Sibal for more pvt sector involvement to build rural schools

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday lamented that private sector is not showing much eagerness to be involved in the expansion of elementary education in the country, especially in the rural areas.

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday lamented that private sector is not showing much eagerness to be involved in the expansion of elementary education in the country, especially in the rural areas.

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Holding that investment on human capital is the key to development of the country, he said the government wants the private sector to be involved in a big way as it wants to expand the education system.

"Very little private capital wishes to go to building schools in rural areas," he said at the Annual General Meeting function of industry association FICCI here.

About 93 per cent of primary schools in the country are in private sector. There are not enough people in rural areas having the capacity to pay, he said.

Sibal said the government will never allow private sector to make profit from education and share it among shareholders. But they can make profit and plough it back for the development of the institute, he said.

Sibal said the country will need another 800 universities and nearly 20,000 colleges in the next ten years to increase the enrolment rate in higher education from 12.4 per cent at present to 30 per cent.