EducationWorld

Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education needs to go up

V-K-Saraswat-Gross Enrolment Ratio

A policy think tank — NITI Aayog’s member V K Saraswat said the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) should rise in higher education. NITI Aayog has put out a vision document, suggesting that STEM subjects should be accorded the highest focus. It has also suggested to improve the reading and mathematical abilities of children, and research in universities.

Saraswat was addressing a national workshop on accreditation, quality improvement and ranking in higher education and roadmap ahead. It was jointly organised by the Telangana State Council of Higher Education and others.

Speaking further Saraswat said higher education is one area which certainly helps the youth in doing what they want to do. But the state of higher education in our country is grim. The Gross Enrolment Ratio is about 25 percent in India, while it is 50 percent in many developed countries.

Saraswat went on to add “India spends four percent of its GDP on education, while other countries spend more than that. China spent nearly 565 billion dollars on education in 2016-17, of which 145 billion dollars was spent on higher education. In contrast, India spent about 12.5 billion dollars on the sector, of which only 4.5 billion was spent on higher education.”

NITI Aayog has put out a vision document, where it has said that STEM subjects has to be accorded the highest focus. In the vision document, NITI Aayog has suggested to improve the reading and mathematical abilities of children, and focus on research in universities.

Gross enrolment ratio of girls in secondary education increases