No dearth of funds for centres of excellence: Javadekar

The government on Tuesday assured the Lok Sabha that there would be no dearth of funds for any institute of national importance.

Moving a bill to amend National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research Act 2007 in the Lok Sabha, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said the changes will enable two institutes at Berhampur and Tirupati to be governed by the legislation.

With the passage of the Bill, the number of Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) will go up to seven from the existing five, he said.

This institutes promote research and innovation in basic sciences, unlike the IITs, he said.

Public expenditure in higher education is the real investment that any country can make because it enables it to shape up its future, Javadekar said.

Every year, the Budget for all IISERs was Rs 900 crore, while it was Rs 300 crore for Indian Institute of Science.

"Every effort is made to ensure that adequate funds are available to various centres of excellence and there will not be any shortage of funds for them," he said.

The focus of the government is to promote quality education and the purpose of quality education is to produce good human beings, he said, adding that subjects of humanities were also taught and research programmes are promoted.

Participating in the debate, Sushmita Deb (Congress) said before according IISER status, the government should address the issue of connectivity to Berhampur which does not have an airport.

Besides, there is a shortage of faculty at the Tirupati institute, she said quoting media reports and adding that the admission to research programmes have also been delayed by one year.

Deb said there was an issue of unemployment as far as engineering graduates are concerned, which points to the fact that skills do not match with the job market requirements.

Out of 8 lakh engineers passing out every year, 5 lakh remain unemployed, she said quoting a government report.

The biggest challenge for these institutes was faculty building, she added.