SPEECHES / STATEMENTS 

PM launches Global Education and Leadership Programme

April 28, 2008, New Delhi

“I am delighted to be here to launch the Global Education and Leadership Foundation. I compliment the Khemka Family, Sun Group, Columbia University and all others associated with this very creative initiative. I am happy to see a new wave of private initiatives in the field of Education and training. I had recently participated in a similar event organized by my friend Keshab Mahindra. I am aware of several other such initiatives undertaken by various business groups in India but I heard and learnt about your foundation it inspires me to believe that yours is a unique saga of adventure and enterprise and I pray that your path be blessed. The private sector has for a long time shown interest in promoting education, particularly higher education in the country. We also have several creditable examples in the voluntary sector including initiatives taken by social, cultural and religious trusts and organizations. I commend them all for the good work they are doing to promote education and leadership among our young. It was Sir Winston Churchill, who ones said that the empire of the futures are going to be the empire of the minds. And it is therefore very essential that the mindset of our young people are probably inculcated, motivated and I commend the excellent work that your foundation is planning to do in this very very creative area.

While there is a wide variation in the quality of education, both in the public and private sectors, we have enough examples of excellence and commitment to values that should inspire those who are entering this field. I sincerely hope those behind this new initiative will draw on the inspirational example of some of our best initiatives in the field of education and training.

It is a sad reality that both in our public sector and the private sector far too much attention is paid to the hardware of education and not enough to the software, namely, the quality of teachers and of facilities offered, including libraries. I hope your initiative will redress this important imbalance.

I do recognize that the recent growth in the educational sector in our country has outpaced the government’s ability to monitor, to regulate and to guide this growth. As a result many of you consider the Government as a roadblock rather than as a facilitator. Many of you have come to view regulatory institutions as your adversaries rather than your partners.

I am sure you will agree that regulation is a necessary feature of liberalization and essential to the fair functioning of free markets. But I do believe such regulation should be transparent and efficient. I share your concern about the problem of corruption in the field of regulation and supervision of educational institutions. Our Government is committed to fighting such corruption and to ensuring free, efficient and transparent regulation of the educational system.

I welcome your focus on leadership among our youth and among our children. In the complex world that we live in we need wise leaders endued with knowledge and moral values to guide their contribution. I, therefore, appreciate the emphasis you place on teacher training as an important aspect of such leadership creation. Teacher training is an extremely important aspect of education policy. Our State Governments must pay greater attention to improving the quality of teacher training across this vast country.

Most studies of Government-funded school programmes show that one of the weaknesses of public education is the quality of teachers. I recognize the need to improve remuneration as one way of addressing this problem. But, it is not by money alone that we can improve the quality of teachers and the quality of our schools. Money is a necessary but not a sufficient condition.

Along with better remuneration we need greater commitment and, moral values and public opinion that can spur improvement in education. Civil society must play a greater role in demanding better quality education. Bringing schools under the supervision of local communities can help in this regard. I hope your initiative can guide us in this area and show Governments and educational institutions the way forward in improving quality of teaching and the software of education.

Indian youth have demonstrated that they are second to none in the world when they get the opportunity to realize their full potential. India’s talented young men and women have altered global perceptions about India’s chosen destiny. The world looks with admiration towards India because of the tremendous achievements of Indian professionals in various fields all over the world.

I recall that when I wrote to Professor Srinivasa Vardhan, the winner of the Abel Prize in Mathematics, and complimented him for securing the highest prize in the world of mathematics, he wrote back to me and said that he owes his achievements to the sound educational foundation he received at school in Chennai and Kolkata. It is the quality of his school and college education in India that enabled him to make a mark internationally and that is why I admire and commend your emphasis on children in our school as leaders for tomorrow. .

We are all products of that schooling system. I too went to a village school and a small college in a small town before I landed at Cambridge and Oxford University. I hope every Indian child can dream of such possibilities living in his own village, in his own mohalla.

I once again compliment all those associated with this highly innovative, creative initiative and wish you all the best in your endeavors.“