Sonia for private sector entry into education

Commerce, HRD ministries lock horns over private role in the sector.

In what could tilt the scales in favour of reforms in higher education, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said she personally favoured private sector participation in the education sector.

Gandhi, who was speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, said this in response to a suggestion by Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal that there could be a role for the private sector in the education sector, especially in vocational studies.

Later, while speaking at the Summit, Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said the government was looking at legislation to harmonise related issues.

It may be recalled that the issue of foreign universities setting up campuses in India with deemed university status is being discussed by a Group of Ministers.

The GoM has been constituted to look into the Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill.

The commerce ministry and its HRD counterpart have been at loggerheads on the matter.

Earlier this year, the commerce ministry had come out with a 24-page document "" on Higher Education in India and GATS "" supporting FDI in the sector. Commerce Secretary G K Pillai said the idea was to evolve a consensus on opening up higher education to foreign investment, even 100 per cent FDI.

Pillai had pointed out that India incurred an annual outgo of $4 billion on education and this money could be saved by allowing foreign institutions to set up shop in the country through liberal domestic regulations.

In contrast, the Arjun Singh-headed Ministry of Human Resource Development has proposed a tougher stance on FDI in higher education.

According to reports, the ministry says that India should retain all options in the education sector, to be exercised at a "suitable time."

"There should neither be any haste in opening it to foreign participation under a multilateral regime without adequate safeguards nor should the sector be used as a bargaining chip for obtaining gains in other sectors," a paper prepared by the Higher Education Bureau of the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the CPM today said it was willing to discuss labour reforms if specific proposals were made by the government.

"So far, not a single tangible proposal has been made. Let there be a proposal and we are willing to discuss it," CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury said at the Summit.