Pallam Raju

“Developing skills is as important as training. A larger effort is needed to create a skilled workforce with employment potential.”

“Industry and institutes need to build smarter linkages.”

“We are in a democracy, and I think for all issues, whatever matters that the opposition may have apprehension on, there is a forum, and it is called Parliament.”

“The mid-day meal is a well-intentioned scheme and has to be implemented effectively.”

“There should be more interaction and more confidence building between our various academic institutions just like how there needs to be a confidence building between industry and academics.”

“The Indian youth needs to be empowered, and it can be done through good education and vocational training.”

“It is a fantastic initiative by the ministry to develop Aakash Tablet, a mobile device that can be utilised by students anywhere. It was successfully tried out. The second and third versions have come out and the fourth version is on the anvil.”

“While China succeeded in transferring nearly 150 million people from agriculture to manufacturing, we could not do so, due to lack of skilled manpower.”

“The creation of NIT has ensured some seats for admission in undergraduate courses for students of Arunachal Pradesh, which will bound to uplift economics of locality directly or indirectly and help in enhancing human development index in the state.”

“I don't believe that someone who sets up an institution should be able to take out the money from the institution or pay dividends to shareholders. I am not saying that institutions should be set up for charity.”

“I think it is very important to build the moral fibre of the youth. Moral education should be part of the curriculum, and I will work towards introducing that.”

“There is definitely a need for increasing capacity in higher education; a large part of this is being met in the technical education segment by the private sector and in the non-technical by the state sector. In the public sector, we will do whatever we can afford.”

“Recognising that the future growth of India will depend on greater skill development, the National Policy for Skill Development aims to create a skilled workforce of 500 million by 2022.”

“Public-Private Partnership in financing, service delivery and provision of workspaces and training of trainers must be promoted to meet the demand and supply gap in the field of skill development.”

“Foreign universities have two aspects - content and brand. If we focus on the brand, we could lose out on the content. The idea is to focus on the content.”