NEW DELHI: The government could roll out an ambitious programme of setting up of ‘kindergarten to post graduate’ institutions in educationally-backward districts of the country.
The proposal is under consideration of the HRD Ministry and could find mention in the Union Budget to be tabled on February 28, sources in the ministry said. While the concept is not new to the education sector and such institutions exist in some states, the ministry seeks to make the most out of it offering education to the deprived lot who have to migrate to distant places and big cities to pursue higher education, they said.
A student enrolling into kindergarten in such institutions enjoy admission preferences as they are promoted from school education to higher education under one roof.
Jamia Milia Islamia, Viswa Bharati and Banasthali universities are few such institutions.
The Chhattisgarh government had also announced plans to set up such institutions for promoting tribal education in the state.
The sources said the complexes could be set up under the PPP mode on a 50:50 cost sharing basis between the government and private players investing in the education sector. The state government could also be asked to provide land free of cost.
Meanwhile, the government is also understood to have been planning to raise the education cess to two per cent from one per cent at present, mopping up some Rs 14,000 crore annually to fund the expanding education sector and funding the new IITs and IIMs.
