Reform education sector: Economic Survey

"Reaping the demographic dividend needs a vision, a long-term plan, and bold decisions," the Economic Survey for 2010-11 tabled in Parliament said on Friday.

It said that given the advantage of a young population, the realisation of the demographic dividend is another factor that calls for reforms in the education and health sector.

The RTE Act "must face no implementation deficit for it to work towards realising the demographic dividend," it said.

The RTE Act makes it mandatory for every child in the 6-14 age group to get at least eight years of elementary education.

The pre-budget document also said that reforms are needed for universities and in higher education and the demand-supply mismatch in the job-market needs to be corrected.

While recognising that mobilisation of funds for higher education is a challenge for the government, the Survey suggested that the gap could possibly be met by tailor-made public-private partnership mode.

On the National Skill Development Mission, it said that much more is required both in terms of achievements and speed.

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), set up in July 2008, has been mandated to achieve the target of creation of skilled workforce of 150 million people by 2022.

By the end of December 2010, 28 states and union territories had set up Skill Development Mission.

India has the advantage of demographic dividend,

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