‘Country needs to improve enrolment in higher edu’
Times of India | 16 February 2025
123 Kolkata: The country is lagging behind in education, particularly in higher education, because the gross enrolment ratio (GER) is only 28%, way below the ratio in developed countries, the founder and chancellor of Vellore Institute of Technology, Govindasamy Viswanathan, said at the sixth convocation of St Xavier's University. Viswanathan was conferred the degree of Doctor of Literature, Honoris Causa by the university on Saturday.
"As a country, we are lagging behind in education, particularly higher education, because our gross enrolment ratio (GER) is only 28%. In developed countries, the GER is between 60% and 100%. We have to go a long way to achieve this. The NEP 2020 talks about taking the GER from 28% to 50%," said Viswanathan. He stressed that the govt needs to spend more on education, which has not happened in more than 70 years.
Vice-chancellor Father Felix Raj shared that this year's convocation is more special as the inaugural batch of St Xavier's Law School comprising 102 students will be graduating this year. He announced that the university is going to start the LLM programme from the next academic session.
The chief guest, Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court, Justice Indra Prasanna Mukherji, also an alumnus of St Xavier's School and College, delivered the convocation address. "St Xavier's was my second home. It was perhaps the most significant part of my life's journey…It helped me to develop into a human being not only by imparting education but also by inculcating moral and other precious values in me and building my character," he said.
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