Govt must raise spending in education, hire quality teachers: Azim Premji

China's average spend is around five per cent and global average is more than that: Wipro's Premji

Wipro chairman Azim Premji on Friday said that the government should increase investment in education sector from the 'claimed' 2.5 per cent of the GDP.

China's average spend is around five per cent and global average is more than that, he noted.

Money spent by the government is not realised, said Premji, while speaking at  the19th Annual Polestar Awards. He called for an improvement in the quality of public school teachers.

Premji Foundation's one of the main focus is education.  He said 83 per cent of schools in the country are government-run, making it important for the quality of its teachers to be high. 

"There are fewer teachers graduating from India than from Finland, which has a population of 7 million. India has a population of 1.2 billion. The Azim Premji Foundation has trained teachers who work with government schools, looking to bridge the gap," said Premji.

The quality of education in both public and private are the same. Besides, government schools are available at a 2-kilometre distance from the village and this encourages many girls to study.

But teachers are paid 30-40% of their counterparts in private schools. However, for the government schools, 90% of the expenditure is on teachers, with negligible spending on infrastructure, said Premji, emphasising on the importance of quality of teachers. 

He pointed out that while there are over 2,000 teacher training institutions, over 95 per cent of them are of poor standards and the government must be strict while bringing them under the axe.

Premji expects that new education policy, which is expected in the next six months will increase the quality of education substantially.

 "We must integrate the departments for the seamless transition from early childhood care to primary education," added Premji.