. “It is corporates who decide what one wants to study,” Mr Gurukkal said. Kerala University former Vice-Chancellor B. Ekbal said that as per the provision of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the education sector in the country would have to be open to global providers.
At present there are over 16,000 vacancies in premier educational institutions in the country. Around 10,000 American academics may get appointed in these posts. Their salaries would come to around Rs 7.5 lakh for 20 courses, Mr Ekbal said. Mr K.N. Panicker, former chairman, Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC), inaugurated the convention.
