Haryana government has set a target to achieve Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 30 per cent at higher secondary level, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said today.
Stating this at a press conference on education here, Hooda said GER of Haryana at present is 20.13 per cent which constitutes about 12.70 lakh students.
"To achieve the target of 30 per cent GER, eight lakh more students needed to be enrolled," he added.
Hooda said the state government has taken extensive steps in the direction of imparting quality higher education, to increase GER and to produce such students who were able to take global challenges.
Hooda said that in the year 2004-05, there were only 161 technical education institutions with annual intake of about 28,445 students.
"But today the number of such institutions has grown to 662 with a total intake of about 1.50 lakh students," he said.
The Chief Minister said Haryana today has taken a lead among other states in providing educational infrastructure to enable students to get quality education.
Hooda said Haryana has 242 degree and above colleges whereas, it is 67 in Himachal and 231 in Punjab.
Similarly, the number of professional colleges in the state is 662 whereas it is 11 in Himachal and 229 in Punjab. Haryana has 32 universities including public and private as compared to seven in Himachal and 15 in Punjab, he said.
Expressing concern over the quality of faculty in the country, Hooda said that there was a dire need to bring about a qualitative change in the faculty so as to ensure qualitative education to the students.
The joint efforts of government and private sector could go a long way in realising this objective, Hooda added.
The Chief Minister said as a result of the emphasis laid on the education sector, Haryana would emerge as an educational hub of international level in the next few years.
He said the Rajiv Gandhi Education City was being set up in district Sonipat where about 1.50 lakh students would get quality education under one roof.
Already, 10 prestigious educational institutions have set up their campuses there, Hooda said, adding that 25 per cent seats have been kept reserved for the students of Haryana in the Rajiv Gandhi Education City.
