Rs 2,000-cr World Bank loan to prop up Madhya Pradesh colleges

Around 3.6 million students, 10,800 academic staff and 1,400 administrators and officers in nearly 200 government colleges and universities are expected to benefit from the loan

The Madhya Pradesh government has tied up with the World Bank for a Rs 2,000 crore loan to develop education infrastructure.

Around 3.6 million students, 10,800 academic staff and 1,400 administrators and officers in nearly 200 government colleges and universities are expected to benefit.

"We will invest the soft loan in overhauling existing infrastructure. The state government will chip in with Rs 660 crore," Umashankar Gupta, Madhya Pradesh's higher education minister, said. "We will focus on better labs, equipment and necessary support," he added.

A World Bank statement last week said it had signed a $300 million credit agreement with the Government of India and the Government of Madhya Pradesh for the Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Quality Improvement Project.
 

Gupta said the government would also create an eco-system so that more students could become employable. "Over 77 per cent of employers in Madhya Pradesh said weak technical skills were the most important reason for rejecting a job applicant," the World Bank statement said.

The project envisages centres of excellence in select colleges and university departments so that best learning practices and research is ensured. It would provide scholarships, upgrade faculty skills and extend technical assistance for institutions to gain accreditation with the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), the World Bank statement added.

"By focusing on quality education, extending scholarships to disadvantaged students, and improving resources available for teaching, we hope the project will help produce a labour force that has the required skills and knowledge to boost the state's economy," Onno Ruhl, the World Bank's country director in India, said in the statement.

According to the World Bank, enrollment in higher education in India has more than doubled from 8.4 million students in 2001 to 17 million students in 2011. Of these, nearly 10 per cent, or 1.6 million students, are enrolled in universities or colleges in Madhya Pradesh.

The state's gross enrollment ratio of 19.5 in higher education is close to the national average of 21.1 per cent but there are major concerns over quality, points out a 2012 World Bank report, Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Reforms: Policy Options. It has identified access, equity and low quality as core challenges for the state.