Supreme Court judge MM Sundresh requested students to gain knowledge to construct their character, as it will give them a positive attitude to become successful in their profession. Sundresh spoke his first speech at Vellore Institute of Technology.
He quoted, "Gaining knowledge is a process of finding one's ignorance on many things. Everyone has ability, as it is not gained by birth. This kind of ability is not limited to education alone, but it is distributed in many fields. Students should not lose heart because of failures, as they gain useful experiences to reach their destination".
In his presidential address, VIT founder and chancellor G Viswanathan urged the Union government to raise the spending on education, which is a concurrent list item, from the current 3% of GDP to 6% to bring more rural students into the fold of higher education.
The education sector has been provided with less than 2.5 percent of the budget for 2025-26, i.e., only Rs 1 lakh crore for education out of the Rs 50 lakh crore budget, he claimed, and that amount was too small. He explained that the lack of proper funding of education by both the Union government and the state governments has further burdened the parents, particularly those sending their children to private schools.
"Parents spend an average of at least Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh a year for schooling. According to estimates, India has only 28 percent of 18-23 year olds in higher education, against the world average of 40 percent. The state-wise ranking on higher education student enrollment has Tamil Nadu at the top followed by Kerala, while Bihar is last", he stated.
Comparing Western countries' and Southeast Asian nations' Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) with that of India, he stated that developed nations such as the USA, Germany, France, the UK, and South Korea have GERs of 90 percent, 75 percent, 70 percent, 60 percent, and 100 percent, respectively, while only 28 percent of Indian students are enrolled in higher education, though it has 1,100 universities and 59,000 colleges.
"In terms of per capita spend on higher education, the USA spends 35,000 USD, China 2,400 USD, and India 260 USD annually. Out of 190 nations, India is 155th in the world when it comes to offering higher education", he stated.
R Ganesan, corporate center head at Larsen and Toubro Limited, Sankar Viswanathan, and Sekar Viswanathan, vice-presidents at VIT, were present on the occasion.
