President advocates education fund

New Delhi: Stressing on an inclusive approach to address problems of inequality in education, President Pratibha Patil Wednesday favoured creation of a special revolving fund to help underprivileged children get higher studies.

“Nobody should be denied education on account of lack of financial resources,” Patil said at the inaugural function of the sub-regional conference of South, South-West and Central Asia on Higher Education.

“We often speak about inequalities that exist in higher education. Inequalities can be corrected by following inclusive approaches in the overall policy framework which provides opportunities for talent to blossom,” she said.

The President advocated starting a national talent search process at the middle school level for identifying deserving and meritorious students from underprivileged background who should be supported for higher education.

“A special revolving fund should be created from which loans at no interest are given to them for pursuing higher education and which they can return after they start earning,” she said.

She said the country would stand to lose if the meritorious students from the underprivileged sections are deprived of higher education.

Livemint, 25 February 2009