New Delhi: After elementary education, the government aims to make secondary education a right of every child in the country in the next five years, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said on Friday.
The Parliament passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill in the last session, making education a fundamental right of every child in the age group of six to 14 years.
"Hopefully by 2013 or 2015, we should make free and compulsory education a right at secondary stage also," the minister said at the ICC Regional CEO Forum on `Globalisation and Inclusive Growth`.
The government is in the process of framing the rules for Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act. The rules will be circulated among states which can adopt them after making suitable changes. The government has estimated that implementing the Act would cost about Rs 1.71 lakh crore in the next five years.
The Right To Education Act will give an estimated 160 million children, who are presently out of school, access to quality education, he said.
Sibal said the government wants to increase the enrolment rate in higher education from 12.4 percent at present to around 30 percent by 2020. If the target is achieved, there will be about 40 million additional students in the higher education sector.
Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), said unless the fundamental problem of inclusive growth is addressed, the country would not have a really sound future.
Former RBI Governor Y V Reddy said lots of manufacturing is being outsourced by India and "We have insourced the services. Lot of manufacturing which ought to have been held in the country is not happening."
Reddy, however, kept mum when asked about what steps RBI should take to rein in food inflation that has crossed 17 percent in the third week of November.
Shobhana Bhartia, Editorial Director of the Hindustan Times bagged the `Outstanding Woman Leader` award-2009, while mega star Amitabh Bachchan was awarded `Entertainment Business Leader` of the year.
Praful Patel, Civil Aviation Minister and the president of All India Football Federation (AIFF), was awarded `Sports Business Leader` of the Year.
- PTI
